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| Why I had to write this book | |
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| Who this book is for | |
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| Is ecstasy more dangerous than horse riding? | |
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| Go compare | |
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| Equasy | |
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| What is ecstasy? | |
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| Does ecstasy kill? | |
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| What are the other harms of ecstasy? | |
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| Ecstasy in the media | |
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| Ecstasy: a moral issue | |
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| Why measuring drug harms frightens politicians | |
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| Ecstasy and post-traumatic stress disorder | |
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| How can we measure the harms done by drugs? | |
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| Why measure? | |
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| Sixteen different sorts of harm | |
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| Multi-criteria decision analysis | |
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| The expert panel | |
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| Which drugs did the expert panel consider? | |
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| Rating the drugs | |
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| Weighting the scores | |
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| Results | |
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| Limitations of the model | |
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| Critical reception | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Reviewing a drug's Class? The case of ketamine | |
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| Why do people take drugs? | |
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| How drugs evolved | |
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| Chemicals in the human brain | |
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| A typical day without drugs | |
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| What is a drug? | |
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| Opioids - opium, heroin, methadone, ... | |
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| Stimulants or "uppers" - cocaine, amphetamine, ... | |
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| Depressants or "downers" - alcohol, benzodiazepines, GHB | |
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| Psychedelics - LSD, mushrooms, ... | |
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| Less easily-classified drugs | |
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| A typical day on drugs | |
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| A brief history of drug use | |
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| Why do people take drugs? | |
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| Why this matters | |
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| Cannablis, and why did Queen Victoria take it? | |
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| Cannabis as hemp | |
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| Cannabis as a drug | |
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| What are the benefits? | |
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| What are the harms? | |
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| Cannabis routes of use | |
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| Is skunk more harmful than hash? | |
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| Why did cannabis stop being seen as a medicine? | |
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| Medicinal cannabis use in the UK today | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Does cannabis cause schizophrenia? | |
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| If alcohol were discovered today, would it be legal? | |
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| How the drinks industry influences alcohol policy | |
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| How can we reduce the harm done by alcohol? | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| "Meow meow" - should mephedrone have been banned? | |
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| "Meow meow" | |
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| What is mephedrone and why is it called plant food? | |
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| The harms and benefits of taking mephedrone | |
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| Why was mephedrone banned? | |
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| The designer drug problem | |
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| Alternative approaches | |
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| The very least we ought to know | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| The original cathinone: khat | |
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| What is addiction? Is there an "addictive personality"? | |
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| Addiction in history | |
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| The brain mechanisms of addiction | |
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| What is tolerance and why does it occur? | |
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| Withdrawal and craving | |
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| Diagnosing addiction | |
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| Is there an "addictive personality"? | |
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| Protective factors - why some people don't get addicted to drugs | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| How does neuroimaging work? | |
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| Can addiction be cured? | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Tony Adams and alcohol | |
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| Pete Doherty, heroin and crack | |
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| Amy Winehouse | |
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| Psychological treatments | |
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| Pharmacological substitutes | |
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| Other pharmacological treatments | |
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| What is heroin? | |
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| Why do people take heroin, and why can't they stop? | |
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| Using heroin to treat heroin addicts | |
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| Advantages and disadvantages of methadone treatment | |
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| Buprenorphine - a better solution? | |
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| Evaluating treatments | |
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| The Portuguese experiment | |
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| Preventing addiction | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Cocaine - from chewing to crack | |
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| Routes of use and main associated harms | |
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| Why are drugs used in different forms? | |
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| Kinetics and dynamics of addiction | |
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| From chewing to crack: the history of cocaine | |
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| Why is crack twice as addictive as cocaine? | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| The international damage done by cocaine | |
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| Why was smoking banned in public places? | |
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| The 2007 ban on smoking in public places in the UK | |
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| What is tobacco? | |
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| What are tobacco's harms and benefits? | |
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| How do we know that smoking causes lung cancer? | |
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| Why is smoking so addictive? | |
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| Public-health responses and industry resistance | |
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| Consequences of the UK smoking ban | |
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| Freedom and choice | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Prescription drugs | |
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| What are benzodiazepines and how do they work? | |
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| What are the benefits and harms of benzodiazepines? | |
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| Antidepressants and SSRIs | |
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| Painkillers | |
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| The pharmaceutical industry and science | |
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| The mental-health epidemic | |
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| Informed consent | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Can drugs improve performance? | |
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| Muscle and power | |
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| Other drugs in sport | |
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| Improving mental performance - cognition enhancers | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Psychedelics - should scientists try LSD? | |
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| How do psychedelics work? | |
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| The discovery of LSD | |
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| LSD and psychiatry | |
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| Set and setting | |
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| LSD leaves the laboratory | |
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| What are the harms of LSD and psychedelics? | |
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| What are the benefits of psychedelics? | |
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| Should scientists take LSD? | |
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| Mushrooms and other psychedelics | |
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| Why were magic mushrooms banned in the UK? | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| The War on Drugs, and drugs in war | |
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| The other "war on drugs" | |
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| Amphetamines and war | |
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| The aims of the War on Drugs | |
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| Has the War on Drugs reduced supply? | |
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| Has the War on Drugs reduced demand? | |
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| Has the War on Drugs minimised harm? | |
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| Why are we still at war? | |
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| What are the alternatives? | |
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| Comparing the harms of cannabis and prison | |
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| The future of drugs | |
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| Genetic sequencing | |
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| What are the risks of genetic sequencing? | |
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| Treating addiction | |
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| Learning and unlearning | |
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| New drugs research | |
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| The Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs Foresight programme | |
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| What sort of future do we want? | |
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| What should I tell my kids about drugs? | |
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| Young people and drugs | |
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| Alcohol and tobacco are drugs | |
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| All drugs can potentially cause harm | |
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| Tell your kids about drugs from an early age | |
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| Never inject | |
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| Don't use solvents | |
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| Don't take drink and drugs at the same time | |
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| A criminal record could ruin your career | |
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| Find good sources of advice | |
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| If you do take drugs, be clear why | |
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| If you do get into trouble with drugs, get help quickly | |
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| If you use drugs, don't let them interfere with school | |
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| Butane and other solvents | |
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| URLs | |
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| Index | |