Dark Paradise : A History of Opiate Addiction in America

In a newly enlarged edition of this eye-opening book, David T. Courtwright offers an original interpretation of a puzzling chapter in American social and medical history: the dramatic change in the pattern of opiate addiction—from respectable upper-class matrons to lower-class urban males, often with a criminal record. Challenging the prevailing view that the shift resulted from harsh new laws, Courtwright shows that the crucial role was played by the medical rather than the legal profession. Dark Paradise tells the story not only from the standpoint of legal and medical sources, but also from the perspective of addicts themselves. With the addition of a new introduction and two new chapters on heroin addiction and treatment since 1940, Courtwright has updated this compelling work of social history for the present crisis of the Drug War. Martin Plant - British Medical Journal [An] impeccably literate and acute analysis...One of the major themes of this book is that 'what we think about addiction very much depends on who is addicted.' This view is convincingly supported in a historical review that is both absorbing to read and extremely relevant to a general understanding of the social forces connected with opiate use. "David T. Courtwright offers an interpretation of a puzzling chapter in American social and medical history: the dramatic change in the pattern of opiate addiction from respectable upper-class matrons to lower-class urban males, often with a delinquent or criminal record. Challenging the prevailing view that the shift resulted simply from harsh new laws, Courtwright shows that the crucial role was played by the medical rather than the legal profession. Dark Paradise tells the story not only from the standpoint of legal and medical sources, but also from the perspective of addicts themselves."--BOOK JACKET. Reconstructing the pattern of opiate addiction in the United States is difficult, not only because addicts tended to conceal their condition, but because much of the historical evidence has been exaggerated and distorted. The extent of opiate addiction Addiction to opium and morphine Addiction to smoking opium Addiction to heroin The transformation of the opiate addict Heroin in postwar American The drug wars. David T. Courtwright. A Duplicate Copy Of This Title Was Part Of The Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection, But Was Not Retained. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 225-263.