Responding to the controversy surrounding drug use and drug criminalization, Thomas Szasz suggests that the "therapeutic state" has overstepped its bounds in labeling certain drugs as "dangerous" substances and incarcerating drug "addicts" in order to cure them. Szasz shows that such policies scapegoat certain drugs as well as the persons who sell, buy, or use them; and 'misleadingly pathologize the "drug problem" by defining disapproved drug use as "disease" and efforts to change the behavior as "treatment." Readers will find in Szasz's arguments a cogent and committed response to a worldwide debate.

Ifeanyi Menkiti’s articulation of an African conception of personhood—especially in “Person and Community in African Traditional Thought” —has become very influential in African philosophy. Menkiti on Community and Becoming a Person contributes to the debate in African philosophy on personhood by engaging with various aspects of Menkiti’s account of person and community. The contributors examine this account in relation to themes such as individualism, communalism, rights, individual liberty, moral agency, communal ethics, education, state and nation building, elderhood and ancestorhood. Through these themes, this book, edited by Edwin Etieyibo and Polycarp Ikuenobe, shows that Menkiti’s account of personhood in the context of community is both fundamental and foundational to epistemological, metaphysical, logical, ethical, legal, social and political issues in African thought systems.

Richard Stivers’ concern is with the social construction of evil, that is, with how modern societies, in a partly unconscious way, create evil as a category of the sacred and how symbols, myths, and rituals of evil are related to this. He is interested, moreover, in how modern societies provoke individuals to commit evil actions. This fascinating and stimulating book is the first attempt to work out in detail how the concepts of the sacred, symbol, myth, and ritual form a cultural configuration in modern technological societies, and not just in traditional societies.

This provocative and controversial book rejects the popular pablum of more laws, more money, more enforcement personnel, and more jails as the road to victory in the "war on drugs." Author Steven Wisotsky masterfully documents the failure of the drug war and the erroneous premise central to its destructive and doomed strategy: the idea that drug taking controls human behavior; that drugs "cause" physical dependency. Americans must move beyond the war on drugs by repudiating their obsessive preoccupation with controlling or prohibiting drugs. Instead, we must replace this mindset with a new view that acknowledges individual freedom and the power of directing our choices toward responsible human behavior. According to Wisotsky, the idea of "waging war" on drugs is central to the problem rather than a fundamental part of any solution. He takes the Reagan-Bush-Bennett campaign to task for its failed efforts to cut the supply of drugs, reduce public demand, and enforce laws regarding the sale and distribution of controlled substances. Wisotsky contends that the war on drugs will remain inadequate so long as society continues to be seduced by the battle cries of its own stepped-up combat in which the "enemy" (drugs) must be eradicated at all cost. The rationale for doing battle has become so embedded in the public mind that we no longer recognize the need for a critical review of social policy, strategy, or the methods needed to achieve our desired goals. Have we simply created a new type of Prohibition, which is destined to fail? And if this is the case, then what does it say about our society? Have we lost the ability to reflect critically on our social motives and purposes, as well as our justification for the actions we take, simply because we've declared "war" on the "enemy" and we aren't going to stop the good fight until we've "won"? Beyond the War on Drugs offers hard-hitting arguments to support the growing public opinion that this war, as it is currently conceived, cannot be won and ought not to be fought. Wisotsky argues persuasively for a reassessment of this struggle. We must go beyond the war on drugs to develop a public policy that acknowledges human intelligence, free choice, and individual responsibility.

Chemical Dependency and Antisocial Personality Disorder gives you the information and clinical skills necessary to assess and evaluate persons suffering from substance abuse and/or antisocial personality disorders and details how you can develop effective psychotherapy and treatment strategies. From its helpful pages that contain diagnostic criteria and clinical interviewing and assessment guidelines, you learn to accurately diagnose substance use and antisocial personality disorders. The book also provides you with the historical and clinical perspectives of such disorders and their epidemiology and etiology to give you a thorough background and understanding of the subject. Case studies and therapy vignettes are included to provide you with actual clinical examples to illustrate concepts and ideas. You will appreciate the book’s in-depth discussions of treatment strategies that can greatly enhance your effectiveness. You’ll find this volume is an invaluable research resource for refreshing your approaches for helping persons with substance abuse and antisocial personality disorders. Much of the content of Chemical Dependency and Antisocial Personality Disorder is based on the author’s two decades of experience working with patients suffering from substance use and antisocial personality disorders. Some topics addressed include: accurate differential diagnosis resistance the use of structure in treatment therapist-patient relationship dynamics treatment outcome effectiveness, relapse, and recovery. Alcohol/drug counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and corrections, probation, and parole officers who want to be more effective in their work with chemically dependent and antisocial clients will find this a practical, helpful, and informative guide. This enlightening book examines many of the most difficult and clinically problematic issues that are associated with the psychotherapy and rehabilitation of chemically dependent and/or antisocial patients. Much of the content of Chemical Dependency and Antisocial Personality Disorder is based on the author’s two decades of experience working with patients suffering from substance use and antisocial personality disorders. Some topics addressed include accurate differential diagnosis, resistance, the use of structure in treatment, therapist-patient relationship dynamics, and treatment outcome effectiveness, relapse, and recovery. Alcohol/drug counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and corrections, probation, and parole officers who want to be more effective in their work with chemically dependent and antisocial clients will find this a practical, helpful, and informative guide.

"About time! Two key experts in the field remind us of the significance and power of religion as bio-political and bio-economic." - Beverley Skeggs, Goldsmiths, University of London "A welcome addition to a continuing body of work by two distinguished theorists of religion." - Grace Davie, University of Exeter "Mellor and Shilling cement their place at the pinnacle of the contemporary sociological theorisation of religion and the sacred. If sociological work is going to have any future it is to be found in the inspiration and excitement of this sophisticated and intelligent book." - Keith Tester, University of Hull "This book is ambitious, refreshing and rewarding. It offers the best available analysis of the complex interlacing of the sacred, religion, secularization and embodied experience." - James A. Beckford, University of Warwick Drawing on classical and contemporary social theory, Sociology of the Sacred presents a bold and original account of how interactions between religious and secular forms of the sacred underpin major conflicts in the world today, and illuminate broader patterns of social and cultural change inherent to global modernity. It demonstrates: How the bodily capacities help religions adapt to social change but also facilitate their internal transformation That the ‘sacred’ includes a diverse range of phenomena, with variable implications for questions of social order and change How proponents of a ‘post-secular’ age have failed to grasp the ways in which sacralization can advance secularization Why the sociology of the sacred needs to be a key part of attempts to make sense of the nature and directionality of social change in global modernity today. This book is key reading for the sociology of religion, the body and modern culture.

This paper presents an argument for the legalization of psychoactive drugs that are currently prohibited by law. Drawing on international drug policy research, the author examines the Irish policy in its historical, medical, social and political context. The legitimacy of current policy is severely undermined by such an examination, and the ineffectiveness of the war suggests that new options must be considered.

Annotation Attitudes towards crime, criminals, and rehabilitation have shifted considerably, yet the idea that there is a causal link between drug adiction and crime prevails.

It was during the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the problem of chronic alcohol dependence in modern society and its consequent medical effects emerged. The topic of drunkenness figures prominently in the thinking and writing of social reformers, politicians, theorists, medical practitioners, and psychiatrists. Eventually, by the mid-nineteenth century, ‘alcoholism’ was named as the disease of habitual drunkenness. Possibly the most important book to predict this was Trotter’s Essay, written in 1804. Through case studies based on wide experience, he detailed the manifestations of alcoholism, ventured therapeutic recommendations, and squarely termed drunkenness a disease – indeed, a mental disease. Originally published in 1988 as part of the Tavistock Classics in the History of Psychiatry series, Roy Porter’s Introduction to this facsimile reprint locates Trotter’s work within the wider history of the evolution of the idea of alcoholism. It also examines the Essay in the context of Trotter’s own life and mind – a mind preoccupied with what he saw as the degenerative tendencies of modern civilization and with the wider issues of drug dependence.

The libertarian philosophy of freedom is characterized by two fundamental beliefs: the right to be left alone and the duty to leave others alone. Psychiatric practice routinely violates both of these beliefs. It is based on the notion that self-ownership—exemplified by suicide—is a not an inherent right, but a privilege subject to the review of psychiatrists as representatives of society. In Faith in Freedom, Thomas Szasz raises fundamental questions about psychiatric practices that inhibit an individual's right to freedom. His questions are fundamental. Is suicide an exercise of rightful self-ownership or a manifestation of mental disorder? Does involuntary confinement under psychiatric auspices constitute unjust imprisonment, or is it therapeutically justified hospitalization? Should forced psychiatric drugging be interpreted as assault and battery on the person or is it medical treatment? The ethical standards of psychiatric practice mandate that psychiatrists employ coercion. Forgoing such "intervention" is considered a dereliction of the psychiatrists' "duty to protect." How should friends of freedom—especially libertarians—deal with the conflict between elementary libertarian principles and prevailing psychiatric practices? In Faith in Freedom, Thomas Szasz addresses this question more directly and more profoundly than in any of his previous works.