We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more
Request an Inspection Copy
Cover

Drugs: A Very Short Introduction

Second Edition

Les Iversen

23 June 2016

ISBN: 9780198745792

144 pages
Paperback
174x111mm

In Stock

Very Short Introductions

Price: £8.99

In this second edition, Les Iversen presents an introductory account of what drugs are, how they work, and the advances made over the past 100 years in the field of pharmacology. Looking at pharmaceutical drugs and both legal and illegal recreational drugs, Iversen reflects on how twentieth-century drugs have changed our lives.

Share:

Description

In this second edition, Les Iversen presents an introductory account of what drugs are, how they work, and the advances made over the past 100 years in the field of pharmacology. Looking at pharmaceutical drugs and both legal and illegal recreational drugs, Iversen reflects on how twentieth-century drugs have changed our lives.

  • Discusses the history of drug use from ancient times
  • Explains the facts about how drugs work, including alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, as well as beta-blockers, antidepressants, and painkillers
  • Explores political, legal, medical, and social aspects of recreational drug-taking, and gives opinions about the legalization of drugs such as cannabis
  • Explains how therapeutic drugs are developed and tested, and how the drug industry works
  • Part of the bestselling Very Short Introductions series - over seven million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Les Iversen, Visiting Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Oxford University

Les Iversen is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. He was director of the MRC Neurochemical Pharmacology Unit in Cambridge (1970-1983) and then Vice-President of Neuroscience for the American pharmaceutical company Merck Inc (1983-1995). He is best known for his work on the role of monoamine transport mechanisms in the inactivation of monoamines in the brain, and as targets for psychoactive drugs. His previous books include The Science of Marijuana, 2nd Edition (OUP USA, 2007) and Speed, Ecstacy, Ritalin: The Science of Amphetamines (OUP, 2008).

Table of Contents

    List of illustrations
    1:History
    2:How drugs work
    3:Drugs as medicines
    4:Recreational drugs
    5:Making new medicines
    6:What can we expect in the 21st Century?
    References
    Further reading
    Index

Related Titles