Table of Contents

List of illustrations
1: History
2: How drugs work
3: Drugs as medicines
4: Recreational drugs
5: Making new medicines
6: What can we expect in the 21st Century?
References
Further reading
Index

About the Author

Les Iversen is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. He was director of the MRC Neurochemical Pharmacology Unit in Cambridge (1970-1983) and then Vice-President of Neuroscience for the American pharmaceutical company Merck Inc (1983-1995). He is best known for his work on the role of monoamine transport mechanisms in the inactivation of monoamines in the brain, and as targets for psychoactive drugs. His previous books
include The Science of Marijuana, 2nd Edition (OUP USA, 2007) and Speed, Ecstacy, Ritalin: The Science of Amphetamines (OUP, 2008).