Recommended Books
Angel in the Marble: Families and Addiction: Prevention and Recovery
Marie’s book includes guides and information – advising parents about children’s use of drugs, about addiction and corruption, and most importantly about prevention and early interventions – in order to live healthier and happier lives.
Parents - A Natural Preventive Against Drugs
Parents A Natural Preventive Against Drugs helps you find your own answers to these and many other questions regarding drugs. The book gives an overview of the main drugs, the dependence mechanism and the role of the United Nations in international drug control. It explains the dangers caused by drug abuse. It provides the necessary information to explain drug hazards to young people.
Whoa Dude
What the science of marijuana tells us about the harmful health effects of Weed for you, your friends, and your kids.
With the rush to legalize marijuana, it has been lost in the haze that marijuana is a psychoactive drug. A drug that can lead to serious health problems, in some people. Most vulnerable are adolescents, young adults, and pregnant women, but heavy or chronic use of Weed can also lead to dependence and health complications for people at all ages. The scientific evidence clearly shows effects of Cannabis and Cannabis products on Cognition, Memory, and IQ as well as influencing Psychosis, Anxiety, Depression, Cardiovascular problems, and other health and behavioral problems. This book leads you directly to the science of Marijuana and the deleterious effects on your health.
The Dangerous Truth About Today's Marijuana:
Johnny Stack's Life and Death Story
This is the poignant life-and-death story of Johnny Stack, whose young and vibrant life ended by suicide after his descent into addiction to high-potency marijuana and cannabis-induced psychosis. This book is a clarion call for parents across America to educate themselves about the risks of today’s high-THC marijuana products and to better understand the potentially devastating effects on youth mental health. Laura’s real-life story is backed by recent scientific-based research on how today’s potent THC products lead to mental illnesses in adolescents, such as anxiety, depression, paranoia, psychosis, and sadly, suicidal ideation.
Cannabis in Medicine - an Evidence-based Approach
Title: ‘Cannabis in Medicine – an Evidence-based Approach’
Editor: Dr Kenneth Finn
The legalization of marijuana is becoming increasingly prominent around the world. While there is some discussion of the relationship between marijuana and overall health, a comprehensive resource that outlines the medical literature for several organ systems, as well as non-medical societal effects, has yet to be seen.
While all physicians strive to practice evidence-based medicine, many clinicians aren’t aware of the facts surrounding cannabis and are guided by public opinion.
The book comprises case studies and meta-analyses, to provide clinicians with with a concise, evidence-based guide to various health concerns related to the use of marijuana. By addressing non-medical concerns, this book is also a useful resource for professionals working in the public health and legal fields.
This first of its kind book is a comprehensive compilation of multiple facets of cannabis recommendation, use and effects from a variety of different perspectives. Comprised of chapters dedicated to separate fields of medicine, this evidence-based guide outlines the current data, or lack thereof, as well as the need for further study. The book begins with a general overview of the neurobiology and pharmacology of THC and hemp. It then delves into various medical concerns that plague specific disciplines of medicine such as psychiatry, cardiology, gastrointestinal and neurology, among others. The end of the book focuses on non-medical concerns such as public health and safety, driving impairment and legal implications.
Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence
Author: Alex Berenson
An eye-opening report from an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug—facts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize cannabis.
Weed, INC.
Author: Ben Cort
The truth about what happens when capitalism meets a mind-altering substance.
Colorado’s Amendment 64, the game-changing amendment that authorized the use and regulation of marijuana in the state, sounded to most people who voted for it like a victory for social justice, a way to solve the problem of prison overcrowding, and a windfall for state and local governments that could reap the benefits from sales taxes. In Weed, Inc., author Ben Cort shows the truth. This was not simple legalization of a plant or decriminalization for those possessing it. Instead, the law was written to allow for the commercialization of the mind-altering component of marijuana, THC, by an industry now seeking to make it stronger and to get it into the hands of as many new users as possible. Controlled by a powerful, wealthy lobby, the industry has no federal oversight and has grown at a pace that’s made building and enforcing responsible regulation totally impossible, with adverse impacts to society, health, and the environment.
Chemical Slavery: Understanding Addiction and Stopping the Drug Epidemic Paperback – July 31, 2018
by Dr. Robert L. DuPont MD (Author),
Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey (Ret.) (Foreword)
In a landmark book from national drug policy leader Robert L. DuPont, MD, Chemical Slavery covers two crucial topics: First, the national drug epidemic including an understanding of its evolution to become a national emergency, and the science of addiction and recovery. Second, Dr. DuPont’s presents his experience-based guide to the intimate, day-to-day struggle with the disease of addiction from prevention to lasting recovery. This book shows the ways in which these two domains of addiction, the national and the personal, are intertwined and can be both understood and managed.
Stoners in America
Jose Carranza, MD, has spent the past thirty years practicing psychiatry and studying addictions. He explains exactly what is in this supposedly harmless substance. Marijuana contains ten different psychotropic drugs and more than four hundred chemicals that could damage your brain and influence your mental processes. The book also discusses
- the neurological effects of marijuana,
- the role pot can play in triggering psychosis,
- the lies behind the idea of “medical marijuana,”
- the link between the surge of violent crimes in America and marijuana use, and
- the surprisingly good news for smokers who are committed to quitting.
The Pied Piper of Pot
The historical record and the worldwide fluctuation in marijuana use rates by minors clearly establishes that kids do not just fall into drug use as an inevitable rite of passage. Kids are sold on drug use in specific cultures at various times. The Pied Pipers of Pot reveals how marijuana products have been pushed on the youth sector in recent years through a process of normalization and acceptance. The author argues that kids are no match for the aggressive and emerging marijuana industry and that the key to effective drug prevention is to curtail those that stand to prosper, economically or politically by advancing the pro-pot position.
Raising Boys
Some educators may not agree with Steve Biddulph eminent Australian psychologist, but in my view he makes a lot of common sense and outlines a number of important strategies about dealing with boys in their younger years which effects their decision making in their later years.
The Great Brain Robbery
What everyone should know about teenagers and drugs.
People take mood altering chemicals because they enjoy altering their moods. But for every high there is a low. For every trip a return journey.
All children entering adolescence need to know that there is no short cut to happiness through chemistry. There is only a short circuiting of the brain wiring that makes them, them.
Every human brain is a miraculous tapestry utterly unique to the weaver. When we tear this fragile tapestry we are damaging a one-off that can’t easily be repaired.
Authors: Tom Scott & Trevor Grice
Publisher: Independent Pub Group (2006)
ISBN: 1741146402
How to Keep Your Kids Drug Free
Author Name: Morey, R. A.
Title: How to Keep Your Kids Drug Free
The Bible doesn’t talk about drug abuse…does it?
A must for parents, pastors, and teachers who want to go beyond the rhetoric of anti-drug programs. It shows what Scripture says about the effects of drugs and teaches you how to apply Scriptural solutions.
A brief but convincing argument from Scripture against the use of drugs. Also contains practical counsel advice for teachers, pastors, and parents of drug abusers.
The War we Never Fought
Again and again British politicians, commentators and celebrities intone that ‘The War on Drugs has failed’. They then say that this is an argument for abandoning all attempts to reduce drug use through the criminal law. Peter Hitchens shows that in Britain there has been no serious ‘war on drugs’ since 1971, when a Tory government adopted a Labour plan to implement the revolutionary Wootton report. This gave cannabis, the most widely used illegal substance, a special legal status as a supposedly ‘soft’ drug (in fact, Hitchens argues, it is at least as dangerous as heroin and cocaine because of the threat it poses to mental health).
It began a progressive reduction of penalties for possession, and effectively disarmed the police. This process still continues, behind a screen of falsely ‘tough’ rhetoric from politicians. Far from there being a ‘war on drugs’, there has been a covert surrender to drugs, concealed behind an official obeisance to international treaty obligations. To all intents and purposes, cannabis is legal in Britain, and other major drugs are not far behind. In The War We Never Fought, Hitchens uncovers the secret history of the government’s true attitude, and the increasing recruitment of the police and courts to covert decriminalisation initiatives, and contrasts it with the rhetoric. Whatever and whoever is to blame for the undoubted mess of Britain’s drug policy, it is not ‘prohibition’ or a ‘war on drugs’, for neither exists.
Author Name: Peter Hitchens
Title: The War we Never Fought
Publisher: Presbyterian & Reformed 1973
On Marijuana
On Marijuana – A Powerful Examination Of What Marijuana Use Means For Our Children, Our Communities And Our Future Compiled
by Pamela McColl –
Foreword by David Frum and Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D.
Marijuana use has adverse consequences on the health, well-being, and safety of both individual users and non-users. The evidence is clear that marijuana use places a heavy burden on social systems, taxes the economy, and places a heavy strain on public health care resources.
On Marijuana contains insightful, considered opinions from individuals who have dedicated themselves, and often their lengthy careers, to the study and better understanding of the implications, risks, and effects of using marijuana products. On Marijuana is a not for-profit publication. Any profits generated from sales will be used to distribute the publication to the public health sector.
“Voters and decision makers alike would do well to at least educate themselves first on the potential ramifications of a “pot-for-all” policy. This book will help them do that.” David Frum and Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D.
Pamela McColl has been working in the field of publishing for two decades. In 2012 McColl published the first ever smoke-pipe-free edition of the famous holiday poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas—capturing global media attention including front page coverage in The National Post, and being the subject of a skit on the The Colbert Report (USA). The book garnered eight book awards. She is the author of Baby and Me Tobacco Free (2013). McColl is a director for Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada (SAM) and a board member on the Campaign for Justice on Tobacco Fraud. In the spring of 2015 McColl, representing SAM Canada, attended the annual meeting of The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) a commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Vienna (www.samcanada.net)..
Author Name: Pamela McCol
Title: On Marijuana
Publisher: Grafton and Scratch Publishers
Sunny's Story
Sunny’s Story Written by Ginger Katz CEO and Founder, the Courage to Speak® Foundation If only. If only our pet could talk – could warn us we’d lose our son to drugs. This is Sunny’s Story. It looks deceptively like a children’s book when, in fact it’s for everyone who loves someone who might become addicted. Sunny’s Story is narrated through the eyes, ears and mind of Sunny, the family beagle, and tells of the ups and downs of his life with his young master, from the moment they met at an animal shelter to Sunny’s anguished yelps watching his best friend succumb to drugs.
Written by Ginger Katz, a mother who lost her son Ian to a drug overdose, Sunny’s Story helps families talk openly about the dangers of drugs. The Story “My name is Sunny. I’m a white, brown and black Beagle with short legs and long ears that blow in the wind when I run. I live with Ginger and Larry in a house by the ocean. We are all very sad because once we had the best boy in the world. His name was Ian, and this is the story of how he was taken from us. When I was a puppy I had to go to the animal shelter to find a family…” Ms. Katz tells her son Ian’s story through the family’s soulful beagle and Ian’s special friend. Sunny is a perceptive non-human narrator with very human feelings and a gentle buffer that allows young readers the necessary distance needed to deal with this difficult subject. Sunny gives us all a message of hope, which led to the founding of the Courage to Speak® Foundation. Sunny’s Story is meant to be read at the dinner table, in schools, libraries, as part of the Courage to Speak® Drug Prevention Curriculum and as a stand alone book for elementary, middle and high school students.
Comments: “They loved reading about Ian’s life, finding the signs where his life began to go astray, and culminating in how he could have avoided his outcome.” Ellen Seltzer (Connecticut) 6th grade teacher “This book is an important and unique addition to the list of preventive tools so necessary for children in today’s world.” Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Professor of Practice and Associate Dean, Harvard School of Public Health “Sunny’s Story is a part of our sixth grade reading literacy curriculum. This book is a must have for schools and for families.” Dr. Lynne Moore, Principal, West Rocks Middle School, Norwalk CT ‘I bought copies (Sunny’s Story) for my grandchildren and I believe it encouraged my 16 year-old granddaughter to admit to her father- who was in total denial at the time- that she might be addicted to drugs. She admitted she was stealing pain pills from his medicine cabinet and buying Oxycontin and other drugs at her high school. He then woke up and sent her to a long-term rehab facility; she appears to be OK- for now.” D.R. – Grandfather
The Cruel Hoax - Street Drugs in Australia
Elaine Walters the author of The Cannabis Connection and Marijuana – An Australian Crisis, completes the trilogy on the issue of illegal drugs with the publication of The Cruel Hoax – Street Drugs in Australia.
Ms Walters begins by revealing the strategy used by pro-drug lobbyists to establish credibility in the field of illegal drugs. She reveals the ease with which health and education professionals have been hoodwinked by the concept of harm minimisation and how advisors and Australian ‘experts’ have been part of the hoax for many years. By omission and misinformation they have trivialised the health risks associated with the use of illegal drugs and promoted responsible use and normalisation.
The second part of the book is presented in the same question and answer format used in Marijuana – An Australian Crisis with updated scientific research and statistics. Elaine Walters also reveals the failure of the liberal policies of the Netherlands to reduce illegal drug use and demonstrates the successful approach of the Swedish policy which promotes the ideal of a drug free society.
In the final section the author selects extracts from drug education programmes from other countries which have been effective in reducing drug use by school children. It is a practical commonsense approach and includes education guidelines for primary and secondary schools. Its emphasis is on a drug free school environment.
Fifteen years of working with families affected by drug use, her overseas study as a Churchill Fellow and her continuous and meticulous research on the issue establishes Elaine Walters as one of Australia’s leading authorities on street drugs. The Cruel Hoax is recommended to educators, health professionals and parents. In particular it should he read by all students. It is with their interest at heart that Elaine Walters has devoted herself to what she considers to be a labour of love.
Author: Elaine Walters
Publisher: Shield (1996)
ISBN: 0646259717
The Cannabis Connection
The Cannabis Connection gives a clear concise account of she effects of Marijuana. Elaine Walters believes the character and force of she present drug epidemic has been misinterpreted by many Australian ‘experts.’ This has resulted in ineffective policies, inadequate drug education in schools and renewed debate on legalization.
There needs to be a complete and thorough analysis oldie drug epidemic and a realization that there have been historical precedents which will assist in overcoming it. The users underpin the drug structure, eliminate their demands and supply will cease Successful strategies include education and the enforcement of strict drug policies.
In many countries the ‘Parent Movement’ has taken the initiative, and parents are educating themselves about illegal drugs. Thus it is important that parents have access to correct information about marijuana particularly as many adolescents believe it to be relatively harmless. This book should be every Australian home so that parents can base family discussions about illegal drugs on facts.
Author: Elaine Walters
Publisher: Unknown (1989)
ISBN: Unknown
See You Soon: A mother’s story of drugs, grief and hope
A helpful book …
for those who are walking with bereavement,
for those who are struggling with addiction in their family,
and for those who wish to understand and be of some help.
Facing up to her son’s death in Hong Kong after a heroin overdose posed many challenges for Philippa Skinner. When Jim died, aged 21, her faith in a loving God was challenged as never before and now she had to ask many painful questions.
This book is a personal reflection on her experience of grief following the sudden loss of her son, and on the need to learn to live with unanswerable questions. It opens our eyes to the heartbreak of families who suffer loss through addiction. Too often, their despair is sharpened by anxiety that their loved one will be harshly judged by a culture that stigmatizes those with addictions, while failing to see the person and the story beneath.
“This book is written to bring healing and resolution to those who, like Philippa and Graeme may ask “Why?”. It is an account written with courage and honesty reflecting the awful pain of loss and untimely death. Yet with conviction that Jim’s life was not in vain and that his story would bring healing to many they have shared their journey of healing.”
Jackie Pullinger, Hong Kong
‘The raw pain of the loss of a precious son to drugs, written with sincere honesty’
Elizabeth Burton-Phillips, founder of DrugFam UK
Philippa Skinner is a mother of four adult children, and at different times a nurse, a teacher and now a counsellor.
Available in both paper and Kindle versions via a dedicated website www.seeyousoon.me.uk
All proceeds going to the support of drug related charities.
The website also contains some helpful articles and a Facebook link.
Author: Philippa Skinner
Publisher: Presence books
ISBN: 978-1-907228-29-2
Romancing Opiates
“A manifesto on addiction by a truth-telling psychiatrist who explodes conventional wisdom. With customary wit and literary forays into Coleridge and De Quincey, Dalrymple turns his raw experience into gems of clinical insight. Addicts are not passive, nor are they diseased; but they have managed, Dairymple argues, to seduce a vast treatment bureaucracy into regarding them as medical victims.”
– Sally Satel, M.D., author of PC M.D.: How Political Correctness Is Corrupting Medicine
“Theodore Dalrymple is a brilliant observer of both medicine and society, and Romancing Opiates wittily engages with two versions of the current nonsense: orthodox medicine on drug addiction, and romantic poets on the wisdom you supposedly enjoy from getting high.”
– Kenneth Minogue, professor emeritus at The London School of Economics and author of The Liberal Mind
Author: Theodore Dalrymple
Publisher: Encounter Books – 2006
ISBN: 1594030871
Pot Safari
“The foundation for all drug abuse prevention is knowledge—the hard facts about the dangers of drug use. The marijuana epidemic of the last two decade the U.S. can be traced directly to the lack of clear, relevant information about the health threat posed by marijuana. That has changed today. We have the facts, and they make a devastating indictment of that “harmless giggle”, pot.
“However, there is still a hurdle to clear; getting the information across to the people who need it. Now we have in this book what has been missing before. Peggy Mann, the nation’s finest drug abuse prevention author, has made the facts accessible in her historic Pot Safari. Here, we have, for the first time, engaging portraits of the researchers, their findings, and the intensely human values and concern that give urgency to their work. Pot Safari is for young people, for educators, and for parents. It is an important new element in the fight against drug dependence.”
Robert DuPont, M.D.
Founding Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse;
President of American Council for Drug Education, USA
Author: Peggy Mann
Publisher: Woodmere Press 1987
ISBN:094249301X
Keep off the Grass
Keep Off The Grass, considered a classic, is written by one of the worlds’ most knowledgeable scientists on the subject. It has been translated into Spanish, French, Dutch and Swedish. In it Dr Nahas tells:
- exactly what marijuana is and just how addictive it is
- what its surrogates – hashish, cannabis and THC – are
- the history of marijuana and how its use eroded ancient civilizations
- what the Surgeon General’s warning says about marijuana – its damaging effects upon lungs, reproductive function, immunity system and the brain
- how marijuana differs from alcohol and tobacco
- why it is the “gateway drug” to heroin and cocaine
Author: Gabriel G Nahas
Publisher: Eriksson (1985)
ISBN: 0839743823
Drugs Dilemma: A Way Forward
Australia’s drug debate is reaching a critical point. Feeling compelled to “do something” and believing that current policies don’t work, some state governments are seeking to introduce heroin injecting rooms as possibly the first step in a general liberalisation of the drug laws.
Holland and Switzerland – which have done just this-are cited as examples to follow.
In this book, medical experts, social commentators and drug counsellors take a closer look at the European experience and the arguments in favour of “harm minimisation” and find them seriously flawed.
But there are alternatives which are working.
Author: J.N. Santamaria
Publisher: New Weekly Books (2000)
ISBN: 0646396641
Drug Precipice
We do not accept the integration of (narcotic) drugs in society, and our aim is a society in which drug abuse remains a socially unacceptable form of behaviour, a society in which drug abuse remains a marginal phenornenrn.
A drug-free society is a vision expressing optimism and a positive view of humanity: the onslaught of drugs can be restrained, and drug abusers can be rehabilitated.
Author: A. R. Moffitt
Publisher: UNSW Press (1998)
ISBN: 0868405523
Handbook for Medical Practitioners and Other Health Care Workers on Alcohol and Other Drug Problems
The first edition of the handbook, published in 1991 under the title Alcohol and other Drug Problems for Medical Practitioners has been in great demand both from medical practitioners and other health care workers involved in the alcohol and drug field.
This edition has involved considerable revision of the original version including the addition of recent topical issues. There are new chapters on tobacco-related problems, drugs in pregnancy, the use and abuse of amphetamines, ecstasy, and a multicultural approach to drug- and alcohol-related issues and problems.
As health care workers we have a responsibility to be concerned and informed about the possible effects of substance misuse on people’s health and their relationships. It is hoped that this handbook will increase our ability to identify possible problems and provide intervention at an early stage.
The revision was undertaken for the National Drug Strategy by the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction in Adelaide.
Author: Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health
Publisher: Australian Government Publishing Service (1994)
ISBN: 0644335351
Drug Affiliction - What you need to know
Dr Ian OLIVER has an unusually extensive knowledge about the global drug problem gained from 37 years as a police officer, over eight years as an independent consultant to the United Nations Drug Control Programme, extensive research and membership of international expert committees. He has travelled widely and has helped to establish Drug Control Agencies in the former Soviet Republics of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, reviewed drug policies in Asia and the Middle and Far East and has advised on diverse projects in numerous countries. He has also visited the major drug producing areas of Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Latin America and has taken time out to stay at a Therapeutic Community for drug dependent people in Brazil. Additionally he was the International Vice President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and was twice elected President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. He is a graduate in Law and holds a Masters degree in Law/Social Science from the University of Nottingham and has a doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Strathclyde. He has written extensively on the drug problem and how it affects everyone in ways that are not commonly realised.
His most recent book “Drug Affliction” is easily read and understood and gives the kind of information that everyone should know about the facts and mythology surrounding the most common drugs of abuse. It is both valuable and essential reading because it addresses some of the populist arguments that suggest that “the war on drugs has been lost and so all drugs should be legalised”; it gives the facts about so-called medical cannabis and it describes how the superficially attractive sounding policy of “harm reduction” has been hi-jacked in the most cynical way by those who seek to legalise drugs. It is not a text book in the classical sense but has been written for anyone, either the professionals who need knowledge about drugs in their daily work or the concerned private person who is worried about family members and the effects that drugs may have on their lives. This book reveals the mystery about drugs and enables all who read it to understand the issues and engage in informed discussions about a subject that has presented us with one of the most damaging and enduring social problems ever to confront the human race.
Author: Dr Ian Oliver
Publisher: The Robert Gordon University (1 Dec 2006)
ISBN: 1901085880
Cannabis Dependence
Cannabis dependence is controversial. What are the health and behavioral risks of becoming cannabis-dependent? What counseling approaches have been tested with adults and adolescents, and how effective are they? What are the arguments for legalization, regulation, or prohibition? Looking back and toward the future, what do we know and what do we need to learn? This state-of-the-science review sets out to answer all such questions, beginning with an historical examination and moving into diagnosis, classification, epidemiology, public health, policy, issues relating to regulation and prohibition, and evidence-based interventions.
Author: Roger Roffman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press – Feb 2006
ISBN: 0521814472
Alcohol: The National Hangover
The ‘hard work earns a thirst’ or ‘drink and be one of the beautiful’ people messages of advertising campaigns and morning-after boasts of having ‘written ourselves off’ reinforce the image-one family embedded in out national psyche – of Aussies being big drinkers. Indeed alcohol has become such apart of our daily lives that we rarely question its impact – except to perhaps wonder whether we or someone we know is overdoing it a bit.
But as Dr Jean Lennane cogently portrays in Alcohol: The National Hangover, those we think of as having severe alcohol problems are far from the only ones affected. It has an impact daily on our recreation activities, work and domestic lives and one has only to consider the crimes committed under its influence — domestic and other assaults, robberies. murder and road trauma – to glimpse its wide-reaching effects.
Written by a medical practitioner with many years’ experience in treating those with alcohol problems this is the most comprehensive book on the subject to date.
For those who think they or someone they know may have an alcohol problem there is information on identifying the stages of dependency – from needing a drink to steady the nerves, to the severe physical, mental and emotional problems associated with alcoholism.
The too-frequent occurrence of teenage drinking and its often tragic consequences is detailed along with the role of alcohol in:
- road trauma
- sport – sponsorship and effects on performance
- sexual activity
- crime
- work (Including those professions and jobs where heavy drinking is likely to be most found).
She also identifies ‘safe’ drinking levels and evaluates the power of the economic push towards increasing alcohol consumption
There is comprehensive advice for those wishing to seek help as well as suggested education programs and legislative, political and attitudinal changes necessary to overcome the prevalence of alcohol generally.
A most important book on a subject affecting our whole society.
Author: Jean Lennane
Publisher: Allen & Unwin (17 July 1992)
ISBN: 186373212
Alcohol & Pregnancy: A Mother's Responsible Disturbance
The ‘hard work earns a thirst’ or ‘drink and be one of the beautiful’ people messages of advertising campaigns and morning-after boasts of having ‘written ourselves off’ reinforce the image-one family embedded in out national psyche – of Aussies being big drinkers. Indeed alcohol has become such apart of our daily lives that we rarely question its impact – except to perhaps wonder whether we or someone we know is overdoing it a bit.
But as Dr Jean Lennane cogently portrays in Alcohol: The National Hangover, those we think of as having severe alcohol problems are far from the only ones affected. It has an impact daily on our recreation activities, work and domestic lives and one has only to consider the crimes committed under its influence — domestic and other assaults, robberies. murder and road trauma – to glimpse its wide-reaching effects.
Written by a medical practitioner with many years’ experience in treating those with alcohol problems this is the most comprehensive book on the subject to date.
For those who think they or someone they know may have an alcohol problem there is information on identifying the stages of dependency – from needing a drink to steady the nerves, to the severe physical, mental and emotional problems associated with alcoholism.
The too-frequent occurrence of teenage drinking and its often tragic consequences is detailed along with the role of alcohol in:
- road trauma
- sport – sponsorship and effects on performance
- sexual activity
- crime
- work (Including those professions and jobs where heavy drinking is likely to be most found).
She also identifies ‘safe’ drinking levels and evaluates the power of the economic push towards increasing alcohol consumption
There is comprehensive advice for those wishing to seek help as well as suggested education programs and legislative, political and attitudinal changes necessary to overcome the prevalence of alcohol generally.
A most important book on a subject affecting our whole society.
Author: Jean Lennane
Publisher: Allen & Unwin (17 July 1992)
ISBN: 186373212
