Discovering Addiction

Based on archival research and oral-history interviews with dozens of addiction researchers, this work explores the history of human and animal experimentation in addiction science. It also examines the birth of addiction science - the National Academy of Science's project to find a pharmacological fix for narcotics addiction in the late 1930s.

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This is a groundbreaking study of the history and ethics of addiction science. Based on archival research and oral-history interviews with dozens of addiction researchers, ""Discovering Addiction"" brings the history of human and animal experimentation in addiction science into the present. Professor Campbell examines the birth of addiction science - the National Academy of Science's project to find a pharmacological fix for narcotics addiction in the late 1930s - and then explores the ongoing studies of the ""opium problem,"" revealing how new rules regarding informed consent and the calculus of risk and benefit have affected research culture. ""Discovering Addiction"" also takes a soul-searching look at the still unresolved debate over federal prison research that look place in the 1970s, suggesting that it is possible to differentiate between ethical and unethical research by looking closely at how science is made. With its interdisciplinary approach to addiction, ""Discovering Addiction"" will appeal to scholars of drug and medical research, bioethics, health policy, and American studies as well as substance abuse treatment professionals and all those interested in the history of the pharmaceutical industry and medical culture.