Drugs And Narcotics In History

Download or read book Drugs and Narcotics in History written by Roy Porter and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Narcotic Culture written by Frank Dikötter and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2004-04-16 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To this day, the perception persists that China was a civilization defeated by imperialist Britain's most desirable trade commodity, opium—a drug that turned the Chinese into cadaverous addicts in the iron grip of dependence. Britain, in an effort to reverse the damage caused by opium addiction, launched its own version of the "war on drugs," which lasted roughly sixty years, from 1880 to World War II and the beginning of Chinese communism. But, as Narcotic Culture brilliantly shows, the real scandal in Chinese history was not the expansion of the drug trade by Britain in the early nineteenth century, but rather the failure of the British to grasp the consequences of prohibition. In a stunning historical reversal, Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann, and Zhou Xun tell this different story of the relationship between opium and the Chinese. They reveal that opium actually had few harmful effects on either health or longevity; in fact, it was prepared and appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints preventing excessive use. Opium was even used as a medicinal panacea in China before the availability of aspirin and penicillin. But as a result of the British effort to eradicate opium, the Chinese turned from the relatively benign use of that drug to heroin, morphine, cocaine, and countless other psychoactive substances. Narcotic Culture provides abundant evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a "cure" that was far worse than the disease. Delving into a history of drugs and their abuses, Narcotic Culture is part revisionist history of imperial and twentieth-century Britain and part sobering portrait of the dangers of prohibition.

Download or read book The Pursuit of Oblivion written by Richard Davenport-Hines and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The most important study on this subject in years, perhaps ever' Phillip Knightley, SUNDAY TIMES A history of drug-taking, telling the story across five centuries of addicts and users: monarchs, prime ministers, great writers and composers, wounded soldiers, overworked physicians, oppressed housewives, exhausted labourers, high-powered businessmen, playboys, sex workers, pop stars, seedy losers, stressed adolescents, defiant schoolchildren, the victims of the ghetto, and happy young people on a spree. It is also the history of one bad idea, prohibition. 'You'll find almost everything you ever wanted to know about drugs in this work, except how to get hold of them' Simon Garfield, FINANCIAL TIMES 'Everyone with any influence on government policy should read this book and wake up before it is too late' Phillip Knightley, SUNDAY TIMES

Download or read book The Drug Book written by Michael C. Gerald and published by Union Square + ORM. This book was released on 2013-09-03 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A beautiful and well-researched historical guide to significant drugs” from the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Prescription Drugs (Library Journal). Throughout history, humans everywhere have searched for remedies to heal our bodies and minds. Covering everything from ancient herbs to cutting-edge chemicals, this book in the hugely popular Milestones series looks at 250 of the most important moments in the development of life-altering, life-saving, and sometimes life-endangering pharmaceuticals. Illustrated entries feature ancient drugs like alcohol, opium, and hemlock; the smallpox and the polio vaccines; homeopathic cures; and controversial medical treatments like ether, amphetamines, and Xanax—while shining a light on the scientists, doctors, and companies who brought them to us. “These true tales of discovery in The Drug Book by Michael C. Gerald might change the way you think about your medicine.” —The Healthy “An excellent starting point for student researchers and is very browsable for the general reader.” —Booklist

Download or read book Opium’s Orphans written by P. E. Caquet and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2022-06-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Upending all we know about the war on drugs, a history of the anti-narcotics movement’s origins, evolution, and questionable effectiveness. Opium’s Orphans is the first full history of drug prohibition and the “war on drugs.” A no-holds-barred but balanced account, it shows that drug suppression was born of historical accident, not rational design. The war on drugs did not originate in Europe or the United States, and even less with President Nixon, but in China. Two Opium Wars followed by Western attempts to atone for them gave birth to an anti-narcotics order that has come to span the globe. But has the war on drugs succeeded? As opioid deaths and cartel violence run rampant, contestation becomes more vocal, and marijuana is slated for legalization, Opium's Orphans proposes that it is time to go back to the drawing board.

Download or read book Shooting Up written by Łukasz Kamieński and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pharmacologically enhanced militaries -- Alcohol -- From pre-modern times to the end of the Second World War -- Pre-modern times: opium, hashish, mushrooms and coca -- Napoleon in Egypt and the adventures of Europeans with hashish -- The Opium Wars -- The American Civil War, opium, morphine and the "soldiers' disease"--The colonial wars and the terrifying "barbarians"--coca to cocaine: the First World War -- The Second World War -- The Cold War -- From the Korean War to the war over mind control -- In search of wonderful new techniques and weapons -- Vietnam: the first true pharmacological war -- The Red Army in Afghanistan and the problem of drug addiction -- Towards the present -- Contemporary irregular armies empowered by drugs -- Intoxicated child soldiers -- Drugs in the contemporary American Armed Forces -- Conclusion -- Epilogue: war as a drug

Download or read book Ten Drugs written by Thomas Hager and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The stories are skillfully told and entirely entertaining . . . An expert, mostly feel-good book about modern medicine” from the award-winning author (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher’s genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine. Beginning with opium, the “joy plant,” which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies. This is a deep, wide-ranging, and wildly entertaining book. “[An] absorbing new book.” —The New York Times Book Review “[A] well-written and engaging chronicle.” —The Wall Street Journal “Lucidly informative and compulsively readable.” —Publishers Weekly “Entertaining [and] insightful.” —Booklist “Well-written, well-researched and fascinating to read Ten Drugs provides an insightful look at how drugs have shaped modern medical practices. Towards the end of the book Hager writes that he ‘came away surprised by some of the things he had learned.’ I had the very same reaction.” —Penny Le Couteur, coauthor of Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History