Customer Reviews

Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Shows, and What We Should Do about It

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A great book that focuses your mind on the real scientific research behind substance abuse, and moves folks away from treatment myths, public misconceptions, and from knee jerk thinking about substance abuse problems. Because a substantial portion of criminal justice is fueled by substance abuse, prosecutors like myself can make better policy decisions if they understand the nature of the disease. Defense counsel can make better decisions that can make a long term improvement in the lives of their clients, probation and parole can understand and react to problems correctly. Treatment professionals can follow the rapidly emerging science that suggests changes in treatment curriculum and strategies to address specific challenges.

This book is a fascinating gathering together of important scholarship in the "troublesome use" of drugs and alcohol. The collected papers are the outcome of a conference and discussion among researchers in every area of science related to addictions. The articles are precise and full but invite readership at varying levels of being informed by setting out necessary terminology and then summarizing key points at each chapter's end. The sad thing about addiction in our culture is the lack of knowledge, not only among the public but even in the medical profession. This book goes far to correct that gap.

I'm only half way through this book but I have learned so much. It is filled with informative material, reporting on state of the art addiction information. I'm really glad I spent the money on this book. Its a hard read sometime, difficult concepts are being presented, but even though I'm a lay reader, I am able to fully understand the material.

For the past two decades, funding for addiction treatment research has more than doubled. However, what has been learned from this research has yet to be put into practice resulting in a so-called "research-to-treatment gap," a gap so wide that it casts doubt on the effectiveness of our current treatment system. The results of some of this research is brought together in a book edited by William R. Miller and Kathleen M. Carroll titled "Rethinking Substance Abuse".

The articles in this book contains genetics and twin studies; plenty of self-injecting, lever-pressing, stoned mice; the roles of dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and other neurotransmitters; and there's even studies of the spiritual aspect of recovery. Among their findings is that 28 days in treatment isn't even close to being enough; outpatient treatment is just as effective as inpatient, and much cheaper; and spiritual and faith-based programs are just as effective as those with no spiritual or religious content. And astoundingly, despite a growth in need, there were fewer programs and people in treatment in 2005 than there were in 1990. Also, no scientific evidence supports belittling, shaming, castigating, and incarcerating addicted people as an effective means of intervention or treatment. These methods tend to have a paradoxical effect by further alienating addicts.

"Rethinking Substance Abuse" does an excellent job of discounting many of the myths surrounding addiction, and reveals that many possible solutions may be counter-intuitive. These eighteen articles cover the biological, psychological, and social aspects of addiction as well as many different interventions. This is a very informative and comprehensive study of addiction and I look forward to the day when these discoveries can actually be put into practice.

David Allan Reeves
Author of "Running Away From Me"

I got this book about a week or two after I ordered it and it was in great condition.