Addiction

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I have this book in my library called Addiction (or actually, ADDICTION), and while it claims to discuss its causes, problems, and treatments, in reality it just makes it seem like a whole lot of fun to be a meth addict.

Considering I went into the library science profession to begin with, I am very much anti-censorship. On the other hand, I can't see how it's beneficial for a middle school library to provide children with a detailed instruction manual on how to use inhalants. Listen to this introduction:

"Tense? Take a pill. Unhappy? Have a drink. Want to have more fun? Light a cigarette" (Berger 1982). Of course, if you read on a bit you'll realize they are not actually advocating any of these behaviors. But how many kids will read on from there? At that point they're probably throwing the book to the floor and running down to the nearest 7-11 to have some high school kids buy them a pack of Camels and a 30 pack of Bud Light.

Anyway, my solution is to get rid of this book... BUT, replace it with a volume that is a little more updated and geared towards the appropriate age level. Still, I feel like I have a whole library's worth of these problems. Some of them are easy- no need to keep Some People Are Indians (an account of why the Indians were more than brutal savages), or American Negroes In Our Schools (an account of 20th century African Americans in the public education system). But some, like ADDICTION, are less clear-cut.

Time to do some serious weeding.