Sign the Resolution for a Federal Commission on Drug Policy

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DRCNet Library | Schaffer Library | Major Studies

by Edward M. Brecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine

The Consumers Union Report - Licit and Illicit Drugs

Part I - The Opiates: Heroin, Morphine, Opium, and Methadone

Chapter 1 - Nineteenth Century America - "a dope fiends paradise"

Chapter 2 - Opiates for pain relief, for tranquilization, and for pleasure

Chapter 3 - What kinds of people used opiates?

Chapter 4 - Effects of opium, morphine and heroin on addicts

Chapter 5 - Some eminent narcotics addicts

Chapter 6 - Opium smoking is outlawed

Chapter 7 - The Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906

Chapter 8 - The Harrison Narcotic Act (1914)

Chapter 9 - Tightening up the Harrison Act

Chapter 10 - Why our narcotics laws have failed: 1) Heroin is an addicting drug

Chapter 11 - Why our narcotics laws have failed: 2) The economics of the black market

Chapter 12 - The heroin "overdose" mystery and other occupational hazards of heroin addiction

Chapter 13 - Supplying heroin legally to addicts

Chapter 14 - Enter methadone maintenance

Chapter 15 - How well does methadone maintenance work?

Chapter 16 - Methadone side effects

Chapter 17 - Why methadone maintenance works

Chapter 18 - Methadone maintenance spreads

Chapter 19 - The future of methadone maintenance

Chapter 20 - Heroin on the youth drug scene - and in Vietnam