Amphetamine-Abuse Books

This thoroughly researched and very well written book is the history of the amphetamine class of drugs that were first created in the early part of the 20th century and are still causing problems for society for today. In addition to the history of the drug, there is an allegorical story running parallel to the drug that is a detailed and scary look at practices in the pharmaceutical industry then and now.

Amphetamine, as a class of drugs, was first discovered by Gordon Alles in 1929 while he was doing research on adrenaline substitutes. Although he was not the first to actually identify the molecule, he was the first to precipitate the salt form and identify it as a potential drug. Eventually he sold the rights to the drug to the Smith Kline French Co. in Philadelphia and the hunt was on to find a use for the new drug, as it was a drug looking for a home.

The story follows the hunt to find a use for the new compound and the efforts by the company to get doctors to experiment with "creative" uses for the compound. The one thing the drug appeared to do well was to make people feel happy and empowered. Other than that, it had little use but the company worked around that problem by getting the military to issue speed to soldiers during World War II as a way of keeping them sharp.

The book follows these uses, as well as the use of the inhaler version for recreational drug use and deals, in detail, with the many times the drug could have been put out to pasture only to be rescued by the company that was making so much money from it.

It is still prescribed today, even given what is known about the addictive properties of the drug. And, of course, illegal drug manufactures discovered numerous ways to make it cheaply from legal products, ensuring that it lives on to today.

While I would not recommend this book as a light read, it is certainly a detailed and fascinating look at a drug the public had no real use for and was sold on anyway. It is well written and very readable for those with an interest in the pharmaceutical industry or for a history of the drug itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this extensively researched, thought-provoking and well-written book. First formulated in the 1930s, speed -- a drug in search of a market - - was initially sold as an antidepressant although results of trials at that time gave little evidence of any effectiveness in that role and substantial evidence of risk. One of the most interesting discussions is on the varied experiences of early testers, who described the drug as anywhere from a confidence-booster (English testers) to a productivity tool (American testers). During World War II, soldiers and airmen of Germany, England, and the U.S. were prescribed speed as an "upper" to keep flight crews awake on long missions and more generally as a morale booster. Interestingly, of the three only Germany stopped using it as its highly addictive and psychotic properties made it dangerous and unreliable. These properties became familiar in the subculture and speed became the drug of choice for beatniks. The postwar years saw an explosion in both prescribed and illicit use of amphetamines with the emergence of happy pills for the middle classes; by the sixties about 1 in 10 Americans were using amphetamines in one form or another. Most shocking to me was the incredible, recent and on-going growth of amphetamines in an entirely new market, namely children and adults with attention deficit disorder.

The book's conclusions are based on actual scientific evidence rather than conventional wisdom about these eras and their cultures. Interesting as the particular story of speed is, it is also used by the author as a proxy for examining the role of drugs, in general, in modern medicine and in society, especially the manner in which drugs are developed and marketed. The book leaves one questioning the reliance on drugs as the treatment of choice for a host of ailments, and the ease with which the latest 'miracle drugs' are widely marketed before the full range of their complications and risks are examined.

I purchased this book for my high school's library and it has proven to be very popular. We also have many of Rosen's other titles and they all have been an important assett to us.

Written by experts in the medical and addiction-treatment professions, Crack and Ice gives today's clinicians one of the most comprehensive examinations of these two smokable stimulants and the most effective ways to treat patients with drug addictions. You'll gain invaluable insight into the historical and social contexts of cocaine and methamphetamine, and how these have inflenced use, abuse, and treatment methods today.

Tables, charts, and graphs combine with easy-to-comprehend text to give you the answers to key issues such as:

* Pharmacology of cocaine and methamphetamine
What is the ultimate goal for pharmacological and psychosocial treatment of cocaine addiction?

* Medical Complications
What do you need to know to most effectively counsel clients about the risks of drug use and to make appropriate referrals?

* Psychiatric Complications
Why is psychopathology a widespread issue among stimulant abusers and why is it critical for you to be aware of its role during treatment?

* Treatment Modalities
Is there one modality that works best for stimulant abusers?
What is the first action that clinicians need to take?

* Paths to Abstinence
Which is more difficult for stimulant addicts: to stop using or to stay abstinent?
--- from book's back cover

This book has an easy to read format and gets down to the basics of the methamphetamine epidemic in the U.S. Very candid in approach it reveals some of the horrors of the addiction but also is very educational. Anyone wanting to know about methamphetamine should definitely pick it up.

"The Speed Culture" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy" http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

THIS BOOK HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ANYONE WHO MAYBE STRUGGLING IN THIS AREA OR THAT MIGHT KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO IS. THIS BOOK GOES INTO DETAIL AS TO THE VERY POWERFUL EFFECTS CRYSTAL METH HAS ON A PERSONS MIND AND HOW THE DEVIL USES THIS DRUG AS A POWERFUL TOOL TO DESTROY PEOPLES LIVES.

This book was written by a man filled with the Holy Spirit. His story is captivating and should be read by anyone who personally uses meth or knows someone who does.
Reason will not free anyone from the grip of this addiction nor will the efforts of any other individual. Read this guide to better understand the experience of the meth user and the war he must fight.

this book tells it like it is-the author has really been there and come out the other side of an addiction that not many ever come back from- i am one of the few and know this book is for real

Thank God I'm not to "intellectual" to read this book. Thank God this person who wrote this book didn't wait until he was a chemical engineer and knew all the proper scientific terms, before he wrote this book.

If "science" could deliver people from meth there wouldn't be an epidemic. Truth is, once this "demonic door" is opened, only Jesus can close it.

Thank God I didn't listen to the negative reviews before purchasing this book.

I read this book in rehab in 2003. I think that this is the same book.It seemed to be thicker then. I think that the bible verses should be of a new century version. I sent this book to my son in prison and think that it would have been easier for him to understand what the verses were saying.

I have read this book about twenty times and love it as much each new read as I did the first time. Elizabeth is a phenominal writer and takes a person to the depths of addiction, through her dispair, and pain, and brings you back to her normalicy which is only normal in the way an addicts life can be. You feel her misery and hold your breath with each twist her story brings. I'm too tired to write a longer review or I would. Just read it and you'll understand what an addicted woman goes though when she's in the trenches and how hard it is to get sober no matter what you have. I'm a recovering addict and she told my story minus the Harvard education. Elizabeth is great and so is her book. It's entertaining as hell even if you could care less about addiction.

Okay, so at least this was better than "Prozac Nation", but seriously Miss Wurtzel, can we put away the ego and inferiority complex for one minute?

The recount of her slip into addiction was interesting, not Wurtzel's story, but the process of her transitioning into a full-blown addict. The sad part is that once she got clean, I couldn't stand her.

I would recommend borrowing this from the library, but not buying it. It was just okay.

I love the way Elizabeth Wurtzel writes in this book. It's a style that's cocky and self-assured while simultaneously vulnerable and unrelentingly honest about self. I think it details the confliction those of us who tackle the task of learning about our true selves, and how to cope with our behaviors, all go through.

If a book can be written in "real time," this one was. There isn't really any direction: It is simply a download written in whatever order things happened to occur. Actually, I liked this book; I thought Elizabeth Wurtzel had something to say, and she did a good job of getting her thoughts down in writing. However, I would be slow to recommend More, Now, Again to anybody else. I do not think it is a book that would appeal very much to the majority of people.

First of all, Wurtzel is an excellent writer. More, Now, Again is a memoir of her addiction. So like most memoirs, if you haven't actually lived through similar experiences, you are only getting the story while "attempting" to understand the feelings. Addiction is a very complicated thing, and most likely if you are not an addict yourself, you will not ID with Wurtzel. Now, for those in recovery, this book is a MUST read! It dives into the true desperation and and denial of addiction, and you can feel her pain every step of the way.

I've read many memoirs, especially those of people in recovery. More, Now, Again is top notch, and provides strengh and hope to those who have lived through the dark shadows of drug addiction.

Once again, if you're not an addict and are bashing this book in any way, it's simply because you just cannot understand something as deep as this without living it. Sorry to all you normal people! =D

Some people hated Prozac Nation because they found Wurtzel to be whiny. Those same people absolutely loathed Wurtzel for the same reason. I, however, beg to differ. Prozac Nation was an accurate picture of living inside the head of someone with chronic and debilitating depression. More, Now, Again is the accurate picture of living inside an addict's head. Wurtzel spares no detail, no matter how small or awful. She emerges (again) as the villain in her own story, and I think that's where people fail to see the beauty in Wurtzel's writing. Anyone can paint themselves as a hero or a victim and still be likable; Wurtzel paints herself as the villain and manages to keep from alienating the reader.

At times, she is frustrating, childish, and as dumb as a box of hair, but all addicts are. Wurtzel presents herself to us at her most awful and despicable without ever losing her humanity. This is definitely worth a read.

I had no idea anyone could be this self involved...how many books about herself are we all going to get? 12? 20? Reading this was truly an ordeal; I should have known better. People who actually do something other than stare at their reflection and sigh deserve memoirs and biographies...she is just wasting perfectly good paper.

She was published initially because there was sex! and drugs!...etc... and she looked pretty in the photo shoots - I guess we just need for her to wrinkle up and then we'll be spared yet more of this inane self pitying dross.

This book was okay. The author describes her descent into cocaine abuse and her subsequent recovery. She comes off as whiney and bitchy at times. Also, she makes you question her dedication to her work as she describes her excessive drugging during the creation of her books (designed to empower).

"More, Now, Again" is a sequel of sorts to Wurtzel's generation-defining "Prozac Nation." After receiving a six-figure advance for her second book of non-fiction, Wurtzel became addicted to Ritalin and cocaine. This memoir, like her first book, is honest, moving, and funny. If you want a realistic yet entertaining take on addiction (as opposed to, say, James Frey's "Million Little Pieces"), chances are that you'll enjoy this book.

Wurtzel is a divisive literary figure who appeared topless on the cover of her second book, and such publicity stunts have turned a lot of readers off. Her behavior in "More, Now, Again," including sleeping with a married man and having an abortion, turned even more readers off. It's a shame, too, because this book is as unconventional and entertaining as Wurtzel is as a literary celebrity.

From the first time I read the back cover of this book, I was hooked. Wurtzel's description of Ritalin as "sugar...the sweetness in the days that have none" mirrored ver batim my own experience with the drug. As a recovering addict, it was impossible not to be moved by Wurtzel's brutally honest and totally real account of her experience with the true nature of addiction - both the pain and the redemption. Yet I wouldn't be altogether surprised if to the average reader Wurtzel is seen as a self-absorbed, attention-seeking brat. For this reason I don't recommend this book to someone with no knowledge of or experience with addiction, not because the book isn't excellent but for that very reason. What makes this book great is Wurtzel's ability to verbalize the seemingly irrelavant details of what it is to be addicted. More, Now Again is not a pleasant read, and to the average person Wurtzel may seem anything but a heroine. But what may seem a depressing, drawn-out whine-fest to some is sure to grab the gut of the recovering addict. Wurtzel puts into words what we all feel, and will tell you truths about yourself that even you were not aware existed. You will laugh with her, cry with her, and ultimately cheer her - and yourself - on as she finds what all addicts so desperately long for - hope.

It's been a month now and I still don't have my hands on it.How's it being shipped? By row boat!!!

If being on the cutting edge of the art world means imortalizing crack-house addicts and other voidoids from the baseboards of society then Larry Clark should be hailed as "King of the Scum". I can hardly wait to see how the next generation will imortalize him.

"Tulsa" was Larry Clark's first book of photography. It made him famous instantly. The stark black-and-white visual style proved to be highly influential, and has been cited as an inspiration by such directors as Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Gus Van Sant. But perhaps more importantly, "Tulsa" was perceived as an uncommonly honest work, because Clark actually lived the life that he depicted. He was accepted by the world of marginals and drug addicts, he knew all of the characters in the book personally. And furthermore, "Tulsa" clearly shows the consequences of the marginal lifestyle, such as accidental gunshot wounds and dead babies. All this gave Clark a lot of credibility.

The book is honest, in the sense that all the photographs truthfully depict what occurred, and Clark probably didn't need to set any of them up. But nonetheless, it is very highly and deliberately stylized. In fact, most of the dramatic effect comes from the stylization, and not the immediate content of the photographs.

Let's examine how Clark does this. Consider the opening paragraph:

"i was born in tulsa oklahoma in 1943. when i was sixteen i started shooting amphetamine. i shot with my friends everyday for three years and then left town but i've gone back through the years. once the needle goes in it never comes out. L.C."

The paragraph is brilliant in its dramatic conciseness. It provides all of the context one needs to understand the photographs. At the same time, it reveals almost nothing about Clark. But this very lack of information already creates a certain sense of mystery and tension. The last sentence evokes an air of inevitable tragedy, and Clark's self-effacing use of initials seems to downplay his personal role and suggest that the tragedy may be universal, not limited to specific names.

The only other text in the book consists of a handful of captions. Almost all of the photographs are untitled, so Clark's choice of words for the captions is painstakingly deliberate. One of the few titled photographs is the one on the cover of the book. The caption reads, "dead 1970". The opposite page is blank except for the one line, "death is more perfect than life".

If there is a more perfect evocation of gloomy youthful romanticism, I'd like to see it. Probably Billy Mann assumed that pose by himself, and Clark was merely there to photograph it. But in this book and with this caption, Mann becomes a kind of tragic hero. There is nothing natural about his pose. It obviously glamorizes him, along with the self-destructive quote on the opposite page. But the caption's merciless conciseness makes Mann's death seem inevitable, and it also suggests vulnerability and naivete on his part, as if he didn't know that his guns and posturing wouldn't be able to save him.

In fact, the best way to read "Tulsa" is not as a Naturalistic document, a social commentary, or an indictment of society, but as a classical tragedy. The opening makes it obvious that something terrible will happen, but the photographs purposefully start early, with the tragedy a long way away. The first two photographs show the two principal characters, David Roper and Billy Mann, whose names are given in the captions. Clark makes them look touchingly young. Roper is squatting down with his chin on his arm and looking directly at the camera. He looks serious and lost in thought. Mann has a worried look on his face. In different ways, they look earnest and vulnerable.

Another picture shows Roper hunting in the woods, looking up into a tree with what looks like boyish delight. The first scenes of drug use take place in a well-lit dining room with a white tablecloth and a picture of Jesus. The point is obvious -- Clark is trying to create a sense of innocence that will be lost by the end of the book. He doesn't show how the characters were introduced to drugs or how they obtain them. In some sense, drugs aren't really the cause of the characters' downfall. Like in classical tragedy, it's more like fate.

The rest of the book achieves its power through contrast with these early scenes. Towards the end, Roper is portrayed as a big, shaggy junkie with a cynical grin. If this part is shocking, it's because one can't help but compare this image with the thoughtful boy on the first page. The settings also get progressively seedier, with much heavier use of darkness and shadow, underscoring the book's sense of inexorability.

Then, of course, there's a picture showing a pregnant woman shooting speed, shortly followed by a picture of a dead baby in a coffin. These events are like a sign that redemption has become impossible. But the characters don't seem to really want it, anyway.

And, in the very end, there's a photograph of three naked teenagers preparing to shoot speed. They're much younger than the other characters in this part of the book, so there's a hint of that innocence shown in the very beginning. But the implication is that the same conclusion is equally inevitable, and in fact will arrive much faster this time around. And yet the photograph is undeniably sensual, creating a feeling of subtle regret.

Clark's later work doesn't read in the same way. His second book "Teenage Lust," for example, reprises many of the scenes from "Tulsa," but contains much more text and information, and ends with a very long stream-of-consciousness autobiographical narrative. In some sense this decreases the power of the images. "Teenage Lust" is still worth seeking out (as of this writing, it has not yet been reprinted in an affordable edition), but "Tulsa" has a fatalistic mystique that stands apart from anything else Clark has ever made.

Wasted lives and forgotten deaths. And a sense of voyeur's shame.

After seeing the recent Larry Clark collection at the International Center of Photography in New York, I decided I needed this collection.

I had never experienced this side of Tulsa (the city) before. I make frequent trips there for daily outings (it's only 2 hours away), but I've never experienced the harsh reality of the meth addict lifestyle that was portrayed in this book. Of course, that was 40 years ago, times change, and the drug is more commonplace in this area now.

What I've always liked about Larry Clark's work is that it doesn't set out to glorify situations such as those portrayed in "Tulsa". It's more about cause and effect. The reality that your actions bring about some other action. Playing with guns can lead to accidental gunshot wounds. Pregnant? Shooting up may kill the baby.

The photographs here are grim, disturbing, yet beautiful. Something which isn't the subject of much glamourized photography.

I just wish his other books were re-released.