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Cargando... Opium: How an Ancient Flower Shaped and Poisoned Our Worldpor John H. Halpern, David Blistein
![]() Hachette Book Group (107) Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. ![]() ![]() While the author of Opium makes a convincing argument that the history of the opium epidemic is important to understand in order to not repeat the mistakes of our past, the history portrayed in this book is more than exhaustive and makes the first half very tedious to get through. It was so boring that I let the ebook from my library expire on my iPad because I couldn't force myself to continue reading, then read several other books instead, and only got back to this out of a feeling that I should finish this off before the new year. (I almost finished before the new year!) The last part of this book is more interesting, as the author focuses on more modern (20th century) attempts to control the opium trade, and how ineffective (and racist) it has been and continues to be in the United States. The look at the modern opium epidemic kicked off by OxyContin was very brief and extremely abbreviated (the author never once mentions the incentives that Purdue Pharma gave to its drug reps to increase prescriptions of the drug) and does not mention how deindustrialization helped feed into the current crisis facing the U.S. I found the intense thoroughness of the first half of the book to be in great contrast to how abbreviated the look into the U.S.'s modern (20th/21st) crises was. Probably the most compelling part of this book is a look into different treatment modalities, but even those I've read about more in depth in another book. (I can't recall exactly which, but here are some of my highly-rated reads that cover either the opiate epidemic or drug addiction treatment in general: Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic, The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry, and Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy.) Honestly, at this point, are there people who are unaware of the opiate epidemic? Is there a need for more books like this? I don't have answers to those questions, but this would not be the book I would recommend to raise awareness about the issues. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Distinciones
Opioid addiction is fast becoming the most deadly crisis in American history. In 2017, it claimed nearly fifty thousand lives -- more than gunshots and car crashes combined, and almost as many Americans as were killed in the entire Vietnam War. But even as the overdose crisis ravages our nation -- straining our prison system, dividing families, and defying virtually every legislative solution to treat it-- few understand how it came to be. Opium tells the extraordinary and at times harrowing tale of how we arrived at today's crisis, "mak[ing] timely and startling connections among painkillers, politics, finance, and society" (Laurence Bergreen). The story begins with the discovery of poppy artifacts in ancient Mesopotamia, and goes on to explore how Greek physicians and obscure chemists discovered opium's effects and refined its power, how colonial empires marketed it around the world, and eventually how international drug companies developed a range of powerful synthetic opioids that led to an epidemic of addiction. Throughout, Dr. John Halpern and David Blistein reveal the fascinating role that opium has played in building our modern world, from trade networks to medical protocols to drug enforcement policies. Most importantly, they disentangle how crucial misjudgments, patterns of greed, and racial stereotypes served to transform one of nature's most effective painkillers into a source of unspeakable pain-and how, using the insights of history, state-of-the-art science, and a compassionate approach to the illness of addiction, we can overcome today's overdose epidemic. This urgent and masterfully woven narrative tells an epic story of how one beautiful flower became the fascination of leaders, tycoons, and nations through the centuries and in their hands exposed the fragility of our civilization. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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