Contains a chapter titled “The Visions of Hasheesh” as well as sections on Tobacco and coffee. Describes the author’s experiences with these substances while in Damascus. Very interesting and poetic account in travelogue style from 1855. [ read more ]
An interesting book because of it’s legal history. Ten years after it was originally published, a triple-murder was committed by a man named James Perry who used this book as his guide for the murder. The publisher, Paladin Press, was sued by the family of the victim and eventually settled out of court. They agreed to destroy all remaining copies ... [ read more ]
This book attempts to take a look at the important topic of the effects of psychoactive drugs on sexual response, reproduction, and other aspects of sexuality. It covers hormone therapies (estrogen, testosterone, etc), recreationally-used psychoactives (alcohol, opioids, etc), and a number of different classifications of pharmaceutical medications. This book is a good start at covering a laudable topic, but the ... [ read more ]
Oh my god, this is one of the worst psychoactive-related books that I’ve ever seen. If it weren’t sitting here in my hands in hardcover print, I’d assume it was a bad usenet post. The entire book is preachy, uninformed, and filled with errors. It weaves a strange description of peyote, psilocybe mushrooms, and Amanita muscaria mushrooms where the boundaries ... [ read more ]
An interesting historical look at the type of information that was publicly available about psychedelics in the early 1960s. In addition to the main text, it also contains short sections on peyote (and religious freedom issues involved with its use by the Native American Church), mescaline, Amanita muscaria, carbon dioxide (carbogen), glue sniffing and a few more. [ read more ]
This book takes a reasonably serious look at the debate over drug legalization. Unfortunately, the bias of the authors is quite apparent in the way they look at the debate. Rather than sticking to presenting the various sides of the existing debate, the authors come at the issue from the assumption that legalization is a bad idea and from this ... [ read more ]
I have to admit. When I opened this book I was starting from a jaded point of view. I have read a lot of books on entheogens and it seems that there is little ground that has not been travelled when it comes to the intellectualisation of an experience that in all reality has little to do with intellectualisation.
As I ... [ read more ]
A nice overview of the issues and controversy surrounding the use of cannabis. Understanding Marijuana addresses the evidence and current state of knowledge about issues such as cannabis history, gateway effect, impact on thought and memory, subjective effects, pharmacology, physical health effects, medical marijuana, social issues, law and policy, and treatment of problematic cannabis use. Earleywine cites resources and research ... [ read more ]
How can we save the world from the marijuana epidemic? Are we doomed? Marijuana Alert is an overly dramatic and alarmist piece about marijuana. What more can we expect from a book with a foreword by Nancy Reagan. Contains a one-sided look at the some of the research about Cannabis which is only worth perusing if you’re interested specifically in ... [ read more ]
A contorted text which goes out of its way to try to show that even moderate recreational use of “sensual drugs” is more harmful than the medical use of the same substances. The authors define “sensual drugs” as those which “give the user a strong sense of pleasure”, including amphetamine, cocaine, opiates, alcohol, barbiturates, inhalants, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, and cannabis. ... [ read more ]