High
Subtitle: drugs, desire, and a nation of users
By: Ingrid Walker
Contributors: University of Washington Press
Edition: 1st edition.
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 220
ISBN-13: 9780295742311; 9780295742328
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Drug control; Drug utilization; Drug abuse; Drug abusers
Description: Whether drinking Red Bull, relieving chronic pain with oxycodone, or experimenting with Ecstasy, Americans participate in a culture of self-medication, using psychoactive substances to enhance or manage our moods. A "drug-free America" seems to be a fantasyland that most people don't want to inhabit. High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks fundamental questions about US drug policies and social norms. Why do we endorse the use of some drugs and criminalize others? Why do we accept the necessity of a doctor-prescribed opiate but not the same thing bought off the street? This divided approach shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and health care. And despite the decades-old war on drugs, drug use remains relatively unchanged. Ingrid Walker speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization, incorporating first-person narratives to show a wide variety of user experiences with drugs. By challenging current thinking about drugs and users, Walker calls for a next wave of drug policy reform in the United States, beginning with recognizing the full spectrum of drug use practices"--Back cover blurb.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface: Breaking user silence; title: Acknowledgments; title: Introduction: We are all users; title: Picture a drug user; title: Criminalization : winning the crusade but losing the war; title: Medicalization : defining drug use; title: Why we use : the pleasure and the eros of drugs; title: Conclusion.