As America's war on drugs mounts—and falters—we continue to have little real understanding of the most devastating and addictive drug of all: cocaine. In this immensely readable and informative book, psychologist John C. Flynn reveals the plain facts needed to devise more reasoned and effective strategies for dealing with the drug crisis in our country. Flynn traces the history of cocaine from the sixteenth century, when Spanish conquistadors first observed the Incas chewing coca leaves, through Sigmund Freud's famous experimentation with the drug to its widespread use today. Flynn demystifies the effects of cocaine and focuses on the most current psychological and biochemical evidence available.
Cocaine takes readers on a fascinating and complex journey through the human mind and body, detailing the ways in which cocaine precisely and powerfully affects the brain, unlocking neurological "reward centers" and keeping its users hooked. Flynn also examines how each form of the drug, including crack, exacts its great personal, social, economic and political tolls.
This frank book, free of sloganeering and easy generalizations, shows clearly that we do not have a single drug problem, but a constellation of problems with distinctly different drugs. Cocaine stands out as the most dangerous, though there are portents that scientists and dealers will design even more powerful cocaine—like drugs in the coming years. Flynn reasons convincingly that in such an environment we must understand the evidence before we can seek out sound programs and solutions.
As much a book about social action and policy as it is about hard science and drug addiction, Cocaine makes a uniquely clear-sighted contribution to the debates surrounding the drug problems in America today.
John C. Flynn, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Baylor University, where he teaches neuro-science and psychopharmacology and conducts research in the areas of brain chemistry and behavior.
