I've Got the Blues: A No BS Guide to the Use, Abuse, and Potential Dangers of Legal and Illegal Mind-Altering Drugs

The book "I've Got the Blues" deals in depth with exactly what the subtitle says. It is an unbiased guide to the use,abuse, and potential dangers of psychoactive drugs. Several things make it different from other books dealing with this subject. First is the author's extensive experience as a surgeon and emergency physician providing care to thousands of patients taking illegal psychoactive drugs as well as many on psychiatric medication.Secondly he covers the entire spectrum of drugs that interact with the brain from the well-known illegal ones such as marijuana and cocaine to the widely prescribed medications such as benzodiazepines and antidepressants. With each group of drugs, he goes into a detailed discussion of their history, pharmacology, and how and why they are used. He cuts through many widely held beliefs that are based on disinformation and propaganda. He has no hidden agenda and simply wants to get to the truth of what all of these drugs do to the human brain, whether they are legal or illegal. Much of what people believe to be true about many of these drugs is often inaccurate and sometimes completely false. His goal is to expose the big lies and pervasive mythology such as the myth of biochemical imbalance as the cause of depression and other psychiatric disorders and the belief that prescription drugs such as antidepressants can cure mental disorders by correcting such a chemical imbalance. He wants to make people aware of what we actually know and what we definitely do not know about what these drugs do to the brain. Then they will be able to make better decisions about whether it would make sense for them to use a specific drug for their particular problem. Once they have the information provided in this book, they will be in a much better position to make an informed decision about using any mind-altering drugs whether they are getting them from their friends, doctors, or others, legally or illegally. In the author's experience, few people have such knowledge, including many physicians. For many people, not knowing the truth about psychoactive drugs has resulted in untold suffering, including significant financial loss, serious illness, ruined relationships and marriages, and sometimes even death. Reading this book will help many people avoid such preventable misfortune in their lives in the future and consequently become more productive and happy than they might have been otherwise.