basket 0 items @ £0
View Basket

Junk Medicine

Doctors, Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy

By Theodore Dalrymple

Out of Print

Product Information

Format(s):

ISBN(s):

Published:

Edition:

Author:

No. of pages:

SKU(s):

About the Author

Theodore Dalrymple

Contents Listing

Introduction

Chapter 1
Lies! Lies! Lies!

Chapter 2
The Literature of Exaggeration and Self-Dramatization

Chapter 3
The Show Must Go On

Appendix
A Short Anthology of Nonsense

Index
Introduction

Chapter 1
Lies! Lies! Lies!

Chapter 2
The Literature of Exaggeration and Self-Dramatization

Chapter 3
The Show Must Go On

Appendix
A Short Anthology of Nonsense

Index

Jacket Text

Almost everything you know about heroin addiction is wrong.

Not only is it wrong, but it is obviously wrong. Heroin is not highly addictive; withdrawal from it is not medically serious; addicts do not become criminals to feed their habit; addicts do not need any medical assistance to stop taking heroin; and contrary to received wisdom, heroin addiction most certainly IS a moral or spiritual problem.

Based on his experience as a prison doctor and as a psychiatrist in a large general hospital in Birmingham, Dr. Dalrymple argues that addiction to heroin is not an illness at all, and that doctors only make it worse. They deceive both the addicts and themselves by pretending that they have something to offer.

In this brilliant, entertaining and provocative book, Theodore Dalrymple explains how and why a literary tradition dating back to De Quincey and Coleridge, and continuing up to the deeply sociopathic William Burroughs and beyond, has misled all Western societies for generations about the nature of heroin addiction. These writers' self-dramatizing and dishonest accounts of their own addiction have been accepted uncritically, and have been more influential by far in forming public attitudes than the whole of pharmacological science. As a result, a self-serving, self-perpetuating and completely useless medical bureaucracy has been set up to deal with the problem.

With scathing wit, implacable logic and savage denunciation, Dr. Dalrymple exposes the mythology surrounding heroin addiction. Moving seamlessly between literature, pharmacology, history and philosophy, he demonstrates what happens when the nature of a social problem is so thoroughly misunderstood, and when human beings are regarded as inanimate objects rather than as agents of their own destiny. His scintillating, iconoclastic little book has an importance far beyond its immediate subject matter.

Media Coverage

The Adam Smith Institute

"This is unashamedly another plug for 'Junk Medicine: Doctors, Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy' by iconoclastic doc Theodore Dalrymple, which I first reviewed back in January, and which our ...

Read more

Times Online

"Theodore Dalrymple is a retired prison doctor and author of 'Junk Medicine: Doctors, Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy'."

Read more

Adam Smith Institute Blog

"For a very long time doctors who worked with drug addicts have stated that addiction to illicit drugs like heroin is not stronger than that to legal drugs like cigarettes. But this message has not ...

Read more

Nursing Standard

Rated: 4/5

"This polemical text exposes what the author sees as the wilful misconceptions, lies and evasions of the past 200 years with regard to heroin addiction. Psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple ...

Read more

The Adam Smith Institute

"More to my taste, though, is Junk Medicine: Doctors, Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy by iconoclastic doc Theodore Dalrymple. Almost everything you know about heroin addiction is wrong, he says. ...

Read more

The Guardian

"This book blasts open with baleful force: "Addiction to opiates is a pretend rather than a real illness, treatment of which is pretend rather than real treatment." From his experience as a prison ...

Read more

Nursingstandard.rcnpublishing.co.uk

Junk Medicine was featurd on the front cover of Nursing Standard27th August 2008

Read more

Timesonline.co.uk

We must kick our methadone habit- Theodore Dalrymple, The Times30th May 2008

Read more

Adamsmith.org

Is it a disease, or not?- The Adam Smith Institute, 13th May 2008

Read more

Media Review

All healthcare professionals need to engage in practive thinking when providing care. This engaging book will help them do just that.- Nursing Standard, February 2008

Read more

Books.guardian.co.uk

Steven Poole on Doctors, Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy- Steven Poole, The Guardian, 29th September 2007

Read more

Women.timesonline.co.uk

Tough love or TLC?- Sarah Vine, The Times, 31st August 2007

Read more

Bloggernews.net

I was thoroughly enthralled by the absolute brutal honesty of this book.- Andrew Ian Dodge, Blogger News Network, 23rd August 2007

Read more

Mailonsunday.co.uk

Heroin addiction isn't an illness...and we should stop spending millions 'treating' itA leading prison doctor argues that his profession has totally misunderstood addiction- An extract from Junk ...

Read more

Bbc.co.uk

Is heroin addiction real?- Dr Dalrymple was interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme, 14th August 2007

Read more

Comment.independent.co.uk

It is a taboo-shattering, sacred cow-slaughtering, myth-destroying little gem of a book.- Dominic Lawson, The Independent, 2007

Read more

Media Enquiries

If you'd like to get in touch with the author for interview or comment, or you'd like a review copy of this product,
please contact us at pr@harriman-house.com or call +44 (0)1730 269809.

Rights

For information on available rights, please contact rights@harriman-house.com

Bulk purchases

Discounts for bulk purchases and there are premium editions available. Please contact specialsales@harriman-house.com for a quote.

Harriman House

Titles

Authors

Press

Trade

Enter your email address to receive your free ebook

By requesting this free eBook, you agree to let us email you
about future Harriman House offers. We will not sell your details
to a third party and you can un-subscribe at any time.
A valid email address is required to receive your download link.