Paul Steinbroner

Paul J. Steinbroner
Born March 18, 1949
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Residence Wenatchee, Washington, U.S.
Citizenship U.S. United States
Alma mater San Francisco State University
American Film Institute
Known for Publisher, CNS Productions, Inc.

Paul J. Steinbroner was born March 18, 1949 in Los Angeles. In 1983, he founded CNS Productions, a publishing and distribution company specializing in topics related to addiction, neuropharmacology, and brain chemistry. He is the publisher of Uppers, Downers, All Arounders, a textbook on the neurochemistry and neuropharmacology of psychoactive drugs. Paul Steinbroner has also produced over fifty films and videos on this subject.[1]

Haight Ashbury Clinic

After graduating from the Film Department at San Francisco State University, Paul met Darryl Inaba, PharmD, who had just completed reviewing over 300 poorly made drug education films. Dr. Inaba recruited Paul to work at various concert venues as a RockMed volunteer. As a result of their experiences doing this work, Paul and Darryl resolved to create a non-judgmental documentary film on the topic of psychoactive drugs.

After the script was written, William E. Cohen was recruited to direct and co-produce the film, titled "Psychoactive" (1976).[2] From 1984-1998 many additional films were produced, in association with the Haight Ashbury Detox Clinic. David Smith, MD, the founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, referred to CNS Productions as "Haight Ashbury Films."

CNS Productions

After multiple assignments as a freelance script writer and a television-news editor, Paul moved to Los Angeles to attend the Production Program at the American Film Institute. After this stint in Hollywood, Paul formed CNS Productions as a vehicle to produce and distribute films that addressed the unmet needs of people with substance-abuse disorders. Based on the experiences of Darryl Inaba, Pharm.D, while Director of Treatment at the Haight Ashbury Detoxification, Rehabilitation, and Aftercare Clinic, CNS Productions' films found a national audience.

The U.S. State Department purchased rights to several of the titles for use in U.S. embassies in South America and the Middle East, resulting in Spanish and Arabic translations used in briefings for the education of medical practitioners who were seeing addiction-related problems.

The "CNS" in CNS Productions is a reference to the central nervous system.

Publications

CNS Productions has published two popular textbooks on the subject of neuropharmacology:

Uppers, Downers, All Arounders

Based on the many interviews with clients from the expanding film catalog, the onset of the crack epidemic, and the multicultural needs of patients, William Cohen and Darryl Inaba wrote the textbook Uppers, Downers, All Arounders (ISBN 978-0-926544-30-7), originally published by CNS Productions in 1989 and now in its 7th edition.[3][4]

Uppers, Downers, All Arounders is Dr. Inaba's and William Cohen's way of explaining the physiological and pharmacological responses that that the body has to psychoactive drugs, those chemicals that can pass through the blood brain barrier and produce a mental effect in the central nervous system. Thus, uppers stimulate, downers depress, and psychedelic drugs have a variety of effects on the neurotransmitters.

A Matter of Balance

A Matter of Balance: Personal Strategies for Alcohol and Other Drugs by Michael E. Holstein, PhD, William E. Cohen, Paul J. Steinbroner, 1995 [5]

A Matter of Balance (ISBN 0-926544-12-8) is intended for classes or programs where personalized interactive, drug awareness and drug abuse prevention skills are desirable. Each chapter covers an aspect of prevention and consists of one page of information, two pages of detachable written exercises, and one page of group exercises, along with prompts for personal journal entries.[6][7]

Filmography

Paul Steinbroner was the producer and (where indicated with an asterisk) director of the following films:

External links

References

  1. ↑ Documentary DVDs offered by CNS Productions, as of Feb 2012
  2. ↑ WorldCat Entry for "Psychoactive"
  3. ↑ Uppers, Downers, All Arounders (ISBN 978-0-926544-30-7), Dr. Darryl S. Inaba and William Cohen, CNS Productions, 1989
  4. ↑ Uppers, Downers, All Arounders Amazon Page
  5. ↑ A Matter of Balance: Personal Strategies for Alcohol and Other Drugs (ISBN 0-926544-12-8), Michael E. Holstein and William E. Cohen, and Paul Steinbroner, 1995
  6. ↑ A Matter of Balance Recommended at Santa Clara University
  7. ↑ A Matter of Balance on ISBN Database