Book Description:
People have been using substances to lift their spirits for millennia. Techniques for fermenting beer and related tipples are known from Egypt and Sumeria 4000 years ago, and they soon spread across the inhabited world. Coca leaves (the source of cocaine), tobacco, and caffeine were also popular with ancient cultures.
Humans may even have an evolutionary pre-disposition to seek out narcotics, even though they can be addictive and damaging. Some people may have genes which make them more genetically prone to drug addiction than others. This book includes research on drug taking, examining both legal highs, such as alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, and illegal stimulants, such as marijuana, LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines, heroin and magic mushrooms and the so-called date-rape drugs rohypnol and GHB.

Table of Contents:
Preface

Chapter I - New Research on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Peripheral Biological Markers in Alcoholism), pp. 1-62;
(Nela Pivac, Dragica Kozaric-Kovacic, Maja Mustapi, Martina Deželjin, Korona Nenadi-Šviglin, Dorotea Muck-Šeler (Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia, Department of Psychiatry, Referral Centre for the Stress Related Disorders, Clinical Hospital Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia Psychiatric Hospital Vrape, Zagreb, Croatia))

Chapter II - New Research on Methamphetamine Abuse (Gender Differences in Methamphetamine Effects: Review of Animal and Human Studies), pp. 63-88;
(Bin Liu and Dean E. Dluzen (Dept. of Anatomy, Northeastern Ohio Univ. College of Medicine (NEOUCOM), Rootstown, OH))

Chapter III - Fluoxetine Trial for the Cannabis-Related Symptoms of Comorbid Adolescents, pp. 89-94;
(Jack R. Cornelius, Oscar G. Bukstein, Duncan B. Clark, James K. Matta, Ihsan M. Salloum (Dept. of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Univ. of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine))

Chapter IV - Chromatographic Determination of Methamphetamine and Amphetamine Analogues in Human Urine and Blood, pp. 95-119;
(Akira Namera, Akihiro Nakamoto, Manami Nishida, Mikio Yashiki (Dept. of Legal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima Univ., Hiroshima, Japan))

Chapter V - Methamphetamine-induced Behavior in Rodents as a Psychotic Index, pp. 121-132;
(Yohtaro Numachi, Motoyasu Yamashita (Dept. of Psychobiology, Tohoku Univ. Graduate School of Medicine, Japan), Sumiko Yoshida (Dept. of Health and Welfare Science, Sendai College, Japan), Mitsumoto Sato (Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku Fukushi University, Japan), F. Scott Hall, George R. Uhl, Ichiro Sora (Molecular Neurobiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, USA))

Chapter VI - Smoking Cessation Feasibility in Alcoholic Smokers,
pp. 133-142;
(Gemma Nieva, Lluisa Ortega, Silvia Mondon, Antoni Gual (Unitat Alcohologia, Institut de Psiquiatria i Psicologia, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain))

Chapter VII - The Importance of Contextual Control over Amphetamine Dependence: Evidence from an Animal Model of Addiction, pp. 143-164;
(ML. Andersen, S. Tufik (Dept. of Psychobiology,) R. Frussa-Filho (Pharmacology, Univ. Federal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil))

Chapter VIII - International Drug Trade and U.S. Foreign Policy,
pp. 165-182;
(Raphael F. Perl)

Chapter IX - War on Drugs: The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, pp. 183-189;
(Mark Eddy)

Index