Series:

Drugs, Health, and Social Policy

2 primary works

Book 3

Cover of Drug Control and the Courts
Prisons are bursting at the seams, filled with drug-abusing criminal offenders as a result of the continuing "war on drugs." Yet rates of drug use among these offenders continue to skyrocket, showing that incarceration alone proves an inadequate solution. Faced with a drug crisis, what options do the courts have to deal with this problem population? Offering a unique perspective, Drug Control and the Courts skillfully examines the history, development, and current status of drug control programs and the criminal justice system. This cutting-edge volume identifies notable trends--such as the growing need for HIV and AIDS screening among offenders and the documented success of compulsory and coerced drug treatment programs--that can strongly influence criminal justice procedures for dealing with drug-involved offenders. Authors James A. Inciardi, Duane C. McBride, and James E. Rivers critically examine successful programs and push for expanding the coordinated efforts of the courts and drug abuse treatment services. Featuring the combined expertise of the authors, the analysis in Drug Control and the Courts will be of interest to students in criminology, criminal justice, and sociology as well as researchers, practitioners, academics, and policymakers.

Book 5

Cover of Cocaine-Exposed Infants
Research in the mid-1980s on the effects of prenatal drug abuse characterized cocaine-exposed children as moody, inconsolable, less socially interactive and less able to bond than other children. It was concluded that these conditions were irreversible. However, methodological problems in these early studies, combined with the fact that cocaine-using mothers abuse other drugs as well, has left the research and public health communities uncertain as to the cause and effect relationship between cocaine use and pre/postnatal consequences.

Cocaine-Exposed Infants examines what is known about the problem and unravels some of the contradictions in the literature. The book also explores, in depth, the media frenzy over 'crack babies' and the resulting legislation in the United States that served to criminalize drug use during pregnancy.