Not all addicts live in ghettos, stealing to support their habits; many users - particularly of amphetamines and barbiturates - are from middle-America. But whether these drug abusers are from the straight world or the street, they're all hooked. How they got hooked and what isn't being done to stop their drug abuse is the story of Uppers and Downers.

David Smith and Donald Wesson, along with other noted contributors, explore every aspect of this drug problem: how pharmaceutical companies block attempts at legal control of drug supplis . . . how hard-sell ad campaigns urge physicians to prescribe uppers and downers for problems best treated in other ways . . . how many addicts don't get help because most drug-treatment programs are aimed at heroin users - not speed and barb users.

The editors feel thta it's time to admit that abuse of uppers and downers in our society warrents a full-scale attack: developing "antagonists" that reverse the effects of drug overdose, defining and controlling the legitimate uses of uppers and downers, and effecting a means of helping this segment of our drug-dependent population find a purpose in existence beyond temporary solace found in drugs.