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1996-05-06
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Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 00:07:38 -0500 (EST)
From: "Frank A. Nagy" <fan@AOL.COM>
Subject: Intoxication
Sender: Drug Abuse Education Information and Research <DRUGABUS@UMAB.BITNET>
Message-id: <01H6OEZY8OS2934ZBD@YMIR.Claremont.Edu>
A while back Leora Lawton suggested and examination of books which appear to
be contrary to our personal positions and a follow-up report to the list
members regarding that particular work. Following is my submission.
Frank Nagy
fan@aol.com
======================================
Intoxication: Life in Pursuit of Artificial Paradise
Ronald K. Siegel, Ph.D.
@ 1989
Pub. E.P. Dutton, New York
ISBN 0-525-24764-5
Hard cover/Index/390 pages
$19.95 US
-----------------------
While I have owned this book for some time, I hadn't ventured far beyond the
dust cover finding the first sentence contrary to most of my then- (and now-)
current biases. "Answering the ageless question of why we seek drugs, a
renowned psychopharmacologist explains his controversial thesis: the desire
for intoxication is actually a fourth drive, as unstoppable as hunger,
thirst, and sex."
In agreeing to actually read this book for this project, I prepared to myself
to challenge my perceptions, set aside my biases and preconceptions as far as
possible, and prepared for a read that would at once anger me and bring my
"superior logic" forward to challenge Dr. Sieggel's thesis. What I found was
totally different than what I expected.
Fully the first half of the book is a review of a number of studies that Dr.
Siegel performed in laboratories and in the field with a wide range of
animals who were either trained to use various drugs or who used them
naturally in their own habitats. While the information presented was
interesting and, at times, moderately amusing, I had (and still have) a
difficult time connecting the comparison between animal drug use and the
theorized "fourth drive" in human beings.
When Siegel eventually brings the book to a discussion of human drug use in
Chapter 10 ("The Fourth Drive: Motivation for Intoxication") he seems to
destroy his own theory when, on page 209 he writes, "Calling an event [drug
use - FN] natural is sometimes just reporting that is happens." He goes on,
"The motivation to use drugs to achieve these effects [pleasure, relief from
pain, e
tc. - FN] is not innate, but acquiredx We are not born with acquired
motivations yet they are not unnatural - they are simply an expression of
what we strive to be. The pursuit of intoxication is no more abnormal than
the pursuit of love, social attachments,x or any number of other acquired
motives. Man's primary biological needs may be body-bound, but his acquired
addictions soar beyond these needs."
It was at this point that I began searching with every word some hard
evidence that Dr. Siegel had determined that "the fourth drive" truly exists;
I'm still searching. For the balance of the book, he provides interesting
anecdotal information regarding the effects of a number of drugs and
combinations, but no information that would lead to proof that intoxication
is anything beyond, uh, well... intoxication. He is quick to point out that
some people use and some don't, that some people like drugs and some don't,
that some people handle them well and some don't and, at the same time, that
we're all essentially the same physiologically. It seems that "the fourth
drive" that Siegel writes about could just as easily be the desrire to learn
to be a plumber.
There are a number of seeming contradictions in the book as well as what I
can only describe as odd statements, some of which I feel are the result of
poor editing or proof-reading.
I steeled myself at the outset to be challenged by this book and to come
face-to-face with some ideas and concepts that were foreign to my thinking
and experience; I'm still waiting. If Dr. Siegel's purpose in writing this
book was to prove his theory, he failed, at least with this reader. If, on
the other hand, his goal was to provide a moderately interesting book which
is very readable and which provides various tidbits of information which can
be used a starting points for other discussions (his ideas, for example,
about the question of drug legalization) then he succeeded.
Perhaps the most useful part of the book is the 49-page bibliography which
presents a vast list of resources.
In summary, while Dr. Siegel's book is entertaining and a pleasant read, I
doubt that the serious student of drug use will gain much new information or
insight.