Cocaine-Abuse Books

This is one of those books that I could not put down. It was an entertaining true account of justice gone awry. The ending was very satisfying.

Nate Blakeslee's "Tulia" tells the story of dozens of people, mostly black, who were arrested in 1999 for selling cocaine in Tulia, Texas. There was insufficient evidence that the defendants were guilty, and the undercover narcotics investigator who brought the charges had a checkered background, but the defendants were wrongfully convicted and given sentences that were grossly draconian. Fortunately, a few years later, the convictions were overturned.

The book also discusses more than just the legal case--it takes an in-depth look at Tulia, presenting a brief history of the town, and showing how rural America has suffered economically in recent decades as jobs and opportunity have fled.

I don't usually read this kind of stuff but picked this up after talking with one of the characters in this book. Very readable and balanced. I'd never have intentionally read a book where lawyers and the ACLU were the good guys ...... but this was an excellent read.

I am still reading this book, which requires the reader to really digest what is being said. Take about a miscarriage of justice, and the time it took to get it right. Every chapter I have read, I have said to myself "unbelievable." I suggest that everyone that wants to see a twentieth century miscarriage of justice in Texas needs to read this book. My cousin turned me on to this book, and now I wish the readers of this review take time to read this book. It is definitely a MUST READ!!!

Coming from a small South Arkansas town, I had mixed emotions reading this book. As a licensed attorney, the obvious abuses of criminal and constitutional law are indeed disturbing. I am not without empathy however for the jury members and town folks of Tulia, whose town and way of life have been irrevocably damaged by the drug trade and the small town hoodlums who participate in it.

Despite the authors best efforts, the vast majority (if not all) of the defendants in the Tulia sting are certainly not "innocent". They may have been "not guilty" of the particular charges concocted by the crooked narc, but when your defense is "I sold him crack, not powdered cocaine", it's a little hard to gin up sympathy. When the author tries to paint one of the defendants as a sympathetic character, he does so by noting that "they only found a single rock of crack in their search."

Bottom line, however, is that regardless of the guilt or innocence of the defendants, frontier justice and judicial abuse can never be countenanced. Drugs have destroyed many small towns across the South and especially those communities harboring large, destitute minority populations. Hopelessness coupled with lack of opportunity and topped off with low moral character is a witches brew for just the sort of thing evidenced by Tulia and all the characters in this real life drama.

Finally, it should be kept in mind that the author telling this story is an admitted member of the "left leaning media" (his own words). While many of the facts contained in the book are not in dispute, I have no doubt that they are presented in a biased fashion. Just as hearing one side of the story rarely gives a true picture, I imagine the same story told by members of law enforcement might sound somewhat different. The defendants might not be viewed quite so sympathetically. The residents of Tulia might not be painted to be the drooling, racist morons that the author many times paints them to be. The ravages of the drug culture might paint efforts of the local legal authorities in a better light.

I am always one for a sad childhood story...the seedier the better. However, I just could not get into this book. The dream sequences bored me especially since I don't want to hear about my own families dreams so why do I care about that of a strangers? Also, her adult life just was not that bad. Okay, so you have an addiction problem. While I sympathize with this, I just couldn't muster up anything inside to feel sorry for this (unsure of her nationality just as she is)- American Princess. She needs to move to the Midwest and discover that life isn't all about brand name shoes and bags and "Yale Crews".

I found her story gut wrenching and mesmerizing. Sullivan crafts an absorbing memoir from painful experiences. She writes beautifully.

In her book about her childhood with an abusive and neglectful drug-addicted mother, Sullivan does not only paint in black and white. There are no absolutes. Her mother is not horribly evil all the time--no, sometimes she knits and makes lunches. Unfortunately the times that she locks herself in a bedroom, or spends food money on drugs, or exposes her daughter to an abusive boyfriend are far more frequent.

Sullivan hurts, and tries to hide for most of her young adult life, but as we've come to expect in memoir, she heals as well. Thanks to a supporting cast of her "father," (who she had the good fortune to pick herself), friends old and new, and most of all the self she wants to be, she kicks her own drug and alcohol addictions.

I read memoir to remind myself about what is inside the people we see each day. Most have overcome something or are struggling with something at the moment. Sullivan's story makes us think and reminds us of the power of hope, but also not to paint everyone's past with the same brush.

I haven't finished a book this quickly since I was twelve and read Beverly Cleary by the week. THE SKY ISN'T VISIBLE will hold you by the throat. It is gripping and tragic--making it that much more hopeful in the end. It takes a bold and talented writer to tell a disturbing story in such an endearing way.

I didn't hate the book and it was interesting enough that I was curious how it would end. However, I felt like her writing style was all over the place. Some chapters are about dreams. Some are written in the third person. Some in first person. One chapter I didn't even know what she was talking about. It didn't flow that well and I felt like she was trying too hard. The story itself was soso. I've read better.

Two of the reviewers can't even spell the name of the country correct.

I first read this book several years ago whilst travelling through Columbia and could hardly put it down. All the travellers that I met were asking for copies and it has taken on an almost cult status down there. The book is very well written and adds an extra dimension for those intending to take time out and explore this wonderful country. I can't believe that it's out of print!

This was a very interesting book about Columbia, a bizarre bit of journalism involving drugs and a mad celtic friend of his who lives in Columbia.

It describes Columbia very well whilst having an almost novel-like grip as a result of the underlying reason for him being there and also for some of the things that he did.

He describes well the culture of Columbia at the time. It might have changed. He also compares how it had changed from when he was there 12 years previously. Overall a gripping book that took me less than 4 days to read as I was so entranced in it.

'The Fruit Palace' is no romp through the woods, rather it is a valiant (if idiotic) push through a river of information to see who can survive to the other side by a half-informed journalist with an ego problem- which he addresses several times in the book. Charles Nicholl had spent some time living in Colombia before being set on a chase by his young, naïve publisher after The Great Cocaine Story, but he knew he was unprepared for this. He had smoked some basuko (half-processed cocaine) and snorted a bit of yay here and there recreationally, bur he knew he was getting himself into something he couldn't handle. This misadventure guides him across Colombia, from the cities to the jungles to the deserts, all in the search of a mysterious cocaine distributor known as 'Snow White'. It is a marvellous book, very well-written and surprisingly true, and I recommend you buy a used copy immediately.
By the way... Despite what some of the other reviewers said, this is NOT, repeat NOT a travel book, it is if anything a true adventure story.

I adore this book! I've read it several times and have given copies to everyone I know -- that is, I did so until it went out of print and I could no longer find it. What idiot publisher made that decision? This is one of the greatest travel books of all time. My bookshelves are not complete without my very own copy. Please find me one! (P.S. It's a slice of life in Colombia, in South America, not Central America, as another reader claims.)

This book is very treatment oriented. However there is some good information as to the addiction itself. Skimmed over alot of parts of it.

This book offered an insite into the why of addiction. It also offered steps to stay on the path of being drug free, and how to avoid the pit falls of using drugs again. To be honest with ones self-evaluation and to understand the long range effects of using Cocaine is also discussed in this book. An Extemely benificial read.

Written in '89, this book is as current as can be. Extremely helpful, specially for family of addicts. Very clearly and to the point, it covers all the facts; onset of desease, progression, treatment and most important relapse prevention. A must read if someone you love is cocaine dependent. What an eye opener! Highly recomended.

When my husband entered rehab for cocaine addiction several weeks ago, I knew nothing about this drug, and why it had such a hold on him. After reading this book, I feel like I can understand where he is at, and how to deal with it. As someone said before it contains priceless information. I thank God I was able to find this book. I highly recommend it to addicts, family members, and professionals wanting to learn everything about cocaine addiction.

As someone who has suffered with an addict for years, and who also plans to eventually practice in the field of addiction and recovery, I found this book to contain a wealth of priceless information. It provided incredible insight into the mind of the addict which will be useful to the addict himself, to family and friends, as well as to the treatment professional. A must read for anyone touched by the pain of addiction.

This collection of 17 stories though uneven at times, as might expected, is all in all a worthwhile read. I particularly enjoyed Ten Keys by Lee Child about a guy trying to rip off drug dealers; Susan Straight's Poinciana about a strung out hooker;Chemistry by Robert Ward about the set up in a bar of a self styled stud; Golden Pacific by Nina Revoyr about the sad life of a 13 year old girl forced into prostitution;Sentimental Value by Manuel Ramos about a former star athlete who was seriously injured in Vietnam; Just Surviving Another day by Detrice Jones about the day to day struggle for survival of a black schoolgirl;and Bill Moody's Camaro Blue about a jazz musician who ends up touched romantically by the death of a car thief.

Series of short stories all centering around cocaine use. Started reading it last night. Hard to put down. Gives those of us who have no clue as to how the world of cocaine works some insight. Very interesting - fiction or not.

From the introduction of The Cocaine Chronicles, editors Gary Phillips and Jervery Tervalon claim that they are "observers of the human condition in its various physical and psychological permutations". They were intrigued by this project as no one has ever broached an anthology on a drug that has been prevalent in our society for well over a century with its hey days in the 1920's and 1980's - decades that celebrated excess. In this bold anthology, we meet the casual sniffers, the heavy users, the dealers, the victims and the unsuspecting victims on both sides of the coast - hysterical romps, tragic characters and unfathomable lows - rendering cocaine a drug that is anything but glamorous. The Cocaine Chronicles is assembled in four sections that loosely dictate the varying degrees of addiction and the affects that cocaine has on its participants.

An encounter between two men in a dive bar incurs chilling consequences in Lee Child's sharp opener, "The Keys" , as the reader bears witness to a low-rate drug mule's frantic confession that he robbed from a powerful Colombian crew - a million to be exact, in cash and keys - to what he believes to be a stranger. In Laura Lippman's "The Crack Cocaine Diet", two seemingly vapid mall rats resolve that the only way to be superior to the boyfriends who have dumped them is to drop weight fast and since the doctors are too "tight with the scripts" and fad diets just won't do, they decide on a cocaine binge to loose their excess baggage. After a series of phone calls, they make off for their adventure and a comedy of errors ensues from confusing drug slang ("American Idol" & "Survivor" as code names for coke and heroin) to screaming at dealers for refunds, the story takes a darker turn when the girls end up at a dealer's home. Lippman soars by deploying subtle cues of the underlying resentment between the two "best friends" and by the story's elegantly-drawn close, the reader learns to never underestimate vengeful, suburban girls.

In the section "Fiending", we shift from cocaine dabbling to full-blown addictions, where weekend party favors morph into daily rituals that turn into the shakes, the twitches, and suddenly you're hungry for your next fix. A junkie narrator crashes with his sixty-three-year-old "weirdly hot" drug dealer, Suzy, as she repeatedly regales Hollywood stories about her dead B-celebrity husband, while begging for coke to be shot up her ass in Jerry Stahl's pitch-perfect, "Twilight of the Stooges" . Stahl captures the tragic and hysterical life of an addict with pristine lucidity:

I don't have memories. I just have nerves that still hurt in my brain. Shooting coke does that. Even when you're smoking it, when you fixed you could just wipe the inside of your skull clean as porcelain. Coke was about toilets and toilets were shiny white.

Through dialogue repetition, false light and a glaring television screen that dully illuminates, Stahl navigates the addict's world with such vigor. Where cocaine is the only light even when you realize you can't remotely feel anything - all your emotions have numbed, where self-humiliation is par for the course and you've become this person who thinks coke is salvation but you're left with white-outs and a life not lived, suffering in a confined, inescapable state of despair that worsens with the passing of each day. In Robert Ward's deliciously twisted "Chemistry", a self-professed "connoisseur" of women - seducing unsuspecting women with feigned sensitivity and cocaine at his local bar - discovers the cost of his sly, manipulative mind-games.

In the section "Corruption", the lens turns its focus outward, to ruminate on the victims of cocaine who are not solely the users. Neglected children that assume adult roles while toiling in their own filth, still yearn to be innocent, playful children yet suffer the consequences of the adult users in their life (a dope-fiend mother, a paternal "pleasant" drug dealer and a down & out landlord frightened to lose his drug connection) in Kerry West's deft tale, "Shame".

In the final section, "Gangsters and Monsters", characters are at their southernmost point. A kingpin drug lord who has now found god and the good life but struggles to snitch on a murder that could inevitably cost him his life, a man leading a ho-hum life is finally awakened when his car is stolen and used in a fatal police car chase/drug bust and a ex-con chef trying to lead a sober, mindful life, gets pulled into the world of celebrity when he works for an eccentric music mogul - all the stories offer the hope for redemption, a way out.

With the exception of a few overwritten, unrealized accounts - the all too-familiar theme that cocaine will ruin your life, with little deviation from this ideology of JUST SAY NO! - the stories in The Cocaine Chronicles are sometimes poignant, sometimes horrifying, but quite frequently, rather satisfying.

In the short story collection 'The Cocaine Chronicles' (Akashic Books, 2005), noted true crime writers Gary Phillips and Jervey Tervalon have compiled 17 astonishing tales of addiction. The stories investigate all aspects of the drug lifestyle from the hunt for the drug into the underworld that surrounds it and most interestingly the psychological impact that the drug has those ensnared in its grip.

'Chronicles' is a solid example of the cutting edge, blow-your-mind literature that has made Akashic Books a household name in both the independent and commercial publishing industries.

For the full text as well as other book reviews, fiction, poetry, and more, visit www.voidmagazine.com.

Void Magazine: something worth writing for

As a 20 year old college student, I know the "hype" of "pot", "blow", "x" and other drugs...drugs are an epidemic on college campuses...
I read an article/review on this book and bought it right away...For a person who doesn't read much...I'm surprised to find my hands permanantly glued to this book. It's addicting! I even recommended it to some friends, and other students on campus (who were confused as to why I was walking around with the book)...
For those high school/college students...get this book..you won't regret it!

This is the novel I needed.

There is a depth of honesty here that is both raw and extremely sensitive. Vadim Maslennikov's narration begins in school, focusing on the rise of a fellow student, Burkewitz. The narrator is ashamed of his mother and her rags and attempts to live in a world distant from his background. Throughout the course of the novel, from school to a marred love affair to losing his 'nasal virginity' (i.e. taking cocaine), Vadim explores the extremes of his personality, philosophizing, offering the reader insights into his and the human condition.

If you enjoy Dostoevsky, Hamsun and Rimbaud, this book is a must. The prose is poetic, scintillating at times, offering a beautiful panorama of the Russian world at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Revolution is in the muted background but the pain of war, the sense of isolation and loneliness all persist in the forefront. Vadim is like the narrators of 'Notes from the Underground', 'Hunger' and 'The Drunken Boat' - alive, swelling with life, longings and ravenous emotions. I read it in a day and know I'll probably have to read it again because there are wondrous layers to this book. These are the books that feel so close to life, to the trembling highs and lows we experience in youth and early adulthood. The author remains unknown but the legacy of this book deserves a renowned place amongst the greater cannon of writers of this genre. It looks forward to J.D. Salinger and Bret Easton Ellis. I highly recommend this novel - it is an experience.

This book had been so built up by other people who had read it that I expected more. The writing is uneven and the first two thirds of the book seem to have almost no relation to the last third.
The first two thirds of the book gave a few interesting details of life in Russia just before the Revolution, but other than that I foundit very uninteresting. It is not until alomst the end of the book that the element of cocaine is even introduced and when it is the book quickly winds to its unsurprising end.

Having already been a fan of Dostoevsky & Tolstoy, it was Charles Bukowski who pointed me back to the Russians as being the only producers of literature that's worth reading. "A Novel with Cocaine" is a fine example of a novel that has something worthwhile on its pages.

Might we say that it's existentialist in it thinking? The individual caught in a universe that really doesn't give a damn about the individual... and the individual's struggle to find something to do, and a place to fit.

Camus and Sartre are puny little runts compared to Ageyev! Ageyev gives us the moment-to-moment REAL stuff that actually matters. One character goes up in front of his high school math classs to work out a problem... he sneezes and boogers are hanging out of his face while the class laughs. How does he deal with this?

Ageyev keeps his work as something regular folks can identify with. Not all of his situations deal with boogers (or things just as gross), but they're all common enough to keep a reader's interest without drawing the reader into pompous brain-teasers that few of us can access.

Conversely, Camus and Sartre take us into a high-minded realm which is interesting, but when will I ever have to think about whether or not to kill a wheelchair-bound guy because he doesn't have the nerve to do it himself? How many of our lives are impacted by such decisions?

Ageyev is much more interesting. He's a great writer. He's got a great sense of humor and he's FIRMLY rooted in common existence.

Though the book is titled "A Novel with Cocaine," sure there's a great deal about the main characters travels through the underworld of drugs and drug people and the activities between them. But, I think that this is more of a way for the writer to access his more interesting ideas--as opposed to writing a book that's really about cocaine.

Losing his "nasal virginity" in an adventure into the wonders and horrors of cocaine addiction, the central character finds his answer to insecurity and social ineptitude in a potent white powder as his peer in The Overcoat seeks the same comfort in a dark, tattered garment.

If the pseudonym doesn't give it away, this anonymous author provides another dim glance into nineteenth century St. Petersberg that seems a brushstroke within the same portrait alongside those by Gogol and Dostoevsky. Imagine the Underground Man not tormenting his maid, but out in the streets snorting cocaine, searching for a female companion.

Novel with Cocaine is not essential reading, but it is another worthwhile glimpse at the literary products of desperate and dark nineteenth century St. Petersberg. Glorification of drug use is a problem in the late twentieth century. Novel with Cocaine will force you to think again with grave reluctance that neither McInerney nor Ellis have been able to posit in the minds of their readers.

This strange little tale of a young man's descent into cocaine addiction is less interesting for it's portrayal of the youthful anti-hero's chemical use as his astounding philosophical insights. Vadim does not actually use cocaine until the end of the novel ('the beginning of the end', as it were) and the novel is mostly composed of his Dostoevskian self loathing and inability to relate to his peers on any level. It is almost an exercise in depressive solipsism; while Vadim's peers play a large role in the novel his inner world is so tortured and miles apart from them that the author might as well have portrayed him as a complete misanthrope. In the opening we get a feel for where his moral compass is swinging; he gives a venereal disease to a young woman in full cognizance of what he is doing. He agonizes over it, but this does not prevent him from actually doing it. The most catching scenes in the novel are when his classmates, thrown into a kind of cocaine induced revolt against the orthodoxy of the school they attend, verbally attack priests and teachers. Burkewitz, a character we encounter later in the book, gives a particularly interesting speech to the headmaster priest of the school in the middle of a sermon. There are thoroughly disturbing scenes; Vadim strikes his mother, steals from her, all the while recognizing her basic goodness and frail attempts to relate to him. Vadim wants to consider himself exceptional, a unique student and son, and at the same time loathes himself. Many of his self evaluations strike a schizoid note. His entrance into the world of cocaine use is preceded by his rejection of a girl with whom he was too fearful to consummate his relationship. Like everyone else, she has a false image of him and rejects him entirely when he fails to live up to it. We are only given blurry pictures of the lengths to which he goes to obtain cocaine after a few seamy scenes in which his 'friends' instruct him in the mechanics of use. "My son is a thief", his mother wails. Vadim's disturbing coke dreams are not of the usual variety; far from being visions of grandiosity, they are unconscious and violent recognitions of his own guilt and wretchedness. I wouldn't hesitate to say that this is one of the most bizarre novels I have ever encountered. It oscillates between philosophy, self loathing and insanity, and does not strike an even balance. I would recommend it to anyone, not for knowledge of a cocaine addict's world (this is not a realistic depiction) but as a jolting primer for any study or enjoyment of the literature of decadence.

The author, who is also a physician, has now become a historian as well. His lucid and methodical recounting of the history of drugs use in general and cocaine in particular, truly opened my eyes. As a physician, he explains why the drug does what it does and why people use it. As a historian, he documents all his statements of fact with an extensive bibliography. He does not sound like he is on a crusade either for or against drugs, but one can't help come to a conclusion about the current state of affairs in the world's "war on drugs." A must-read book for anyone who claims to have an opinion on the issue of drugs in our society.

Karch's book covers a vast amount of ground. As he explains, modern views of cocaine tend to ignore the vast literature written before computer indexing. His own papers on heart pathology in cocaine-related deaths led him to find that the topic had been explored a century earlier, and that the knowledge had been forgotten completely.

But... this is one of the most poorly edited books I have ever seen. Whole paragraphs are recycled in chapter after chapter, dates are misprinted, the index is useless etc. etc.

The same book, shortened by dropping the repetitions, or lengthened by following up on some of the tantalizing subjects hinted at (e.g just how did the Japanese military turn surplus cocaine into cash?), would be much more satisfying.

As a forensic pathologist, and the foremost expert on the pathology of drugs of abuse, Steven Karch is well known around the world. In this new edition, Karch reveals his skill as an historian as well, packing the text with fascinating facts about the centuries of interest this drug has spurred. In some parts, reading like a celebrity tabloid, no person or company is spared the revelation of their involvement in the cocaine business. Freud's testimonials regarding the helpfulness of cocaine in curing morphine addition are worth the price of the book, as are the efforts of the early Parke-Davis, and Merck, to provide enough of the drug to satisfy growing demand.

Despite the seriousness of this subject, Karch never loses a light touch, and a priceless gift for irony: "Herman Knapp...found that when cocaine was applied to his eye and his urethra, the silver nitrate [used for cauterizing and usually very painful] produced no pain whatsoever. Perhaps his enthusiasm had waned by the time he got around to checking his rectum..."

Karch also offers more somber information that suggests a question behind the history--one quarter of incarcerated Americans are in prison for drug offenses. Does that sound like we've won the war?

The author writes well. The book is short and not packed with sidelights. Along the way the author draws parallels with today's headlines, and shows they are old news ("war on drugs" was tried by the Spanish; "zero tolerance" by the early FDA in the US during 1905).

As a bonus, the author explains medical oddities, as he is also the world's expert on drug effects on the body. For example, why cocaine injected is more toxic than cocaine ingested, why cocaine injected in certain parts of the body leads to fatalities while in other parts of the body does not, and why cocaine and wine (which was the basis for a very popular wine 150 years ago--Mariani wine which was one of the first 'celebrity endorsed' mass advertisement product) is more potent than cocaine alone. Also the origins of Merck (cocaine marketer) and Freud (unwitting or witting promoter), and the different species of cocaine plants (some more potent than others).

Packed with information: Coca-cola and cocaine (not enough drug to give you a buzz); the government sponsored use of cocaine (shades of today's North Korea); early explorers promoting cocaine when they should have known better; urban legends and cocaine; why pure cocaine will induce animals to kill themselves from overdose (unlike morphine, another alkaloid based drug).

As a bonus, you learn about cocaine manufacture (coca leaves plus lime, then add to the solution an organic solvent like kerosene, gasoline, or alcohol, then precipitate the solution into a solid by adding an acid (since the solution is base) like sulfuric acid, to yield almost pure cocaine powder).

Very good book for the intelligent person. You can clearly see that today's 'war on drugs' is distorted: any traveler to South America can drink "matte de coca" (Coca leaf tea) and not get high, but try that in North America and the prison lobby will send you to jail.

Dr. Karch's book is neutral on this issue but implicitly argues against a blunderbuss approach.

Bruce Jacobs has produced two books -- Dealing Crack (1999) and Robbing Drug Dealers (2000) -- that accurately portray and insightfully dissect the world of drug trade. Perhaps the most competent judges of criminological research are criminals, and the ideas and stories found in Jacobs' work would likely provide practical as well as theoretical insights for both drug dealers and drug robbers.

Great book about street level crack dealing. It is also a marvelous study in field research and being 'on the other side' of the law.

I have read a copy of this book and recommend it to anyone interested in drug-dealing. I am tempted to give this book the nickname -- "The Art of War for Drug-Dealers," but this idea is over stating my case. A few quotes follow:

"Composure under fire is critical, no matter how intense the scrutiny. Equanimity can preempt police suspicion, while its absense can do the opposite. To look suspicious is bad in itself, but to try to cover it up is worse."

"The 'don't mess with me,' 'crazy' reputation is said to provide street crack sellers a measure of inoculation from victimization. Bourgois calls it a 'personal logic of violence in the streets overarching culture of terror.'"

"Blood cancels all debts."

"Active, street-level crack markets are saturated and increasingly unprofitable."

"As an organizational system, open-air selling has become a "distant third" to sellers working in crack houses and selers working with beepers who meet customers at preassigned locations."

"If history is any indication, it is not a question of if a new drug will emerge onto this volitile scene but when -- and what form it will take. The decline of one drug often signals the incubation of another."

..just wish he would read it now! It does no good for me to read it and badger him about all i discovered that could help him fight his addiction. He needs to realize he has a problem first and WANT to change!!

Addiction-Free Naturally has been an incredible resource. I have suffered from addiction for many years, and I find Mar's book an incredible resource. She encourages a program of recovery, including support networks, nutritional info, aromatherapy, acupuncture and pressure and herbal therapy as well. I had the delightful opportunity to meet Brigette when I lived in Boulder. I see that she had continued her studies and practice of her healing arts. I look forward to more books by Mars.

Behind The Eight Ball: Sex For Crack Cocaine Exchange And Poor Black Women (Haworth Psychosocial Issues of HIV/AIDS) (Haworth Psychosocial Issues of HIV/AIDS)
This was an eye opener for me. We take so much for granted. When I read this book and realized how many poor, young Black women were killing themselves from the use of crack, I was saddened. I can't believe a country as rich as the US doesn't have enough resources to help these poor women who because of circumstances and wrong choices were being victimized. Until Dr. Sharpe brought attention to these women, I'm sure most people didn't realize this group of hlepless women existed and continue to exist by any means necessary. This is a must read for young women and men to get a glimpse of what life is like for women who feel they have no other choice but to sell their bodies for something that can eventually kill them.

Dr. Tanya Sharpe has managed to provide an in-depth look at crack cocaine and its impact on urban poor black women. This text is a wonderful resource for disciplines working with poor black women, HIV prevention, and of course those in addiction and public health. Very few books of this kind successfully capture the intersection of crack cocaine use among poor black women with the HIV/AIDS epidemic, societal and psychosocial implications. I highly recommend this book.