Abstract
The recent entry of large numbers of non-slum dwellers, especially college youth, into the drug culture has engendered much interest in the subject. Estimates suggest that over one-fourth of college students may be smoking marijuana regularly, with substantial numbers “tripping” on LSD, getting high on amphetamines, and a not insignificant—and growing—number using heroin. Unfortunately, perhaps as an inevitable result of allowing law-enforcement personnel to pose as “experts” in the field, a substantial body of incomplete knowledge and utter mythologies has grown up surrounding drugs.
Fortunately, acceptance of the expertise of these law enforcement personnel—often scientifically unqualified, usually possessing vested interests (even if only subconsciously)—is giving way to legitimate medical and scientific research. Hopefully these presumably objective researchers will enable society to undertake logical programs of treatment and prophylaxis based upon objective evidence.
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