Presents a collection of essays that examine the drug, opiates, including information on its medical history, cultural impact, and use and abuse in experimentation.
General Note
Includes index.
Content Note
ch. 1. Early opiates -- 1. An overview of early opium use / Martin Booth -- 2. The British and Chinese opium wars / Westel Woodbury Willoughby -- 3. Chinese immigration brings opium smoking to America in the mid-1800s / David T. Courtwright -- 4. Physicians abuse morphine in the late 1800s / Thomas D. Crothers -- 5. Opium smuggling in India in the nineteenth century / Charles Edward Buckland -- ch. 2. Opiates in the twentieth century -- 1. Early opiate legislation / John Kaplan -- 2. Doctors prescribe heroin in the early 1900s / Arnold S. Trebach -- 3. Heroin abuse in the 1920s / Lyman Beecher Stowe -- 4. The CIA allies with Asian drug warlords in the mid-twentieth century / Alfred W. McCoy -- 5. The U.S. heroin epidemic in the 1960s and 1970s / Robert L. DuPont -- 6. Asia's golden triangle produces heroin for global consumption / Rodney Tasker -- 7. Heroin in the 1990s / James A. Inciardi, Lana D. Harrison -- ch. 3. Opiates today -- 1. Methadone is a deadly treatment for heroin addiction / Theodore Dalrymple -- 2. Methadone is an effective treatment for heroin addiction / Alex Wodak -- 3. Treating opiate addiction as a central nervous system disorder / Andre Waismann -- 4. Physicians prescribe heroin in the United Kingdom / Gerry B. Stimson, Nicky Metrebian -- 5. The evils of heroin are exaggerated / Jacob Sullum -- 6. OxyContin drug abuse / James A. Inciardi, Jennifer L. Goode -- 7. Central Asia's opiate problem / Aram Roston -- Glossary -- Appendix. Facts about opiates -- Chronology -- Organizations to contact -- For further research.