Buzzed: The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy

by Cynthia M. Kuhn, Wilkie Wilson, Scott Swartzwelder

Book Overview

Neither a just say no treatise nor a how-to manual, this easy-to-read handbook is based on the conviction that well-informed people make better decisions. It provides information on how drugs enter the body, how they manipulate the brain, their short- and long-term effects, the high they produce and the circumstances in which they can be deadly. psychological and pharmacological research on drugs. Whether the reader is a student confronted by drugs...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393324931
• ISBN13: 9780393324938
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 345 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Detailed and informative

This book has proven to be useful on more than one occasion. I have a deep appreciation for this book

Modern, Factual, Agenda-Free Handbook on Modern Drug Abuse

Some folks reviewing this book don't seem to understand the purpose for which the book was intended: This is a general consumer book with "straight facts" from Ph.D.s in pharmacology and chemistry on "the most used and abused drugs." This isn't intended to be comprehensive. It it certainly isn't about grandstanding as some tool in the "war on drugs." The motto in this book is "Just say Know." The authors candidly observe, for example, that it's practically impossible to overdose on marijuana. There's no "Reefer Madness" in this text. And alcohol, caffeine and nicotine certainly qualify as abused drugs in this day and age. The substances that are covered include those above and Ecstasy (MDMA), various hallucinogens (LSD, mushrooms, peyote, etc.), so-called "herbal drugs", various inhalants (nitrous oxide and psychotoxics), marijuana, opiates, sedatives in general and stimulants in general. The chapters on "Drug Basics," "Brain Basics" and "Legal Issues" were straightforward and concise. I work principally in law enforcement and use this book along with the Drug Identification Bible as resource literature in helping local kids with presentations. One of the authors, Dr. Wilkie Wilson, has been a TV Dateline expert and wonderful spokesperson for being informed about the risks of drug use.

Great Primer On Many Aspects Of Addictive Substances

I am a health care professional who just started working with patients in a hospital detox setting. This book was exactly what I was looking for as a review and primer on the effects different drugs had on the brain and body. The book is in two parts. Part one is basically a quick reference to the different classes of addictive substances, how they affect the brain, how the body disposes of them, the type of withdrawl someone will experience, etc. Part two covers some basics of neuropharmacology which you will need to understand some of the technical info in part one, and also goes into things as varied as the addictive process and social and legal issues involved with drug use. There is a good bibliography and a great index with many of the common street names for a variety of drugs and drug related activities. I would highly reccommend this to anyone in health care, education, or any type of drug counseling or rehab. Great tool for patient/client/student education about drugs that is factual and easy to understand.

Very good, unbiased information on recreational drugs

I read this book as a casual user of marijuana, alcohol, and nicotine. This book has made me come to the realization that I will never use another illegal drug other than marijuana. I never knew the drugs that my classmates were using so carelessly were so destructive. What I like most about the book is the fact that the information is completely unbiased, and is just focused on giving you the straight facts. Information that you get from other, unreliable sources, such as Internet web sites, is so completely biased towards telling you how horrible drugs are, you begin to pick up that you are not being given the whole truth but rather what anti-drug people want you to believe. "Buzzed" gave me more incentive to never do hard drugs than those "unreliable" sources would ever have, even with their terrible drug horror stories. People are smart....just give them the information they need about something, and they will decide their actions from there. I reccomend this book to anyone taking any drugs (including marijuana, alcohol, or nicotine), or anyone considering taking a potentially dangerous recreational drug.

Buy this book -- it could save your life

In a time where literature on illegal substance is usually limited to propaganda either for or against drugs, their legalization, etc.., this book provides a refreshing, unbiased account. The knowledge it provides on a drug's different effects on the body, the brain, one's emotional well-being, and its addictive potential prove to be invaluable. This is not a crusade against the use of substances, but it does not seek to glorify their use. Anyone planning on experimenting with any drug should at least read this book first. It allows an individual to weigh the risks from a more educated point of view as it dispels myths and delivers what it says it will: the straight facts. I would urge everyone involved in this area from policy makers to other students to buy this book and read it. I finished it in two days, and I'm a better-informed, more careful thinker because of it.Don't go to a party without it.

BUZZED takes much of the mystery out of how drugs work!

Understanding how drugs and alcohol work on the human body is an ongoing mystery for many people, whether citizens, students, or professionals working with drug/alcohol issues. Many traditional approaches include moralistic perspectives which, while helpful for some purposes, are not part of the human body's processing of these substances! BUZZED provides the facts, stripped of their moral and legal connotations, about how drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and other substances work on the human body. BUZZED is refreshing in that it explains, with the best understanding that we have today, HOW drugs work on the body, and WHY they work the way they do. Refreshingly, BUZZED provides this information in a way which helps the reader understand these facts. The book provides an understanding of why people generally feel the way they do when using various substances, and provides information about the various dangers that may be associated.I believe the book will be helpful for people of all ages and all walks of life. While many of the biochemical principles and details underlying substance use and abuse are extremely complex, BUZZED takes these and makes them understandable.I find it particularly helpful to see this emphasis upon the brain chemistry, and how drugs are linked to the neurotransmitters that we are increasingly coming to understand and respect. My only critique of the book is that I wish it included references for further reading and more detailed elaboration. I anticipate that drug and alcohol education approaches, such as those emphasized in BUZZED, will come to represent the best approaches to helping people, particularly young people, understand and respect these substances to a greater degree. I think it provides great promise for future changes in how we understand drugs and alcohol, and how we address this important issue as the United States and as a world culture. David Anderson, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Center for the Advancement of Public Health, George Mason University - Fairfax, VA