Synopses & Reviews
In 1884 American physicians discovered the anesthetic value of cocaine, and over the next three decades this substance derived from the coca plant became so popular that it became, ironically, a public health problem. Demand exceeded supply; abuse proliferated. The black market produced a legendary underground of cocaine fiends. As attempts at regulation failed, Congress in 1914 banned cocaine outright, and America launched its longstanding war against now-illegal drugs.
Challenging traditional thinking about both the 'rise' and 'fall' of drug problems (which makes legal prohibition the pivotal point in the story), Spillane examines phenomena that have eluded earlier students of drug history. He explores the role of American business in fostering consumer interest in cocaine during the years when no law proscribed its use, the ways in which authorities and social agents tried nonetheless to establish informal controls on the substance, and the mixed results they achieved.
In asking how this pain-allaying drug became recognizably dangerous, how reformers tried to ameliorate its social effects, and how an underground of cocaine abusers developed even before regulation of the drug industry as a whole, Spillane discovers contingency, complication, and mixed motives. Arguing that the underground drug culture had origins other than in federal prohibition can tell us as we face questions about drug policy today.
Synopsis
Winner of the Addiction Book Award from the Society for the Study of Addiction
In 1884 American physicians discovered the anesthetic value of cocaine, and over the next three decades this substance derived from the coca plant became so popular that it became, ironically, a public health problem. Demand exceeded supply; abuse proliferated. The black market produced a legendary underground of cocaine fiends. As attempts at regulation failed, Congress in 1914 banned cocaine outright, and America launched its longstanding war against now-illegal drugs.
Challenging traditional thinking about both the 'rise' and 'fall' of drug problems (which makes legal prohibition the pivotal point in the story), Spillane examines phenomena that have eluded earlier students of drug history. He explores the role of American business in fostering consumer interest in cocaine during the years when no law proscribed its use, the ways in which authorities and social agents tried nonetheless to establish informal controls on the substance, and the mixed results they achieved.
In asking how this pain-allaying drug became recognizably dangerous, how reformers tried to ameliorate its social effects, and how an underground of cocaine abusers developed even before regulation of the drug industry as a whole, Spillane discovers contingency, complication, and mixed motives. Arguing that the underground drug culture had origins other than in federal prohibition can tell us as we face questions about drug policy today.
Synopsis
A second generation of medical and scientific studies has significantly advanced our knowledge of the postnatal consequences of fetal exposure to cocaine. Experiments involving both animals and humans have yielded a striking convergence of findings, indicating that higher levels of cocaine exposure alters programs for brain development in ways that may be associated with lasting changes in brain structure, neuronal function, and behavior. The crack baby syndrome, in other words, is real, but the effects are more subtle than was previously thought.
In Cocaine: Effects on the Developing Brain John A. Harvey and Barry E. Kosofsky bring together a distinguished group of authorities to present a summary of these new findings. While stressing that no single factor independently determines a particular behavioral outcome, the authors present evidence that indicates a clear association of prenatal cocaine exposure with abnormalities ranging from such measurable physical attributes as decreased head size to more subtle behavioral deficits such as modulating attention, impulsivity, and responsiveness.
At a time when studies indicate that as many as 221,000 women use an illicit drug at least once during pregnancy, the authors set as a high priority ways of identifying which children and infants are at risk and what kinds of interventions are appropriate. General topics include maternal-fetal effects; postnatal effects; developmental mechanisms; functional deficits; longitudinal studies in humans; and public policy.