Drugs, society & human behavior

This book discusses the history and use, and changing use of drugs in society and their consequences.

Dr. Carl Hart is an Associate Professor in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University and is also a Research Scientist in the Division of Substance Abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. A major focus of Dr. Hart’s research is to understand the complex interactions between neurobiological and environmental factors that mediate and modulate the actions of drugs of abuse, including drug-taking behavior and cognitive performance. Dr. Hart’s research has been supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse for the past several years. In addition to his substantial research responsibilities, Dr. Hart teaches an undergraduate Drugs and Behavior course and was recently awarded Columbia University's highest teaching award.

Charles Ksir received his bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in Bloomington. Following his postdoctoral training in Neurobiology at the Worcester Foundation in Massachusetts, he began a 34-year career in teaching and research at the University of Wyoming, where he also served in a variety of administrative positions. Now a professor emeritus, he focuses his efforts on teaching and textbook writing. He has taught the psychology course Drugs and Behavior to over three thousand students since 1972, and has received several teaching awards.

After graduating from Cornell University and serving a brief stint in the U.S. Army, Oakley Ray became a full-time student at the University of Pittsburgh, training to be a clinical psychologist. He completed his clinical training and moved to animal research even before he received his Ph.D. Working in the behavioral research laboratory of Larry Stein, he learned all the techniques and technologies of brain stimulation and biochemistry relevant to the expanding field of neuropsychopharmacology. Stein’s laboratory was part of a multidisciplinary research facility so Oakley Ray learned brain anatomy, surgery, biochemistry, and pharmacology. When Larry Stein moved on, Oakley Ray took over the lab, expanded it, and established it as an independent research laboratory. He continued working in Pittsburgh as an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and at Chatham College while still directing the research laboratory in the Veterans Administration Hospital at Leech Farm Road in Pittsburgh.

Following his move to Nashville to be Professor in Psychology and Pharmacology, and later in Psychiatry, as well as the Chief of the Psychology Program at the Nashville Veteran’s Administration Hospital, he became more involved in human psychopharmacology. He later served as the Executive Secretary of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology.