Richard Isralowitz – författare

This concise, up-to-date volume compiles information and materials documenting illicit drugs and their use from multiple perspectives.Illicit drug use is a deeply embedded characteristic of most societies, resulting in illness, death, crime and violence, terrorism, imprisonment, property confiscation—and massive allocations of government resources. Illicit Drugs provides comprehensive information for those seeking to understand the nature and scope of this far-reaching problem, as well as major issues of concern and debate surrounding it.Organized thematically, the book begins with an overview of illicit drug use and abuse, including its history and risk factors. The scope of illicit drug use in the United States is covered, including conditions that encourage the practice, costs, related policies and programs, and prevention and treatment considerations. The book looks at populations at risk, including children and youth, women, older adults, and racial and ethnic minorities. International aspects of illicit drugs, such as production, trafficking, and consumption are also examined.

This text provides up-to-date, comprehensive, and accessible information about alcohol use in western society and other cultures.In 2009, President Barack Obama hosted a friendly "beer summit" on the White House lawn in an attempt to diffuse a racially charged incident between a Caucasian policeman and an African American professor. In the United States, beer and other alcoholic beverage companies are often the main advertisers during television sporting event coverage. A study has found that 44 percent of American college students participate in binge drinking, while the NHTSA reports that over 31 percent of traffic fatalities involve a driver with an illegal blood-alcohol content level. In our culture, consumption of alcohol is both widely accepted as a healthy social norm and condemned as a crime.Alcohol provides information about how alcohol acts upon the body, the social problems related to alcohol use, medical disorders connected to alcohol use, alcohol use throughout world cultures and the American population, and public policy issues. This book also contains sections on adolescent and college student alcohol use.

Substance abuse and its social consequences are a major public concern for communities throughout the world. The motivations and consequences are deeply imbedded within the social and political structures of all countries, whether they be well-established democracies or developing nations.Every culture shapes the meaning of and responses to substances such as marijuana and heroin over time and across locations, but the broader drug issue has become universal. As the sphere of the problem expands, the experiences and solutions of each nation become more relevant to other countries. International concern over substance abuse has intensified as a result of the rise in production, use, and trafficking of illicit drugs all over the world. Therefore, the practical knowledge of policy development and abuse prevention and treatment strategies in the Middle East have increasing relevance for the rest of the world.

This new edition provides an up-to-date examination of the key issues of the drug problem, including cigarettes, heroin, alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana. It offers a current review of definitions of drug use and dependence, the latest developments regarding tobacco use and the historical agreement between government and industry, and research and analysis from a cross-cultural perspective. A detailed account of opium and heroin distribution and control in the region of Afghanistan provide valuable insight.Whether it be illegal drugs such as marijuana, heroin, and cocaine or legal substances including cigarettes and alcohol, drug use is a deeply imbedded characteristic of society. An immense amount of money and human resources is spent in the United States to address drug use. For example, the cost of substance abuse to the U.S. economy each year is estimated to be over $414 billion. In terms of illegal drugs alone, the U.S. drug market has been estimated to be $150 billion a year. The annual federal anti-drug budget for law enforcement is about $12 billion per year; and about $3 billion goes to overseas drug wars alone with about half of that amount going to Colombia to eliminate opium and coca cultivation. It has been reported that substance abuse and addiction will add at least $41 billion to the costs of elementary and secondary education for 2001 due to class disruption and violence, special education and tutoring, teacher turnover, truancy, children left behind, student assistance programs, property damage, injury, and counseling. The cost to the nation for each of its hard-core addicts, per year, is about $30,000. The amount spent on the drug problem does not include the cost of drug use measured in human suffering, increased violence, and lost lives, nor does it include the damage done by cigarettes and alcohol.The second, updated edition of this important work examines issues about the use and abuse of legal and illegal drugs from multiple perspectives including the social context of reality, historical and present patterns of use, causal factors associated with addiction, research findings including those of a cross-cultural nature, case studies of addicts, and the management of services provision.

An enlightening discussion of the major issues related to the prevention and treatment of adolescent substance abuse. Information-packed chapters lend a new perspective to the field and suggest implications for practice in services for youth.

This title was first published in 2000:  Comprising over one-third of the land area of Israel, the Negev is home to more than 400,000 residents representing one of the most unusual ethnic mixes in the world. Immigrants from many regions and countries: North Africa, Ethiopia, the Middle East, India, Europe, North and South America, and the Republics of the former Soviet Union, now reside in the Negev along with indigenous Bedouin Arabs and Jews born in Israel. Transitions is a dedication to the Negev people, brought together by Richard Isralowitz of Ben Gurion University, Israel and Jonathan Friedlander of the University of California, Los Angeles. It documents a year in the lives of three groups of people through carefully selected and expertly written chapters contributed by Israeli scholars familiar with issues of immigration and immigrant absorption, regional development, health, education, as well as racial and ethnic conflict concerning Russian, Ethiopian and Bedouin people of Israel’s arid southern region.

This title was first published in 2000:  Comprising over one-third of the land area of Israel, the Negev is home to more than 400,000 residents representing one of the most unusual ethnic mixes in the world. Immigrants from many regions and countries: North Africa, Ethiopia, the Middle East, India, Europe, North and South America, and the Republics of the former Soviet Union, now reside in the Negev along with indigenous Bedouin Arabs and Jews born in Israel. Transitions is a dedication to the Negev people, brought together by Richard Isralowitz of Ben Gurion University, Israel and Jonathan Friedlander of the University of California, Los Angeles. It documents a year in the lives of three groups of people through carefully selected and expertly written chapters contributed by Israeli scholars familiar with issues of immigration and immigrant absorption, regional development, health, education, as well as racial and ethnic conflict concerning Russian, Ethiopian and Bedouin people of Israel’s arid southern region. The chapters are juxtaposed with the vivid and provocative colour and black and white images of photographer Ron Kelley who focuses on the process of assimilation, within the broader context of Israeli society, revealing complications of nationalism, ethnic rivalries and competition over limited resources, amidst a prevailing concern for national security. Prepared with support from the US/Israel Binational Education Foundation (Fulbright Scholars Program) and the Israel Council of Higher Education, Transitions is an extraordinary and unique study of people, their environment and interaction.

A balanced and straightforward survey of the key issues, facts, and controversies surrounding the use and abuse of harmful drugs in the United States and abroad.Drug Use: A Reference Handbook presents a vast collection of facts and information about the major issues that drive the world's never-ending drug problem. An examination of five substances—tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, heroin, and cocaine—presents eye-opening facts about their relationship to politics, policies, big business, and war.Historical overviews and descriptions of the makeup and effects of each drug—such as the derivation of heroin from the opium poppy—segue into an analysis of the risk factors, patterns, and controversies regarding their use. Biographies profile key players related to the substance-use problem, and reports on drug use in the United States and selected countries are viewed from a worldwide perspective, offering a thought-provoking exploration of drug use, its problems, and policies.Chronology of key events related to the major substances, such as the Taliban's 2000 ban on opium cultivation in Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producerGlossary of terms commonly used in discussing drugs and drug use, such as the meanings of use, abuse, and addiction

This ambitious resource describes innovative intervention programs for treating substance abuse and other mental health problems in the Middle East in the context of larger issues in the region. Deftly combining clinical acumen with in-depth knowledge of sociopolitical currents, contributors present data and analysis on similarities and differences within the region, addiction issues in special populations (youth, mothers, immigrants), and the efficacy of local and international initiatives. New trends in evidence-based responses, including mental health services in war and disaster, are related to the larger goals of promoting peace. To that end, the editors go beyond the concept of shared problems to discuss strategies toward shared solutions, most notably psychological first aid as a healing approach to mediation.Among the topics covered:Drug abuse in the Middle East: promoting mutual interests through resistance and resilience.Toward uniform data collection and monitoring of Israeli and Palestinian adolescent drug use.Substance abusing mothers: toward an understanding of parenting and risk behavior.Immigration, acculturation, and drug use.Psychological first aid: a tool for mitigating conflict in the Middle East.Collaborative approaches to addressing mental health and addiction.For health psychologists, psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and addiction counselors, Mental Health and Addiction Care in the Middle East demonstrates the deep potential for mental health and social issues to be addressed to benefit all communities involved.