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This book explores the origins, history and organisation of the international system of narcotic drug control with a specific focus on heroin, cannabis and cocaine. It argues that the century-long quest to eliminate the production, trade in and use of narcotic drugs has been a profound failure. The statistics produced by the international and domestic narcotic drug control agencies point to a sustained expansion of the drug trade, despite the imposition of harsh criminal sanctions against those engaged, as producers, traffickers or consumers, in the narcotic drugs market. The roots of this major international policy failure are traced back to the outdated ideology of prohibition, which is sh...
A collection of essays exploring the complex history of drugs and narcotics throughout historyfrom ancient Greece to the present dayshows that such substances were sought originally as healing agents, both within and without the medical profession. However, the mood- and mind-altering characteristics of some have led to the widespread abuse and legal controls we see today.
Describes the use and effects of both legal and recreational narcotic drugs, including their history, narcotic addiction and abuse, treatment of addiction, and government efforts eliminate the use and trafficking of illegal drugs.
China was turned into a nation of opium addicts by the pernicious forces of imperialist trade. This study systematically questions this assertion on the basis of abundant archives from China, Europe and the US, showing that opium had few harmful effects on either health or longevity.
The American Disease is a classic study of the development of drug laws in the United States. Supporting the theory that Americans' attitudes toward drugs have followed a cyclic pattern of tolerance and restraint, author David F. Musto examines the relationz between public outcry and the creation of prohibitive drug laws from the end of the Civil War up to the present. Originally published in 1973, and then in an expanded edition in 1987, this third edition contains a new chapter and preface that both address the renewed debate on policy and drug legislation from the end of the Reagan administration to the current Clinton administration. Here, Musto thoroughly investigates how our nation has dealt with such issues as the controversies over prevention programs and mandatory minimum sentencing, the catastrophe of the crack epidemic, the fear of a heroin revival, and the continued debate over the legalization of marijuana.
"Since the United States declared its "war on drugs" in the early 1980s, cocaine addiction rates have increased, "crack wars" have become an urban phenomenon, heroin use has multiplied, U.S. prisons have become overstuffed with convicted street users, and the Third World's production of narcotics has skyrocketed. U.S. drug policy failures are legion, and the essays in this volume explain why. One of the most pervasive reasons, which is addressed by several contributors to this book, is that U.S. intelligence organizations have long abetted the international traffic in narcotics as they carried out their cold-war missions. This point is rigorously argued and documented in the essays focusing ...