A contorted text which goes out of its way to try to show that even moderate recreational use of “sensual drugs” is more harmful than the medical use of the same substances. The authors define “sensual drugs” as those which “give the user a strong sense of pleasure”, including amphetamine, cocaine, opiates, alcohol, barbiturates, inhalants, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and cannabis. ... [ read more ]
Pharmakon is an interesting analysis of the integration of psychoactive use as a part of occult practices; Cultivating the sense of magic all around through the altered states achieved by drug use (primarily hallucinogens). It is a wide-ranging (though somewhat loosely organized) and intelligently written book that should be interesting to anyone interested in the relationship between psychoactives and spirit, ... [ read more ]
This is a collection of nine small classic psychedelic and drug related books published between 1969 and 1983. It’s a nice inexpensive collection for those who want to have access to these texts in print form. Several of these texts are already available on the web. The included titles are:
The Book of Acid, by Adam Gottlieb
Peyote and Other Psychoactive Cacti, ... [ read more ]
While not an easy browse, The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology addresses the known actions of neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, epinephrine, etc) in a well-organized and understandable way. Good for anyone with a serious interest in the workings of these substances. [ read more ]
I had high hopes that ths book might contain some useful data. But what I discovered was a book with heavy bias against marijuana which taints any data the author might present. The tone of the book is one of continuing crisis, with exaggeration and hyperbole used to frighten the reader into agreeing that marijuana must be bad.
The chapter on ... [ read more ]
Facing Drugs is a small book from Australia, intended for the parent who is concerned about their child’s possible drug use. While it avoids the worst of the errors common in books of this class, it is relatively uninspiring and predictable. As usual, there is no acknowledgement of the possibility of illegal drugs being used with responsibility intent or purpose, ... [ read more ]
Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior contains quite a bit of interesting information. Generally reasonably balanced and accurate, but they need to fix the glaring problems with their page on “toad licking”. There’s one newer edition…we can hope that it was resolved by then. [ read more ]
The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs series is generally well-balanced and informational. While Heroin: The Street Narcotic follows with those traits, it is also an exception, in that it contains a number of relatively prominent errors. It looks like the updated version (1992) may have tried to fix errors introduced in the original version, but in some cases just further confused ... [ read more ]
The Heroin User’s Handbook is a good single-book guide to the full range of issues surrounding heroin use. It covers common myths, how to go about acquiring heroin, details about common methods of ingestion, health risks, legal and social issues and the all-important question of addiction. Overall the quality and style of writing are quite good although there are a ... [ read more ]
We have significant reservations about this book because of the questionable business practices of the author Sean Shayan. While his marketing suggests that his projects and the Temple of Ecstasy are spiritual, caring, community organizations…their past practices have appeared to be purely profit driven and set up to take advantage of the uninformed. As an example, throughout this book Shayan ... [ read more ]