Creating the American Junkie
This textbook by Caroline Jean Acker, published in 2002, combines historical, medical, and sociological points of view to thoroughly dissect the state of the art in addictionology today. This quote from the blurb explains the purpose of the book:
Acker examines how the construction of addiction in the early twentieth century was strongly influenced by the professional concerns of psychiatrists seeking to increase their medical authority; by the disciplinary ambitions of pharmacologists to build a drug development infrastructure; and by the American Medical Association’s campaign to reduce prescriptions of opiates and to absolve physicians in private practice from the necessity of treating difficult addicts as patients.
Creating the American Junkie: Addiction Research in the Classic Era of Narcotic Control
Conrad Theodore Seitz 