The Neuroscience of Cocaine: Mechanisms and Treatment explores the complex effects of this drug, addressing the neurobiology behind cocaine use and the psychosocial and behavioral factors that impact cocaine use and abuse. This book provides researchers with an up-to-date understanding of the mechanisms behind cocaine use, and aids them in deriving new pharmacological compounds and therapeutic regimens to treat dependency and withdrawal symptoms. Cocaine is one of the most highly abused illicit drugs worldwide and is frequently associated with other forms of drug addiction and misuse, but researchers are still struggling to understand cocaine’s neuropharmacological profile and the mechanisms of its effects and manifestations at the cognitive level. Cessation of cocaine use can lead to numerous adverse withdrawal conditions, from the cellular and molecular level to the behavioral level of the individual user. Written by worldwide experts in cocaine addiction, this book assists neuroscientists and other addiction researchers in unraveling the many complex facets of cocaine use and abuse. Contains in each chapter an abstract, key facts, mini dictionary of terms, and summary points to aid in understanding Illustrated in full color Provides unique full coverage of all aspects of cocaine and its related pathology Provides researchers with an up-to-date understanding of the mechanisms behind cocaine use, and aids them in deriving new pharmacological compounds and therapeutic regimens to treat dependency and withdrawal symptoms

Illuminating a hidden and fascinating chapter in the history of globalization, Paul Gootenberg chronicles the rise of one of the most spectacular and now illegal Latin American exports: cocaine. Gootenberg traces cocaine's history from its origins as a medical commodity in the nineteenth century to its repression during the early twentieth century and its dramatic reemergence as an illicit good after World War II. Connecting the story of the drug's transformations is a host of people, products, and processes: Sigmund Freud, Coca-Cola, and Pablo Escobar all make appearances, exemplifying the global influences that have shaped the history of cocaine. But Gootenberg decenters the familiar story to uncover the roles played by hitherto obscure but vital Andean actors as well--for example, the Peruvian pharmacist who developed the techniques for refining cocaine on an industrial scale and the creators of the original drug-smuggling networks that decades later would be taken over by Colombian traffickers. Andean Cocaine proves indispensable to understanding one of the most vexing social dilemmas of the late twentieth-century Americas: the American cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and, in its wake, the seemingly endless U.S. drug war in the Andes.

Cocaine is the story of a young man who runs off to Paris to seek fame, fortune, and fun. Pitigrilli's classic novel charts the comedy and pathos of a young man's tragic trajectory. Tito Arnaudi is a dandified hero with several mistresses he juggles. A failed medical student, Tito is hired as a journalist in Paris, where he investigates cocaine dens and invents lurid scandals and gruesome deaths that he sells to newspapers as his own life becomes more outrageous than his phony press reports. Telling of orgies and strawberries soaked in champagne and ether, Tito lives with intensity as he pursues his Italian girlfriend Maud (née Maddalena) and wealthy Armenian Kalantan, who insists on making love in a black coffin. Provocatively illustrated, filled with lush, intoxicating prose,Cocaine is a wicked novel about the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris. Dizzy and decadent, Pitigrilli leaves nothing unexplored as he presents astonishing descriptions of upper class debauching -- strawberries and chloroform, naked dancing, cocaine aplenty, and guests openly injecting morphine. Despite its wit,Cocaine is a sobering account of the dangers of drugs and sexual obsession. Tito happily trades in his twilight years for moments of wicked ecstasy.

Cocaine examines the rise and fall of this notorious substance from its legitimate use by scientists and medics in the nineteenth century to the international prohibitionist regimes and drug gangs of today. Themes explored include: * Amsterdam's complex cocaine culture * the manufacture, sale and control of cocaine in the United States * Japan and the Southeast Asian cocaine industry * export of cocaine prohibitions to Peru * sex, drugs and race in early modern London Cocaine unveils new primary sources and covert social, cultural and political transformations to shed light on cocaine's hidden history.

This is the story of the most successful cocaine dealers in the world: Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, Carlos Lehder Rivas and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. In the 1980s they controlled more than fifty percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States. The cocaine trade is capitalism on overdrive -- supply meeting demand on exponential levels. Here you'll find the story of how the modern cocaine business started and how it turned a rag tag group of hippies and sociopaths into regal kings as they stumbled from small-time suitcase smuggling to levels of unimaginable sophistication and daring. The $2 billion dollar system eventually became so complex that it required the manipulation of world leaders, corruption of revolutionary movements and the worst kind of violence to protect.

Mankind has chewed it for thousands of years, has snorted and smoked it for centuries, and has now refined it to reach the brain in under four seconds. Its chemistry sustains Peruvian hill farmers and sharp-suited bankers alike, and it is the fastest growing recreational drug. The social and scientific arguments swirling around it get denser by the year. It brings euphoria and despair, obscene wealth and dire poverty. It knows no social barriers. Everything about it defies simple analysis. Frank and unbiased, this book looks at the drug's curious history, the world of drug lords and traffickers, and the politics of its production, and explains the science of cocaine addiction and its health implications.--From publisher description.

"Arguing that the underground drug culture had origins other than in federal prohibition, he concludes with some thoughts on what our early experience with legalization and prohibition can tell us as we face questions about drug policy today."--BOOK JACKET.