From Chocolate to Morphine: Everything You Need to Know about Mind-Altering Drugs

by Andrew Weil, Winifred Rosen

Overview

From Chocolate to Morphine is the definitive guide to drugs and drug use from one of America’s most respected and best-known doctors. This enormously popular book—the best and most authoritative resource for unbiased information about how drugs affect the mind and the body—covers a wide range of available substances, from coffee to marijuana, antihistamines to psychedelics, steroids to smart drugs, and discusses likely effects, precautions, and alternatives. Now expanded and updated to cover such drugs as oxycontin, Ecstasy, Prozac, and ephedra and to address numerous ongoing issues, including the United States’ war on drugs, marijuana for therapeutic use, the overuse of drugs for children diagnosed with ADHD, and more, From Chocolate to Morphine is an invaluable resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780618483792
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	09/27/2011
Pages:	306
Sales rank:	167,481
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Andrew Weil, M.D., has degrees in biology and medicine from Harvard University. Author of the best-selling Spontaneous Healing and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, he traveled the world experiencing and studying healers and healing systems and has earned an international reputation as an expert on alternative medicine, mind-body interactions, and medical botany. He is the associate director of the Division of Social Perspectives in Medicine and the director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Hometown:

Tucson, Arizona

Date of Birth:

June 8, 1942

Place of Birth:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Education:

B.A. in Biology, Harvard University, 1964; M.D., Harvard Medical School, 1968

Website:

http://www.drweil.com

Table of Contents

1	Straight talk at the start	1
2	What is a drug?	10
3	Why people use drugs	15
4	Relationships with drugs	24
5	Types of drugs	30
6	Stimulants	38
7	Depressants	69
8	Psychedelics, or hallucinogens	111
9	Marijuana	135
10	Solvents and inhalants; deliriants; PCP and ketamine	150
11	Medical drugs; herbal remedies; smart drugs	170
12	Problems with drugs	193
13	Alternatives to taking drugs	210
14	Final words	216

Editorial Reviews

Since drug use has occurred throughout history and within most cultures, the authors in this updated edition of their original work ( LJ 3/15/83) believe that ``education based on truthful information is the only solution to the drug problem.'' In straightforward language, Weil and Rosen distinguish between drug use and drug abuse and stress the importance of developing a ``good relationship'' with drugs. Because the authors do not condemn drug use (legal or illegal), their volume may be considered unorthodox by some. Each chapter deals with a specific class of drugs, such as stimulants, depressants, and psychedelics, and describes the different effects of drugs in each category. At the end of each chapter are some precautions for using those drugs and also suggested readings for more information. Aimed at young people and their parents and teachers, this book offers an alternative way of looking at drug use. Recommended for public libraries.-- Kathleen McQuiston, Philadelphia Coll. of Pharmacy & Science

Library Journal