The subject of recreational drugs is not the easiest of topics to cover. Factual resources may well concentrate entirely on the science without delving into the social or human element of drug use, whereas books on recreational drugs aimed at the popular market bring with them all sorts of moral and political issues, accusations of glamorising drug culture and failure to warn of the inherent dangers. This, however, is a refreshingly sensible yet easy read, absorbing to the layperson and colourfully presented, without “dumbing down” the subject matter. Rather than a hefty medical tome, this book is targeted at a far wider audience, evident from the front cover (a yellow acid “smiley”) through to the informative yet simply explained entries.
Just as its predecessor, Street Drugs (Tyler, 1995), the book presents the facts and figures with no attempt to start wading through the perceived evils of drug taking. The disclaimer on the back of the book states “[T]his book is designed to be an educational reference and is not intended to encourage illegal activity”. Having dispensed with that, the author gets on with presenting the plain facts on the drugs themselves: the effects and after‐effects, the production and trafficking and the legal implications of each one. He covers all aspects of a huge variety of different drugs, including “everyday” ones such as alcohol, caffeine and tobacco alongside the more obvious opiates and barbiturates. Glancing through the reviews written on Amazon it is clear that the readers appreciate the dispassionate manner in which this book is presented, giving all the facts with none of the hysteria.
The book is laid out in groups of drugs, namely Depressants, Antidepressants, Narcotics, Analgesics, Stimulants, Hallucinogenics, Marijuana and Legal Highs. The analysis of each drug within these groups is split into subsections such as methods of use, medical uses, health risks and legal implications. This layout makes it an easy reference source to use: the reader may locate exactly what he or she needs very quickly and the casual browser can flip through the pages without becoming hopelessly lost in a morass of information. The entries include the chemical names of each drug as well as the “street” names, although the author only includes a handful rather than listing every variation, and those used originate more from American rather than UK vernacular.
There is also a slight American bias in terms of weights and measures, and sometimes when presenting the legal implications for each drug, US Federal law is the legal system most referred to, although UK and European law is usually mentioned somewhere in the paragraph.
The directory is also very well illustrated, with colour photographs of all the drugs in their variant forms, as well as the packaging and paraphernalia which goes with them (see the entry on opium for a well‐illustrated article on the progress from opium plant to processed product). Perhaps one of my only criticisms would be that Shapiro takes the illustration further than he needs to: for example, the statement that maintaining a regular drug habit is expensive is accompanied by a colour photograph of a burning one dollar bill, which is probably a little unnecessary. This is my only quibble about this informative and well thought out directory. Rather than plunge into lengthy discussions about the nature and effect of each drug, Shapiro has presented each drug in a “bite‐sized” manner, which does not lessen the value of this book both as a scientific and a popular resource. It will be useful for anyone needing factual material on this subject, and is also surprisingly interesting for the more casual browser.
