This study analyzed the pharmacological effects, situational contexts and processual dynamics of methamphetamine use, distribution, and violence, using interviews. Evidence supports previous research that suggests continuity from youth aggression to adult violence. Findings indicate that long-term influences - family, psychological/personality, and peer factors lead to the development of fairly stable, slowly changing differences between individuals in their potential for violence. Superimposed on these long-term between-individual differences are short-term within-individual variations in violence potential. For many of the sample members that engaged in violence, chronic methamphetamine use had a disorganizing effect on their cognitive functions, which in turn lead to distorted interpretations of behavior and reduced an individual's ability to use various coping devices in situations seen as threatening. The study could find no evidence of a single, uniform career path that all chronic methamphetamine users follow. Most germane to this study, it discovered that violence is not an inevitable outcome of even chronic amphetamine use.

With an emphasis on value-added business leadership, Estes (Strategic Measures Inc.) examines the key issues of fully participating in the green revolution while maintaining and enhancing organizational profitability. He cleverly draws upon his extensive consulting experiences to provide a timely, user-friendly guide for small to midsized organizations on implementing ecosensitive and sustainable business practices. From building alliances to a whole-systems approach to sustainability, the book's eight well-written and readable chapters clearly articulate the challenges and opportunities of participating in the cultural shift to a green world. Step by step, chapters explore the unique synergism among entrepreneurship, sustainability, and success as a part of an organization's strategic and profit plans. An appendix containing a useful list of green resources completes the book. See related, The Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, by Jeana Wirtenberg (CH, Mar'09, 46-3947); The Business Guide to Sustainability, by Darcy Hitchcock and Marsha Willard (CH, May'07, 44-5138); and Global Warming Is Good for Business, by K. B. Keilbach (CH, Sep'09, 47-0369). Summing Up: Recommended. All levels of undergraduate students as well as practitioners and general readers. Reviewed by S. R. Kahn.

Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.

Discussion of methamphetamine abuse and its social costs.

The Matrix IOP method was developed initially in the 1980s in response to the growing numbers of individuals entering the treatment system with cocaine or methamphetamine dependence as their primary substance use disorder. Many traditional treatment models then in use were developed primarily to treat alcohol dependence and were proving to be relatively ineffective in treating cocaine and other stimulant dependence (Obert et al. 2000). To create effective treatment protocols for clients dependent on stimulant drugs, treatment professionals at the Matrix Institute drew from numerous treatment approaches, incorporating into their model methods that were empirically tested and practical. Their treatment model incorporated elements of relapse prevention, cognitive-behavioral, psychoeducation, and family approaches, as well as 12-Step program support (Obert et al. 2000).