Word: habitability
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Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern worldby David CourtwrightHarvard University Press256...
...happy and partake, except of the forbidden fruit, has always been a hard message to swallow," writes David Courtwright in Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World, in an attempt to summarize a potentially fatal flaw of human nature. Courtwright examines every historical detail of the development of drugs: their discovery, whether accidental or man-made, and their evolution and use in society. He cleverly toys with our present-day notion of the term "drug," examining a range of products that includes the illegal substances such as cocaine, marijuana, opium, as well as certain legalized substances...
...example of the huge effect that drugs can have on an individual's life. Leary's statement, "LSD is more important than Harvard," accurately sums up his decision to drop out of academia and spend his life as a LSD groupie. And while Courtwright provides glimpses throughout Forces of Habit of the varying degrees of addictions that ultimately drove the drug trade and globalization, he also explains cultural stigmas that secured the failure of so many potential drug markets. For example, because the Chinese "equate hallucination with mental illness," Leary's LSD phenomenon was doomed to fail in their country...
Forces of Habit affords the reader an in-depth understanding of the history of drugs in society, not tailored to a specific platform or program of reform. In fact, Courtwright mentions little about the future of drugs and the drug trade in his accounts, and when he does veer towards moral judgments, he states them simply and concisely. But if you're looking for a serious emotional scrutiny of present day drug issues, you'll have to go see the movie Traffic. Courtwright sticks to his historical format until the very end, taking only the final few paragraphs...
Sacrificing ANWR to oil development is not a long-term solution to America's energy problems. Our nation is addicted to petroleum, with an ever increasing habit, and even the most optimistic estimates of what might be recovered from anwr would only briefly delay the inevitable crisis. Selling the family jewels for another fix may hold a momentary attraction for the junkie in the throes of withdrawal, but it is always a bad idea. Perhaps our evangelist-in-chief should propose a 12-step program instead. EARL P. JONES Redding, Calif...