|
|
|
Diabetes and Its Management
Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most costly burdensome chronic
diseases of our time and is condition that is increasing in
epidemic population in the whole world. The complications
resulting from the diseases are a significant cause of...
Environmental 'Quackery'
ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE: Our modern preservatives and other pollutants like yellow dye no. 5 have caused bodily responses which detract or impair the natural process of our system. It is a serious issue that science may argue about while we all...
Help Your Immune System Fight Diseases With Natural Health Medicine
The benefits of taking care of yourself are some of the rewards
you get from knowing that you are doing the best for your body.
This includes the most important part of your body--the part
which is in fact a mechanism that protects your body:...
Herbal Remedies To Prevent Travelers Diarrhea
Travelers visiting many tropical, sub-tropical and developing
countries run an increased risk of suffering a gastrointestinal
illness. These are usually caused by bacteria, parasites and
viruses. The microscopic bugs at the top of these rather...
The Power of Ganoderma in Oriental Medicine
Ganoderma, a rare variety of Mushroom credited with the highest medicinal qualities by the classic Chinese ‘Seng Nong’ is indeed a subject of much research from the ancient china of 100 B.C. or earlier to the modern times by various universities and...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Drugs and Commerce: A History
In his book, Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World, David Courtwright, Professor of History at the University of North Florida, tells "the story of psychoactive commerce." It is Courtwright's theme that psychoactive drugs - both legal and illegal - are commodities, like bread or cloth. They are manufactured, packaged, distributed, marketed and used much like any other commodity. They go in and out of public favor and new and improved products are constantly being introduced. Throughout human history, governments had generally treated drugs like any other commodities. Prior to the Twentieth Century opium, coca, and cannabis were all legally available in the form of patent medicines that were widely and casualty used in both the United States and Britain.
Courtwright divides his book into three sections, with some overlap in content between sections. The first (titled "The Confluence of Psychoactive Resources") describes the way drugs, having originally been geographically confined, entered the stream of global commerce. He compares the history of drugs to the history of infectious diseases in that travel and transport were the variables that influenced the spread of both. Alcohol, tobacco and caffeine (the "big three") and opium, cannabis, and coca ("the little three") all owed their success, he claims, to the expansion of oceangoing commerce.
In the second section ("Drugs and Commerce") Courtwright takes up the issue of drugs as medical and recreational products. Section three
("Drugs and Power") discusses pressures and developments that influenced governments to discard the centuries old policy of a taxed, legal drug commerce in favor of restriction and, in some cases, even prohibition. Not surprisingly, he concludes that this happened "because it served the interests of the wealthy and powerful," but he seems to largely overlook the important role that racism played in motivating prohibition.
Despite the evident failure of drug prohibition in the U.S. and elsewhere, Courtwright endorses the continuation of supply-side strategies. He insists that drugs will be abused wherever they are available, and that efforts must therefore focus on reducing supply. "The task now," he writes, "is to adjust the system." But his optimism about making prohibition work seems perfunctory. Throughout this book, Courtwright paints a gloomy view of the drug problem that is likely to convince the reader that no adjustments to the system will cut off the supply of drugs. There is much to be gained from reading this book whether you accept the author's policy conclusions or not.
Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World by David T. Courtwright. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. http://commonplacebook.tripod.com/home/id20.html
About the Author
Dr. David F. Duncan is the President of Duncan & Associates, a research and policy studies consulting firm in the areas of public health, mental health, and drug abuse.
http://www.duncan-associates.com
|
|
|
|
|
| National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
| Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
| Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
| www.medicinenet.com |
|
| Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
| Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
| medlineplus.gov |
|
| Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
| Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
| The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
| content.nejm.org |
|
| eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
| eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
| www.emedicine.com |
|
| Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
| the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
|
| Medicine - home |
| Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
| www.md-journal.com |
|
| Institute of Medicine |
| The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
| www.iom.edu |
|
| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
| Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
| Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
| www.google.com |
|
| the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
|
| PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
| PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
| medicine.plosjournals.org |
|
| Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
| Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
| www.priory.com |
|
| Entrez PubMed |
| PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
| www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| med.stanford.edu |
|
| Medicine OnLine |
| Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
| www.meds.com |
|
|