Must Read, Excellent Expose on Sad Consequences of Drugs
592806
I just finished reading one of the best books I have ever read! I was already a Kiki Swinson fan. But, after reading The Candy Shop, I am a Kiki fan forever. Yes, it's possible to have it all and then be influenced by a trustworthy friend to use drugs. I have never used drugs, but I have friends and family members who have. Reading this book gave me a window into drug use and the residual needs that addicts have to fulfill every day to chase an ever so illusive dream. Of all the books I have sought on this subject, Kiki gives you detail after detail of the sad repercussions behind drug use. The main character starts off successful with a job as a vice-principal. Her best friend Teresa is aware of the mounting pressures she's under and one day she turns the VP on to drugs. A co-worker catches Teresa, the star character's friend smoking dope in the parking lot and then in the bathroom. She turns the Vp's friend in. And, the principal orders a drug test. Soon he learns that the VP is on drugs. She continues using until she loses her husband, her child Kimora and everything she owns. She and Teresa share a beautiful relationship as co-drug users (if you want to call it that) until Teresa travels to the dope house (Walt's place) and she gets some bad dope and dies. The death scene is so touching it made me cry. At this point I wanted the former VP to quit using. Already her mother-in-law offered to help her stop using, but the power of drugs kept pulling the former VP back in.

It reaches a point in the book where I stop cheering for the former VP to stop using, because she transcends from blowing the drugs into her nose with a straw to using fully. I will never forget Teresa's death at the drug house. The fiends ask the VP what Teresa was using that killed her. Sadly, they wanted the same speedball. They searched the dead woman's pocket looking for drugs. Walt tells the VP he's gonna put her best friend Teresa's body in the back yard of the dope house and that killed me.

In the end, the VP only gets worse. But, truth in fiction sure stands the means of being a teacher to anyone who listens. I listened KIKI and now I know why addicts in my own life can't quit no matter how badly I want them to.

Thanks for writing a book that I think should be made a National Must Read Book on how anybody could get hooked on drugs being in the wrong place at the right time.

Can't say enough about how good this book was. These one star haters just don't get it Kiki. Just keep on writing and you will always have a fan in me.
905051
Everyone in the US should read this book. It exposes the unconstitutional war on drugs. Why doesn't the ACLU take the drug laws to the SCOTUS? Why did it take an amendment to the constitution to make alcohol illegal but only the opinion of one self-righteous raciest to make other drugs illegal. The war on drugs is all about a lot of people making a lot of money from drug king pins to all levels of the police state we live in. 1000's of people would lose thier jobs if drugs were treated like alcohol. Makes no sense that the most damaging and dangerous drug in the US is legal while drugs that relieve depression and pain are verbotenor strictly regulated.  The alcohol industries would lose billions of $$ and the advertising of alcohol would lose many millions of $$. The prision industry would also lose millions. 50% of crime in the US happens because drugs are illegal and tax payers have wasted 1 Trillion $$ as drugs are in greater supply and cheaper, in real dollars, than ever before. We need to follow Portugal's and Switzerland's example
4551293
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Just-Love-Her-A-Mother-s-Journey-of-Healing-Through-Her-Daughter-s-Drug-Addiction/dp/0979351502/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Just Love Her: A Mother's Journey of Healing Through Her Daughter's Drug Addiction</a>Joe Herzanek's book, "Why Don't They JUST QUIT" is an eye opener about addiction from a man who has been held by the chains of addiction, first hand.  He has been to places and talks about it openly in his discussions about how addiction affected his relationships with his family, friends and community at large. He also talks frankly about how he had to learn to humble himself to re-build those relationships that were destroyed during his active years in addiction.  He gives the read HOPE that it is possible to create a better life and ultimately healthy relationships with those in his life.  He explores how addiction begins as a lonely, vulnerable illness which turns into a life of manipulation and lies and how he chose to look at himself in the mirror and rise above his shame and guilt and turn it into a service to others.  Why Don't They JUST QUIT is also an excellent resource book for those wanting to know a little or a lot about addiction, it is up to the reader.  It is written in a way that the lay person can begin the journey of compassion towards the addict in their lives and to themselves and how they relate to that person.  Joe, thank you for exposing the truth about addiction and how it impacts each and every person.  You are a gift to those who take the time to read through the pages of your book.
2198085
An amazing book on the pharmaceutical industry and the horrifying side effects of the medications that we take for granted.
1252115
Through a combination of research, explanation, and personal anecdotes, the author shares his expertise with working with people with addictions. It's a wonderfully human account--addicts are not just seen as criminals or "just junkies", but as actual people with problems well beyond their addictions. The actual nature of addiction--as a coping mechanism, not something people deliberately did to mess up their lives--is explored in great detail. And the author makes a very compelling argument for more compassionate, less judgemental forms of reahbilitation and treatment, rather than simply sticking addicts in prisons to rot. This is now on my list of books I feel everyone should read.
3139785
I really found this to be an excellent book and well worth a read for anyone interested in learning more about the specific types of circumstances and physical/mental pain that addicted people go through. Dr. Drew wrote this with a lot of compassion and insight, and rare spiritual perceptions, that listeners regular to Loveline rarely get to hear in my opinion.
I not only listen to Loveline nightly, but I've also recently completed a Substance Abuse class in college; reading this book helped me put a lot of the clinical and statistical information I learned into a real-world, real-life perspective. Dr. Drew describes the life circumstances and struggles of numerous addicted patients, some for whom he came to feel passionately responsible and protective.
Through his retelling, I learned their stories--mostly horrible and filled with sadness and abuse--and was thus able to associate the nameless, faceless addictions I'd learned about in college with some real living, breathing people I came to really feel for. If Dr. Drew is reading these reviews (which he admits to sometimes doing on Loveline), I hope he realizes what a wonderful impact he's having on his readers (including me), and how much many of us appreciate what he's shared in his excellent memoir. Kudos Dr. Drew!
4749578
I bought this book almost immediately upon completing David Sheff's "Beautiful Boy".  I was so taken in by Sheff's poignant and grievous account of his journey through his son's meth addiction that I almost felt a compulsion to read the first hand account of this tragedy written by Nic himself.  Well, Nic delivers.  He delivers above and beyond and I have a feeling thoughts of his book will haunt me for a very long time.
Tweak is essentially a play by play narrative of a 20 month period in Nic's early 20's during which he experiences two devastating and near fatal relapses into his drug and alcohol addiction.  In his account he holds nothing, and I mean NOTHING back.  I am no prude and I myself have done my fair share of experimenting but on many occasions I had to put the book down and take a breather because I was getting too overwhelmed with the grit and the gravity.
Without question, in reading this book one will certainly gain an acute perspective into the screaming struggle addicts endure on a day to day basis, especially those that want to get better.  It is heartbreaking and at times seemingly hopeless.  But in addition to shedding light into this dark world, Nic masterfully, if not subtly, demonstrates that recovery is not impossible.  He pays equal attention to documenting the slow, steady and redemptive process of finding and maintaining sobriety with the use of rehabilitation and continual "out patient" treatment.  His is a path through which many people currently struggle and it is after reading this book that I have gained a tremendous amount of understanding and empathy for them.
Now, on a closing side note, there is one random thing about which I feel compelled to warn people, and particularly parents.  When I went to purchase this book at Barnes and Noble I was shocked to find it stocked in the young adult section of the store.  Again, I am no prude and I am fully aware that teenagers today are exposed to a litany of harsh realities at increasingly younger ages, however, hear me when I say Tweak is GRAPHIC and highly disturbing.  Accounts of male prostitution, rape and overdose are consistent throughout his story and told in pretty explicit detail.  I am certainly not telling people how to parent, but I do think it would be helpful to know what you're getting into.
In any case, to those who do read it I hope it moves you like it did me.  Like I said, I will not soon, if ever, forget reading Tweak.
4291691
Compelling. Evocative. Persuasive. Whether you are opposed to the war on drugs, fully support it, are undecided or just uninformed, it is worth your time to read this investigation in to how the war started, who its victims are, and whether it is just making things worse. Even before I read Johann Hari's recent book (published this year (2015)), I believed that drug prohibition had many of the ill effects as alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, with no better chance for success. (Crime, smuggling, corruption, police brutality, poison deaths - all with little effect on usage.)  Hari comes to the same conclusion, looking at the U.S. experience from 1914 to 2014, and at the experience of other countries, notably Switzerland, Portugal, and Uruguay, which have to varying degrees, ended the war on drugs - and seen drug abuse decline as a result.

Hari's subject is controversial, as is Hari himself (he lost his position as popular columnist over plagiarism charges, no doubt one of the reasons he is so careful to document sources in this book).

Hari humanizes his subject, and in particular its victims. Even the drug dealers, mob bosses, and cartel hitmen appear as humans, to the dismay perhaps of those seeking still to divide the world into black and white, good and evil. (Indeed, from the book it appears the only person for whom Hari has no sympathy is the late Dr. Timothy Leary.)

You need not accept Hari's thesis that addiction stems primarily from isolation to perceive that his examples of decriminalization and legalization as successfully reducing the harmful effects of drug use are, at least in their settings, valid. Or vice-versa. The War on Drugs -- Nancy Reagan's facile "Just Say No," "This your brain on drugs," DA.R.E., and harsh raids and punishments you wouldn't inflict on a rabid dog -- has failed. What was that definition of insanity?
4030060
This is an excellent autobiography.  I don't normally read many books of this genre but Honorable Intentions is very well written and turned out to be a real page-turner.  The conclusion presented regarding the war on drugs is very thought provoking, especially considering it is given by one of the front-line soldiers in the war on drugs.

Highly recommended.
2040322
This collection of essays by numerous contributors should be required reading for anyone promoting OR opposing marijuana legislation and marketing. To stand back and let inadequately informed and inadequately educated governments and voters help another addiction-for-profit-and-taxes industry push its way into the fabric of our lives in North America without first doing a logical analysis of the risks versus the benefits is madness.  This book presents many viewpoints and references to much of the science that is available.  Please, read it!
1350894
This book sheds a light on a terrible epidemic that is still killing people - kept alive by Big Pharma and lax regulations. The opioid and heroin use has crept in to towns everywhere and the ramifications are enormous. Every week there is a story of a teen/young adult found dead in a park restroom or their car or dumped on the street - dead of an overdose. This isn't fiction or someone else's problem - it's in your schools, your backyard.
3225851
If you are looking for a book to reduce the shame around addiction and to understand the brain changes that are made due to substance use than I highly recommend this book. Omar puts into this book what science and research has a hard time explaining in peer reviewed journals. It's comprehensive, it's understandable, and it educates the reader from the ground up. Changes in routine behavior must happen if we experience substance use disorders, but what is also needed is a thorough knowledge and understanding of the chemical changes that occur in our brain. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it?

If you want to end the stigma of addiction than buy the book. If you're an educator or in the health care field, than buy the book. If you want to understand why you can't stop using, gambling, shopping...than buy the book. It'll change the way you understand and "know" craving and addiction.
4516523
This book captures the horrors of heroin addict and the way experimentation with drugs like marijuana and hallucinogens can lead to crack and heroin as the addict searches for the ultimate high. Nicole is courageous to share her story so completely. I hope she is still in recovery.
4561753
Beautifully written!  David Sheff's writing is painful, educational and incredibly revealing.  I loved the book so much, I have recommended it all of my friends.  The research on meth's addictive powers alone is truly noteworthy.  Sheff gives so much valuable info about the country's meth epidemic, this could very well be used for educational purposes.

I have purchased Nic's book "Tweak" and I look forward to reading the flip side of this very scary story.

Highly recommended!
4437407
Much needed information about the side effects of these drugs.
2331999
Dan is an online friend of mine, which is how I came to read this book, besides my own issues with substance abuse. It is an honest account of his struggles with addiction, and it's not always easy to read. But it is a gripping story, with a happy ending thus far...

Definitely recommended for anyone wanting to learn more about addiction. I expect it'll become required reading for counselors and therapists: it's a brutally honest look at the subject.
143553
Book got here in perfect shape and was well packaged.  This book is incredibly well written and upsetting in subject matter but important.  There are so many details to mass incarceration and the war on drugs that have not been brought to the public eye .  So upsetting to hear but only through knowledge can people become proactive.  We are reading it for a book club and the conversation should be interesting once everyone is done reading it.  I love that I can just go to Amazon and find the book at the most competitive price and get it the most quickly.