Handbook of Medical Consequences of Alcohol & Drug Abuse

A unique and comprehensive reference that no health care professional who encounters substance abusers should be without! The Handbook of the Medical Consequences of Alcohol and Drug Abuse is a cutting-edge evaluation of the medical effects of the most abused drugs in America today. The contributors to this peer-reviewed book include leading experts in medical physiology, psychopharmacology, and neuropsychology. The book describes the most current research on the acute and chronic effects of alcohol, stimulants, inhalants, marijuana, and opiates on human organ systems and behavior. It will also help you explore and understand the prenatal effects of these drugs as well as tobacco and nicotine. With the Handbook of the Medical Consequences of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, you'll be well informed about the cardiovascular, neurological, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and hepatic effects of commonly abused drugs. The book also provides in-depth explanations of the mechanisms by which these psychoactive drugs exert their biobehavioral effects as well as current thinking about -- and definitions of -- abuse, dependence, and alcohol/drug use.basic information on alcohol, including definitions of alcohol use, abuse, and dependence descriptions of the relationship between alcohol and accidental injuries, alcohol's effect on skeletal and major organ systems, and its effect on risk factors for certain cancers an examination of the effects of alcohol and other drugs on neuropsychological function an in-depth review of the effects of alcohol on neuron signaling, neurotransmitter function, and alcoholic brain damage and cognitive dysfunction a comprehensive look at the fetal effects of alcohol a clear review of the available information on chronic marijuana use's effects on psychological and physical health, including a fair and balanced discussion of the medical marijuana issue a thoughtful and fact-filled examination of the consequences of opiate abuse and methadone pharmacotherapy, including a comparison of the effects of methadone and heroin on organ system function and dysfunction a look at cocaine's history, the various forms of the drug, and the adverse effects of cocaine on cardiovascular, neurologic, and pulmonary systems an exploration of the medical consequences of inhalants -- a very broad category of abused substances ranging from nitrous oxide to gasoline -- and how to treat their toxic effects a review of the prenatal effects of nicotine, cocaine, marijuana, and opiates explanations of much of the terminology that appears in the current literature on alcohol.