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A Pro-User Anti-Prohibition Drug Bibliography.
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v.1.5 -- last updated 10/25/95

I started this list to suggest introductory readings on the 
contemporary American drug situation, to provide references 
giving a historical context to today's drug culture, and to offer a 
list of basic readings on the political-philosophical aspects of 
drug use. 

Copy & distribute this as you please, so long as you leave it 
intact.  Some of these books may be hard to find, so feel free to 
forward it to your favorite bookstore, library, teacher, or anyone 
who wants to start researching drug use and its accompanying 
issues.  If you have any suggestions or book lists of your own, 
please contact me.

-----
Tommy Ranks -- Friend of a Friend -- foucault@paranoia.com
Drug Culture/History: http://www.paranoia.com/~foucault/Babel
-----



-----------
Introductory
-----------

DRUGS, Richard G. Schlaadt and Peter T. Shannon.  Prentice 
Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990.

Focusing on the dangers and potentials for abuse of many 
drugs, this book also covers the social and legal aspects of the 
major contemporary drugs.  Fairly well-balanced, discusses 
both the risks of drug use and the rationality of legalization.



DRUGS: FACTS, ALTERNATIVES, DECISIONS, James M. 
Corry and Peter Cimbolic.  Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing 
Company, 1985.

A textbook that aims to reduce drug-use by honestly and 
unhysterically discussing the effects of drugs and their legal and 
social status, as well as studying the reasons people use drugs, 
and offering alternate methods of reaching altered 
consciousnesses.  A reasonable approach, accentuating the user 
and the natural desire to achieve altered states of mind.



DRUGS, SOCIETY, AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR, Oakley Ray 
and Charles Ksir.  Saint Louis: Times Mirror/Mosby College 
Publishing, 1990.

An excellent general overview, covering drug use and 
regulation, pharmacological basics, in-depth analyses of the 
legal drugs, tranquilizers and stimulants, narcotics, 
hallucinogens, and marijuana, and comments on "a rational look 
at drug use."  Well-documented with an abundance of relevant 
quotes and statistics; a rich set of references follow each chapter.  
The earlier editions are somewhat dated, but the later ones, 
especially the 1993 edition, are well-illustrated and designed for 
textbook use.



THE FACTS ABOUT DRUG USE: COPING WITH DRUGS 
AND ALCOHOL IN YOUR FAMILY, AT WORK, IN YOUR 
COMMUNITY, Barry Stimel.  New York: The Hayworth 
Medical Press, 1993.

Co-authored by the editors of Consumer Reports Books, this 
attempts to be a thorough and non-judgmental review of the 
most commonly used drugs, and their social and physiological 
effects.



LIVING WITH DRUGS, Michael Gossop.  Aldershot: Ashgate 
Publishing LTD., 1993.

Covers the history and effects of the major drugs, discusses 
"archetypal drugs of abuse", as well as several myths regarding 
drug abuse.  Chapters about the human search for altered 
experience and the social context of drugs.



RECREATIONAL DRUGS, Lawrence A. Young, Linda G. 
Young, Marjorie M. Klein, Donald M. Klein, Dorianne Beyer.  
New York: Berkley Books, 1977.

1-12 page chapters cover everything from Acid to DMT to 
Morphine to Spanish Fly to Yohimbe, dispelling many myths 
and offering a lot of history.  Useful in that it covers many 
substances often left out in other introductory books.



RESPONSIBLE DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE, Ruth C. Engs.  
New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1979.

Slightly dated, covers the basic drugs, laws, and physiological 
actions; includes many figures, diagrams, photographs, and 
self-examining quizzes.




---------------------
Cultural / Historical
---------------------

THE ALCHEMY OF CULTURE: INTOXICANTS IN 
SOCIETY, Richard Rudgley.  London: British Museum Press, 
1993.

A thorough and well-illustrated (though sometimes confusingly 
sequenced) text on the uses of intoxicants from the Stone Age to 
the European Middle Ages to the present.  In each case, the role 
of the intoxicant in question (fly agaric, hashish, hallucinogens, 
etc.) is examined in the context of its particular culture.



THE ARTIFICIAL PARADISES IN FRENCH LITERATURE: 
1. The Influence of Opium and Hashish on the Literature of 
French Romanticism and *Les Fleurs Du Mal*, Emanuel J. 
Mickel, Jr.  (University of North Carolina - Studies in the 
Romance Languages and Literatures Number 84.)  Chapel Hill: 
The University of North Carolina Press, 1969.

Particularly useful for its second and third chapters, "Historical 
Considerations of Opium and Hashish", and "Opium and 
Hashish in the Literary Society of the Nineteenth Century", 
which give many examples of productive drug use and lore.  
Also covers historical medical use, and ends with a detailed 
examination of Opium and Hashish use on the French 
Romantics, focusing on Baudelaire.  Well worth reading, 
though probably hard to find.



COCA EXOTICA: THE ILLUSTRATED STORY OF 
COCAINE, Joseph Kennedy.  New York: Cornwall Books, 
1985.

A well-illustrated guide to the history of cocaine, its impact on 
the cultures with which it has interacted, and the reasons for its 
misuse and disfavor today.



DRUGS, ADDICTION, AND INITIATION: THE MODERN 
SEARCH FOR RITUAL, Luigi Zoja.  Boston: Sigo Press, 
1989.

About the way drugs are used/abused as expressions of a need 
for cultural fulfillment which is not being met today, and which 
ultimately ends in consumerism.  A good criticism of many 
contemporary drug scenes.



FOOD OF THE GODS: THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGINAL 
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, Terence McKenna.  New York: 
Bantam Books, 1992.

Attempts to construct a unified theory of the spiritual uses of 
drugs by examining their use throughout history.



THE FORBIDDEN GAME: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF 
DRUGS, Brian Inglis.  London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1975.

The use of drugs alcohol, opium, cannabis, and other drugs 
through (mostly European) history; the last half of the book 
focuses on modern prohibition.  Many specific examples of 
drug-users' contributions to civilization.



HALLUCINOGENS AND SHAMANISM, Michael J. Harner, 
Ed.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.

A collection of essays that take a social anthropological 
approach: "Banisteriopsis Usage among the Peruvian 
Cashinahua", "The Sound of Running Water", "Visions and 
Cures among the Sharanahua", "Shamanism and Priesthood in 
Light of the Campa Ayahuasca Ceremony", "Shamanism and 
Peyote Use among the Apaches of the Mescalero Indian 
Reservation", "Curing with Ayahuasca in an Urban Slum", "The 
Mushrooms of Language", "The Role of Hallucinogenic Plants 
in European Witchcraft", "Common Themes in South American 
Indian Yage Experiences", "Psychological Aspects of the Yage 
Experience in an Experimental Setting".



HALLUCINOGENS: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES, 
Marlene Dobkin de Rios.  Albuquerque: University of New 
Mexico Press, 1984.

Covers the use of hallucinogens in aboriginal and non-European 
cultures, mostly covering South and Central Americans, with 
chapters on Australians, Siberians, and Plains Indians of North 
America.  Ends with a section, "Cross-cultural motifs".



INTOXICATION: LIFE IN PURSUIT OF ARTIFICIAL 
PARADISE, Ronald K. Siegel, Ph.D.  New York: E.P. Dutton, 
1989.

An excellent venture into the realm of the biological, historical, 
and sociological aspects of drug use.  Experiments with lab 
animals given drugs are mixed with stories of field research.  
The results of habitual use are explored and given a historical 
context; a case is made for intoxication being a "fourth drive", 
and the implications of drug use in society are discussed.



PHARMAKO/POEIA: PLANT POWERS, POISONS, AND 
HERBCRAFT, Dave Pendell. San Francisco: Mercury House, 
1995.

A blend of fiction and nonfiction, theory and history, poetry, 
text, and illustration.  A free-verse new-age-y tome on the nature 
of plants and their effects on the mind, it divides intoxicants into 
Thanatopathia, Inebriantia, Euphorica, Phantastica, and 
Excitantia, and goes from there.  Backs itself with numerous 
quotes and illustrations from varied sources.



SOCIETY AND DRUGS: DRUGS 1: SOCIAL AND 
CULTURAL OBSERVATIONS, Richard H. Blum and 
associates.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc. 1970.

132 pages of the history of drugs is followed by a cross-cultural 
study of drug use styles in non-literate societies, a case study of 
drinking behavior in Greece, a world view of drug use, some 
political chapters, the effect of the belief in demons on drug 
thought today, and a chapter on hippies.



TASTES OF PARADISE: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF SPICES, 
STIMULANTS, AND INTOXICANTS, Wolfgang 
Schivelbusch, transl. from the German by David Jacobson.  
New York: Pantheon Books, 1992.

A systematic study of *Genussmittel* - "articles of pleasure" 
which also, the author argues, tie the individual closer to 
society, often advancing that society in the process.  Begins with 
the European spice trade in the Middle Ages and moves through 
coffee, chocolate, tobbacco, liquor, opium and hashish.




------------------------
Political/Philosophical
------------------------

AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR: RETHINKING OUR 
TRAGIC CRUSADE AGAINST DRUGS, Stephen B. Duke 
and Albert C. Gross.  New York: G.P. Putnam, 1993.

Compares the debilitating effect of drug-use on society to the far 
greater debilitating effects of a "war" against drug-users on 
society.  Begins considering the various forms of legalization.  
Well-documented.



BREAKING THE IMPASSE IN THE WAR ON DRUGS, 
Steven Wisotsky.  New York: Greenwood Press, 1986.

Examines the corruption, loss of liberty, and black market 
networks created by the illegality of drugs, focusing on cocaine.  
Discusses the reasons for the intractability of the situation, and 
points towards solutions.



THE CASE FOR LEGALIZING DRUGS, Richard Lawrence 
Miller.  New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991.

After briefly describing the effects of the major drugs, and the 
impact of the drug user on society, the argument is made that the 
drug laws filled mostly social and political needs: "Because drug 
control was not the purpose of the restrictive laws, it is 
unsurprising that drug use has thrived despite them."  Many of 
the myths surrounding drug use are then dispelled, and past 
experiences with legalization are studied.  A good argument 
clearly stated.



CONFRONTING DRUG POLICY: ILLICIT DRUGS IN A 
FREE SOCIETY, Ronald Bayer and Gerald M. Oppenheimer, 
eds.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

A collection of essays: "The Great Drug Policy Debate -- What 
Means This Thing Called Decriminalization", "The Social 
Demography of Drug Use", "Drug Policy: Striking the Right 
Balance", "Drug Legalization and the Minority Poor", "Social 
Behavior, Public Policy, and Nonharmful Drug Use", "From 
Prohibition to Regulation: Lessons from Alcohol Policy for 
Drug Policy", "To Build a Bridge: The Use of Foreign Models 
by Domestic Critics of U.S. Drug Policy", "Drugs, the Criminal 
Law, and the Administration of Justice", "Compulsory 
Treatment for Drug-dependent Persons: Justifications for a 
Public Health Approach to Drug Dependency", "Helping 
Women Help Children: Drug Policy and Future Generations", 
"Medicalization of Psychoactive Substance Use and the Doctor-
Patient Relationship", "Legalizing Drugs: Lessons from (and 
about) Economics".



DRUG CONTROL IN THE AMERICAS, William O. Walker.  
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989.

A in-depth historical look at the political, production and 
transportation drug issues between the United States of America 
and Latin America up to the late 1940s, and the cultural 
differences that contributed to the current situation.



DRUG LEGALIZATION: FOR AND AGAINST, edited by 
Rod L. Evans and Irwin M. Berent.  La Salle, Illinois: Open 
Court Publishing, 1992.

An indispensable guide to the major arguments over 
contemporary American drug policy.  A collection of essays by 
experts such as Milton Friedman, Ethan A. Nadelmann, Thomas 
Szasz, William J. Benett, Kurt Schmoke, William F. Buckley, 
Jr. and more.  Approaches include economic, legal, moral, 
psychological, and historical.  Truly an invaluable resource for 
anyone interested in the debate.



THE DRUG SOLUTION, Chester Nelson Mitchell.  Ottawa: 
Carleton University Press, 1990.

A thorough examination and discussion of the practicalities of 
ending drug prohibition.



DRUGS AND RIGHTS, Douglas N. Husak.  Cambridge: 
Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Argues for the right of adults to use drugs; begins with medical, 
legal, and political details, considers drugs and the harm it does 
to the individuals and to others, finishes by listing the few 
special cases in which drug use could not be left to a responsible 
individual (pregnancy, the under-aged.)



DRUGS IN AMERICA: A SOCIAL HISTORY, 1800-1980, H. 
Wayne Morgan.  Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1981.

Focusing on the opiates, tells the story of drug-users in 
America, their social situations, and the history of the 
prohibition movements.



THE FACTS ABOUT "DRUG ABUSE", The Drug Abuse 
Council.  New York: The Free Press, 1980.

Report on the status of American drug use, and essays: "The 
Federal Government's Response to Illicit Drugs, 1969-1978", 
"Drug-Law Enforcement Efforts", "Heroin Treatment: 
Development, Status, Outlook", "The Influence of Public 
Attitudes and Understanding on Drug Education and 
Prefention", "Marijuana and Cocaine: The Process of Change in 
Drug Policy", "American Heroin Policy: Some Alternatives".



THE MARIHUANA CONVICTION: A HISTORY OF 
MARIHUANA PROHIBITION IN THE UNITED STATES, 
Richard J. Bonnie and Charles H. Whitebread II.  
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1975.

An extensive history of the suppression of Marijuana use in the 
United States, from the turn of the century to the 1970s.



MARIHUANA RECONSIDERED, Lester Grinspoon M.D.  
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977.

A comprehensive survey of the effects of Marihuana.



MARIJUANA: COSTS OF ABUSE, COSTS OF CONTROL, 
Mark A.R. Klein.  New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.

A consideration of the effects of illegality on the marijuana 
market, discussing drug consumption, supply and demand, and 
the possible effects of legalization.



MARIJUANA-- THE NEW PROHIBITION, John Kaplan.  
New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1975.

Dated but thorough book, examining many myths and realities 
of Marijuana's effects and its legal status.



OUR RIGHT TO DRUGS: THE CASE FOR A FREE 
MARKET, Thomas Szasz.  New York: Praeger Publishers, 
1992.

An excellent approach to the politics of drug use.  Analyses the 
laws against drugs, the legalization movements, and the 
American "War on Drugs" from a historical and sociopolitical 
perspective; argues against both the Prohibitionists and the half-
hearted Decriminalizers.  Very thorough; good bibliography and 
references sections.



PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS AND HARM REDUCTION: 
FROM FAITH TO SCIENCE, Heather, Wodak, et al., editors.  
London: Whurr Publishers, 1993.

A powerful, comprehensive introduction and analysis of the 
"harm reduction" approach to dealing with drug use, in which 
the damaging aspects of drug use, and not the drug user, are 
dealt with.  24 chapters by individual professionals and 
academics are divided into six parts: 1. Concepts and 
Definitions, 2. Perspectives on Harm Reduction, 3. Harm-
Reduction Policies, 4. Applications to Specific Substances, 5. 
Harm Reduction and Developing Countries, and 6. Harm 
Reduction and HIV/AIDS.  Definitely a worthwhile read for 
anyone interested in a rational, humane approach to resolving 
drug issues.



THE SEARCH FOR RATIONAL DRUG CONTROL, Franklin 
E. Zimring and Gordon Hawkins.  Cambridge: Cambridge 
University Press, 1992.

 After some historical and terminology basics, discusses the 
drug use debate "as a clash of presumptions between an 
emphasis on liberty and a preference for continuity in social and 
legal policy."  Offers suggestions towards a more rational drug 
debate, without pretending to give any simplistic answers.



SEX, DRUGS, DEATH, AND THE LAW: AN ESSAY ON 
HUMAN RIGHTS AND OVERCRIMINALIZATION, David 
A.J. Richards.  Totowa, Rowman and Littlefield: 1982.

Discusses the rights of the individual in matters of sex, drug-
use, and choosing the moment of death.  Puts drug-use in a 
useful context.



WAR ON DRUGS: STUDIES IN THE FAILURE OF U.S. 
NARCOTICS POLICY, Alfred W. McCoy and Alan A. Block, 
eds.  Boulder: Westview Press, 1992.

 A collection of essays from conferences held in 1990 and 1991: 
"U.S. Narcotics policy: an anatomy of failure", "International 
Narcotics Control: Bush's 'other war' --are we winning or 
losing?", "Failures at Home and Abroad: studies in the 
implementation of U.S. drug policy", "Reinforcing Poverty: the 
Bolivian war on cocaine", "Colombia's Cocaine Syndicates", 
"Honduras, the Contra Support Networks, and Cocaine: how 
the U.S. government has augmented America's drug crisis", 
"Drug Lords and Narco-corruption: the players change but the 
game continues", "CIA Assets and the Rise of the Guadalajara 
Connection", "A Smuggler's Paradise: cocaine trafficking 
through the Bahamas", "Heroin as a global commodity: a history 
of Southeast Asia's opium trade", "Heroin and Highland 
Insurgency in the Golden Triangle", "Pakistan: the empire of 
heroin."




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Other
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CANNABIS: REPORT BY THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE 
ON DRUG DEPENDENCE.  London: Her Majesty's Stationery 
Office, 1968.

A classic study in which a more tolerant approach to Cannabis is 
recommended.



GANJA IN JAMAICA: THE EFFECTS OF MARIJUANA 
USE, Vera Rubin and Labros Comitas.  New York: 
Anchor/Doubleday, 1976.

Another classic study, "the first medical anthropological project 
center on marijuana", many good figures and "inspired" 
quotations.



MIND, SELF, AND THE HALLUCINOGENS: A 
HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE, Russ Crescimanno.  New 
York: MSS Information Corporation, 1973.

A study of American youth drug users, and the effect of drugs 
on the mind/body relationship.



NARCOMANIA: ON HEROIN, Marek Kohn.  London: Faber 
and Faber, 1987.

An analysis of Heroin and its impact on British culture: its 
history, mythology, and recent hysteria.  Focuses on the reasons 
and purposes behind the various approaches to Heroin rather 
than on the basics of the drug itself.



A PRIMER OF DRUG ACTION, Robert M. Julien.  New 
York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1988.

Basics on the effects of drugs on the human body, from 
Psychoactives to Birth Controllers, with many diagrams.



REPORTER'S GUIDE: DRUGS, DRUG ABUSE ISSUES, 
RESOURCES, Allan Parachini.  Washington DC: The Drug 
Abuse Council, 1975.

Insightful look into the way reporters approached and researched 
drug and drug use.  A useful tool for personal research; many 
resources listed, many myths uncovered.  Somewhat dated.