Customer Reviews

Cocaine: Its History, Uses and Effects

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3 star:		(1)
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Coaine its History and Uses... is exactly that.

Ashley traces cocaine to the coca plant of the Andes and details its history up until the present time. Well present time upon publication which was 1975 so the text is a little dated, but that is not his fault.

In a preface Ashley has the respect for his readers to explain his journalistic biases. This as far as I am concerned is excellent as there is definitely bias shown in the writing. He is almost a reincarnation of Freud, who as Ashley describes partook of cocaine himself as well as prescribing it to others. What I mean is that he seems very pro-cocaine in moderation and denies evidence of its addictive properties.

This is a very interesting text on the drug and I learnt a lot from reading it, this really does deserve more than three stars however my own bias factors into the writing of this review. In certain hands this could be read almost as an endorsement of cocaine and since I believe it is an addictive narcotic despite Ashley's claims, I would add a caveat to any reader to take his reasearch and it is very well researched with numerous sources sited in the endnotes with a grain of salt and don't believe everything you read.

And do not use this book to do lines off of it is only meant to be read.

Badly dated (1970's era) and heavily slanted toward the "druggie side". Author regards cocaine as a fundamentally harmless molecule that was mindlessly proscribed by one government after another simply to deny people the enjoyment of "chemical recreation". There may be a germ of truth in this view but it comes with a heavy dose of claptrap. In the end, though, if one reads critically, this book contains information that is worth thinking about even now.