As a long-standing, reliable resource Drugs & Society, Fifteenth Edition continues to captivate and inform students by taking a multidisciplinary approach to the impact of drug use and abuse on the lives of average individuals. The authors have integrated their expertise in the fields of drug abuse, pharmacology, and sociology with their extensive experiences in research, treatment, drug policy making, and drug policy implementation to create an edition that speaks directly to students on the medical, emotional, and social damage drug use can cause.NEW - Includes new and updated content on important topics, such as: The potential value of genetics in assessing risk, consequences, and treatment of drug use disorder or addictionThe abuse and extent of performance-enhancing drugs in athletic and sport activityStatistics of use and the impact of drugs of abuseThe value of forensic drug testingRecent findings concerning the extent of vaping and its negative long-term consequencesThe escalation of American overdose deaths due to opioids directly related to both prescription abuse and the emergence of illicit fentanyl in counterfeit medicationsThe pharmacological and behavioral characteristics of alcohol use and abuse including major costs to societyThe pattern of methamphetamine resurgence uses in the United States and its trafficking patterns from Mexico, as well as the recent connections between methamphetamine and heroin/opioid useThe use of hallucinogenic drugs such as Ecstasy (MDMA) to treat mental conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder and the use of ketamine to treat depressionProblems associated with the rapidly escalating drug costs in the U.S. and how to address these challengesTobacco regulation by the FDA and the continued increase in the popularity of e-cigarettesRecent changes in most state marijuana laws in the United States that legally redefine marijuana as medicine for neurological and mental health issues and most recent events to make it a legal drug for recreational marijuana use.Engaging boxed features throughout the text include: Holding the Line: vignettes that help readers assess governmental efforts to deal with drug-related problemsCase in Point: examples of relevant clinical and/or social issues that arise from the use of each major group of drugsHere and Now: current events that illustrate the personal and social consequences of drug abuseFamily Matters: examples of how genetics and heredity contribute to drug abuse and its issuesPrescription for Abuse: current stories that illustrate the problems of prescription abuse and its consequencesPoint/Counterpoint: exposes students to different perspectives on drug-related issues and encourages them to draw their own conclusions. Written for undergraduate courses on Drugs, Alcohol and Society within the departments of Healthcare, Physical and Health Education, Kinesiology, Public Health, and other social sciences such as Psychology, Sociology, Criminology, Criminal Justice, Social Work, History, and Economics. (c) 2025 550 pages
Hanson, Glen R.: - Dr. Glen R. Hanson is the vice dean of the School of Dentistry and a professor of pharmacology in the School of Dentistry at the University of Utah. He is also the Senior Advisor for the Mountain Plains PTTC (Prevention Technology Transfer Center), which is supported by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration of the Department of Heath and Human Services. During his approximately 30 years in academics, he has received more than $30 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), affiliated with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to research the neurobiology of drug abuse, and he has authored more than 240 scientific papers and 50 book chapters on the subject. Dr. Hanson has lectured on drug abuse topics throughout the world. He served as the director of the Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at NIDA, after which he became NIDA's acting director from 2001 to 2003. Dr. Hanson works with scientists, public officials, policy makers, and the general public to more effectively deal with problems of drug abuse addiction.
Platteborze, Peter: - Peter Platteborze, Ph.D., joined St. Mary's University in 2016 and is passionate about teaching students the interdisciplinary nature of Forensic Science and how teamwork is essential to be successful in the field of Forensic Science. Before joining St. Mary's, Platteborze served in the active duty U.S. Army where he was a biochemist for more than 20 years. His military assignments included, serving as a principle investigator conducting defensive research on chemical agents; a principle investigator conducting defensive biological agent research with an emphasis on creating a live, attenuated Eastern Equine Encephalitis viral vaccine; a deputy commander in the Army's Tripler Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Lab; a branch chief for the Army's MLT clinical chemistry training program; a postdoctoral clinical chemistry fellow at the University of Washington; a program manager for the Army's Forensic Drug Testing; and Chief and Medical Director of Brooke Army Medical Centers Core, Toxicology, Reference Chemistry and Emergency Department Labs. Some of his greatest accomplishments include, publishing extensively in a wide range of fields and receiving a U.S. patent for his military vaccine research.
Venturelli, Peter J.: - Dr. Peter J. Venturelli has been the coauthor of this text since the second edition of Drugs and Society in 1988. In addition to revising this text every two years, the experiences and qualifications of Dr. Venturelli in academia and professional life include publishing research in drug and ethnic anthologies and scholarly journals, authoring approximately 60 conference papers at national professional sociological meetings, serving in elected and administrative positions in professional sociological and drug research, associations, receiving research grants involving drug use and ethnicity, authoring the latest drug research, serving as a board member at the Baldwin Research Institute (alcohol and drug retreats), and teaching undergraduate and graduate students for the past 32 years
