Truth about Drugs - Acknowledgements & Definitions

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The Truth About Drugs

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful to David Partington at Yeldall Manor for help in locating sources and for other assistance.I am also indebted to all those staff and volunteers, far too numerous to mention, who over the last ten years have cared for those with drug-related health problems through the AIDS agency ACET (AIDS Care Education and Training).Your practical compassion in London, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin as well as in other nations such as Thailand have been a profound inspiration to me as well as providing a great sense of urgency to do all we can to help prevent future tragedies caused by drug use.

I am also very thankful to hundreds of others who at various times have shared with me what it has been like for them to be caught up in drug dependency, or to care for those affected directly or indirectly.Thanks are also due to Shirley Bray for help in research, proof-reading. indexing and organization.

Definitions - some of these are controversial since terms like "addict" or "addiction" are in many countries not politically correct - becoming for example "someone with dependency on drugs" or "drug user".

Drug Addiction - physical or psychological need to take a drug (same as dependency)

Drug Addict - someone with an addiction

Drug Dependency - physical or psychological need to take a drug (same as addiction)

Substance abuse - taking drugs illegally or without medical supervision, or in the case of alcohol, consuming enough to risk physical or mental health

Drug user - taking drugs illegally or without medical supervision

Drug injector - someone injecting a drug

Drug - substance taken by the user for no medical purpose, in order to experience psychological or physical effects

Psychoactive - altering the mental state of the user

The Truth About Drugs

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