High : drugs, desire, and a nation of users /
Walker, Ingrid,
High : drugs, desire, and a nation of users / Ingrid Walker. - 1st Edition. - 220 pages : illustrations, charts ; 23 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Preface: Breaking user silence -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: We are all users -- Picture a drug user -- Criminalization : winning the crusade but losing the war -- Medicalization : defining drug use -- Why we use : the pleasure and the eros of drugs -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Selected bibliography -- Index.
Whether drinking Red Bull, relieving chronic pain with oxycodone, or experimenting with Ecstasy, Americans participate in a culture of self-medication, using psychoactive substances to enhance or manage our moods. A "drug-free America" seems to be a fantasyland that most people don't want to inhabit. High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks fundamental questions about US drug policies and social norms. Why do we endorse the use of some drugs and criminalize others? Why do we accept the necessity of a doctor-prescribed opiate but not the same thing bought off the street? This divided approach shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and health care. And despite the decades-old war on drugs, drug use remains relatively unchanged. Ingrid Walker speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization, incorporating first-person narratives to show a wide variety of user experiences with drugs. By challenging current thinking about drugs and users, Walker calls for a next wave of drug policy reform in the United States, beginning with recognizing the full spectrum of drug use practices"--Back cover blurb.
9780295742311 0295742313 9780295742328 0295742321
2017019448
Drug utilization--United States.
Drug abuse--United States.
Drug control--United States.
Drug abusers--United States.
HV5825 / .W38123 2017
High : drugs, desire, and a nation of users / Ingrid Walker. - 1st Edition. - 220 pages : illustrations, charts ; 23 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Preface: Breaking user silence -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: We are all users -- Picture a drug user -- Criminalization : winning the crusade but losing the war -- Medicalization : defining drug use -- Why we use : the pleasure and the eros of drugs -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Glossary -- Selected bibliography -- Index.
Whether drinking Red Bull, relieving chronic pain with oxycodone, or experimenting with Ecstasy, Americans participate in a culture of self-medication, using psychoactive substances to enhance or manage our moods. A "drug-free America" seems to be a fantasyland that most people don't want to inhabit. High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks fundamental questions about US drug policies and social norms. Why do we endorse the use of some drugs and criminalize others? Why do we accept the necessity of a doctor-prescribed opiate but not the same thing bought off the street? This divided approach shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and health care. And despite the decades-old war on drugs, drug use remains relatively unchanged. Ingrid Walker speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization, incorporating first-person narratives to show a wide variety of user experiences with drugs. By challenging current thinking about drugs and users, Walker calls for a next wave of drug policy reform in the United States, beginning with recognizing the full spectrum of drug use practices"--Back cover blurb.
9780295742311 0295742313 9780295742328 0295742321
2017019448
Drug utilization--United States.
Drug abuse--United States.
Drug control--United States.
Drug abusers--United States.
HV5825 / .W38123 2017