While a bit out of date (1987) this book is a pretty good collection of information. It covers a wide variety of substances in encyclopedic style and presents an even-handed and non-judgemental account of the effects and dangers of street drugs. Despite the somewhat grandios claims on the back cover, it only provides a few short pages about each substance. This makes it a fine book for those who don't actually want to wade through in-depth details about the use, chemistry, pharmacology, and effects of a substance, but instead want an easy to use reference for looking up an unfamiliar substance.