Heroin

Grade 7 Up?Steroids describes these natural and artificial chemical hormones, their functions in the human body, and their use in the treatment of certain diseases. It also makes it clear that these substances can have negative, even toxic effects. The author details societal response and urges stricter penalties for sellers, intensive educational programs for students and teachers, and a vigorous campaign of random drug testing in high schools. While this title contains much excellent information for reports, the writing style is deadly dull. Scientific and statistical presentations go on and on. Case histories of users, which should be interesting, fail to create empathy due to flat, emotionless prose. John Langone's Tough Choices (Little, 1995) has a concise section on the subject.