Author: Heinz Sorer
Paperback: 191 pages
Company: United States Government Printing (1993-03)
ISBN: 0160416701
List Price: $6.50
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Over 2.5 million accidental and intentional drug-related poisonings are reported annually in the United States. Early diagnosis and management of patients who present with acute intoxication can significantly reduce both morbidity and mortality. The initial evaluation of patients with suspected or proven intoxications should focus on hemodynamic stability, mental status, and respiratory function. However, early recognition of toxic ingestion is paramount to implementing life-saving treatments. Important historical clues are often found in a social history that considers intravenous drug use, alcohol use, and any access or exposure to illicit substances. A patient’s medication list should also be scrutinized for psychoactive or sedative medications, such as tricyclic antidepressants or opioids. In this article we present case-based discussions of the specific diagnosis and management of 5 commonly occurring acute intoxication syndromes.

Author: Karen F. Mauck, Jennifer Maguire, Sean B. Smith
Kindle Edition: 19 pages Kindle eBook
Company: JTE Multimedia (2011-04-28) (2011-04-28)
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A scientific and cultural exploration of the pursuit of altered states of consciousness in both humans and animals

• Contains myriad studies and examples from the author's 20 years of research

• By the foremost authority on the social and psychological effects of drug use

History shows that people have always used intoxicants. In every age, in every part of the world, people have pursued intoxication with plants, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. In fact, this behavior has so much force and persistence that it functions much like our drives for food, sleep, and sex. This "fourth drive," says psychopharmacologist Ronald K. Siegel, is a natural part of our biology, creating the irrepressible demand for intoxicating substances.

In Intoxication Siegel draws upon his 20 years of groundbreaking research to provide countless examples of the intoxication urge in humans, animals, and even insects. The detailed observations of his so-called psychonauts--study participants trained to explicitly describe their drug experiences--as well as numerous studies with animals have helped him to identify the behavior patterns induced by different intoxicants. Presenting his conclusions on the biological as well as cultural reasons for the pursuit of intoxication and showing that personality and guidance often define the outcome of a drug experience, Siegel offers a broad understanding of the intoxication phenomenon as well as recommendations for curbing the negative aspects of drug use in Western culture by designing safe intoxicants.

Author: Ronald K. Siegel Ph.D.
Paperback: 384 pages
Company: Park Street Press (2005-04-08) (2005-03-29)
ISBN: 1594770697
List Price: $18.95
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Author: Dominic Streatfeild
Paperback: 528 pages
Company: Picador (2003-07-01)
ISBN: 0312422261
List Price: $18.00
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"A clear and vivid picture of cocaine addiction: the drug, the progression of drug dependence, and most important, the outpatient treatment and recovery process." —Sheila B. Blume, M.D., South Oaks Hospital, Amityville, New York

Cocaine is America's fastest growing drug problem, especially since the appearance of crack. This concise, highly practical book is a detailed guide to clinical assessment and treatment of cocaine addiction, with emphasis on outpatient treatment and relapse prevention strategies. In a straightforward, uncomplicated style, the author provides a wealth of practical information that is useful not only to professionals but also to cocaine users themselves, as well as to their families, friends, and employers—all of whom can benefit from an increased understanding of the addiction and its treatment.

Author: Arnold Washton
Paperback: 256 pages
Company: W. W. Norton & Company (1991-01-17)
ISBN: 0393307158
List Price: $17.95
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Finally - a book that covers all aspects of the illicit use of cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy and/or designer drugs such as GHB, written by two experts in their field. The use of these drugs remains a continuous threat in health and medical care delivery, and this book will be an essential asset to the physician who may have to face the evaluation of patients whose use of these drugs compromises an effective treatment plan for other health issues. The book has been conceived to fill the void in existing physician reference materials, and provides a comprehensive review of the theoretical knowledge and scope of pharmacotherapy in individuals who are hooked on a psychoactive substance. While detailed scientific information is obtainable in other major articles, the book's straightforward format and style, along with its illustrations, will make for easy reading as emphasis is put on information specifically related to drugs that occur most abused in today’s society. The information provided is based on clinical practice rather than pure experimental data, which will give the physician more effective tools useful in their daily practice. Many mechanisms of action of abuse are described in detail and references are provided to direct the reader to further sources for additional information. As a special feature, the book incorporates uncluttered tables and charts, which result in immediate clarification of the mode of action on the central nervous system and the reason for misuse, thus avoiding usual long and fatiguing text in common reference books. The book aims to give the reader a clear and concise plan on what to do when being faced with an overdose situation. A well-organized Table of Contents rapidly leads the reader from general pharmacological issues to the specific overdose syndrome and its management. Additionally, significant emphasis is placed on the practical do's and don’ts for physicians, with special reference to the predictive signs of aberrant drug-related behavior and the identification of the drug diverter by using urine drug screening.

Author: Enno Freye
Hardcover: 311 pages
Company: Springer (2009-11-16)
ISBN: 9048124476
List Price: $199.00
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Written by a leading researcher and writer in the field of alcohol and drug studies, this book presents a series of perspectives and reflections on the worlds of drug taking and drug seeking. This highly readable book takes a candid look at the world of drug and alcohol use, abuse and control. The author presents both sides of major issues, the history and patterns of abuse, and coverage of the major drugs (e.g. heroin, cocaine, crack, marijuana, amphetamines, hallucinogens, and club drugs). For anyone with an interest in drug history, abuse, and policies.

Author: James A. Inciardi
Paperback: 236 pages
Company: Allyn & Bacon (2001-06-11)
ISBN: 0205332218
List Price: $54.80
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Written by a leading researcher and textbook author in the field of alcohol and drug studies, this text presents a series of perspectives and reflections on the worlds of drug-taking, drug-seeking, and public policy..

 

This highly readable book takes a candid look at the world of drug and alcohol use, abuse, and control. The text presents many sides of major issues, the history and patterns of abuse, and coverage of the major drugs (e.g. heroin, cocaine, crack, prescription drugs, marijuana, amphetamines, hallucinogens, and club drugs). This excellent resource can be a main text or supplement, and serves as a basis for discussion and debate of some of the major issues related to the drug problem (e.g. legalization, medical marijuana, needle exchange, harm reduction, supply reduction strategies versus demand reduction strategies).

Author: James A. Inciardi
Paperback: 352 pages
Company: Allyn & Bacon (2007-10-18)
ISBN: 0205513212
List Price: $66.80
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Author: Sigmund Freud
Paperback: 114 pages
Company: Hesperus Press (2011-07-01)
ISBN: 1843916010
List Price: $12.95
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From acclaimed medical historian Howard Markel, author of When Germs Travel, the astonishing account of the years-long cocaine use of Sigmund Freud, young, ambitious neurologist, and William Halsted, the equally young, pathfinding surgeon. Markel writes of the physical and emotional damage caused by the then-heralded wonder drug, and how each man ultimately changed the world in spite of it—or because of it. One became the father of psychoanalysis; the other, of modern surgery.
 
Both men were practicing medicine at the same time in the 1880s: Freud at the Vienna General Hospital, Halsted at New York’s Bellevue Hospital. Markel writes that Freud began to experiment with cocaine as a way of studying its therapeutic uses—as an antidote for the overprescribed morphine, which had made addicts of so many, and as a treatment for depression.
 
Halsted, an acclaimed surgeon even then, was curious about cocaine’s effectiveness as an anesthetic and injected the drug into his arm to prove his theory. Neither Freud nor Halsted, nor their colleagues, had any idea of the drug’s potential to dominate and endanger their lives. Addiction as a bona fide medical diagnosis didn’t even exist in the elite medical circles they inhabited.
 
In An Anatomy of Addiction, Markel writes about the life and work of each man, showing how each came to know about cocaine; how Freud found that the drug cured his indigestion, dulled his aches, and relieved his depression. The author writes that Freud, after a few months of taking the magical drug, published a treatise on it, Über Coca, in which he described his “most gorgeous excitement.” The paper marked a major shift in Freud’s work: he turned from studying the anatomy of the brain to exploring the human psyche.
 
Halsted, one of the most revered of American surgeons, became the head of surgery at the newly built Johns Hopkins Hospital and then professor of surgery, the hospital’s most exalted position, committing himself repeatedly to Butler Hospital, an insane asylum, to withdraw from his out-of control cocaine use.
 
Halsted invented modern surgery as we know it today: devising new ways to safely invade the body in search of cures and pioneering modern surgical techniques that controlled bleeding and promoted healing. He insisted on thorough hand washing, on scrub-downs and whites for doctors and nurses, on sterility in the operating room—even inventing the surgical glove, which he designed and had the Goodyear Rubber Company make for him—accomplishing all of this as he struggled to conquer his unyielding desire for cocaine.
 
An Anatomy of Addiction tells the tragic and heroic story of each man, accidentally struck down in his prime by an insidious malady: tragic because of the time, relationships, and health cocaine forced each to squander; heroic in the intense battle each man waged to overcome his affliction as he conquered his own world with his visionary healing gifts. Here is the full story, long overlooked, told in its rich historical context.

Author: Howard Markel
Hardcover: 352 pages Deckle Edge
Company: Pantheon (2011-07-19) (2011-07-19)
ISBN: 0375423303
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