Challenges conventional ideas about opiate addiction, arguing that an uncritical acceptance of literary and anecdotal accounts has resulted in romanticization and misguided treatment efforts.
Based on his experience as a British prison and hospital psychiatrist, Dr. Dalrymple challenges conventional ideas about addiction to opiates such as heroin. From literary, medical, and philosophical perspectives, he provocatively argues that uncritical acceptance of accounts of the nature of addiction and the alleged relationship between drugs, creativity, and crime has resulted in romanticization and misguided treatment efforts. After weighing the arguments for and against legalization, he decides against it. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
For hundreds of years, addiction to drugs has seemed dangerous but with a hint of glamour. Addicts are a mystery to those who have never been one. They are presumed to be in touch with profound enlightenments of which non-addicts are ignorant. Theodore Dalrymple shows that doctors, psychologists, and social workers have always known these drug addictions to be false! They have created these myths to build lucrative method of expensive quasi-treatment.
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