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If anyone wants to read a really great book about this topic i suggest "Chasing the Scream"[1]. This book made me think about drug addiction in a completely dif

If anyone wants to read a really great book about this topic i suggest "Chasing the Scream"[1]. This book made me think about drug addiction in a completely different way and also change my mind about legalization -- of all drugs, including heroin. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-First-Last-Drugs/dp/1620408902 https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-First-Last-Drugs/dp/16...

dmix 10y ago
I'm curious if there are any other analogies in history of societal problems that was so widely misunderstood yet spent ungodly amounts of human time, money, and jail time was spent trying to stop in all the wrong ways. The war on drugs really are the crowning achievement of anti-scientific public policy. Decades of ignoring the results and continuing to try the same thing. The west isn't the only one with this problem. The DEA has been exporting this failed strategy to other countries for decades. The Philippines has taken the American style war to the extreme: http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-philippines-war-on-drugs-dealers-choose-retirement-over-death-1468509951 http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-philippines-war-on-drugs-deal... They've demonstrated that the only way to actually win it like a war is via death squads and the total destruction of human rights. Otherwise governments have to face reality and accept it doesn't work.
- hackaflocka 10y ago
  Marijuana has been consumed in India forever. It was smoked just like tobacco is today. By a lot of people in society (including high and low status women). Never was a problem. Probably led to some of the spirituality and mathematics of ancient India. However, it was the natural variety. Not the genetically optimized powder keg stuff available today.
  - stuaxo 10y ago
    True, though they made some pretty strong stuff like charas.
nickysielicki 10y ago
What way did it make you change your mind? I'm interested in this book, but I don't want to read something if it's just going to reaffirm what I already believe.
- misiti3780 10y ago
  I have a lot more sympathy for people addicted to drugs. I have never tried hard drugs, so before I couldn;t really relate to what it might be like. He does a great job of showing that instead of thinking of people as "junkies", they are sick. It's no different than having cancer or AIDs or something else. Drug addicts are really really sick people that can usually be fixed. The sympathy you have for someone with terminal cancer is the same sympathy for the guy you walk past asking you for a dollar with needle marks on his arm. The only difference is one is always self inflicted, the other may not be. He also changed my opinion about legalization. I was on the fence before but this book, combined with books about violence in Mexico since 2006 (60K+ dead) have just pushed me over the edge. Other countries/cities have experimented with "legalization" of hard drugs (Switzerland, Vancouver, Portugal, UK back in the 50s?) and it works. When people can buy their daily fix and are treated like humans instead of junkies they are able to change their lives around.

dmix 10y ago

I'm curious if there are any other analogies in history of societal problems that was so widely misunderstood yet spent ungodly amounts of human time, money, and jail time was spent trying to stop in all the wrong ways. The war on drugs really are the crowning achievement of anti-scientific public policy. Decades of ignoring the results and continuing to try the same thing. The west isn't the only one with this problem. The DEA has been exporting this failed strategy to other countries for decades. The Philippines has taken the American style war to the extreme: http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-philippines-war-on-drugs-dealers-choose-retirement-over-death-1468509951 http://www.wsj.com/articles/in-philippines-war-on-drugs-deal... They've demonstrated that the only way to actually win it like a war is via death squads and the total destruction of human rights. Otherwise governments have to face reality and accept it doesn't work.

hackaflocka 10y ago
Marijuana has been consumed in India forever. It was smoked just like tobacco is today. By a lot of people in society (including high and low status women). Never was a problem. Probably led to some of the spirituality and mathematics of ancient India. However, it was the natural variety. Not the genetically optimized powder keg stuff available today.
- stuaxo 10y ago
  True, though they made some pretty strong stuff like charas.

nickysielicki 10y ago

What way did it make you change your mind? I'm interested in this book, but I don't want to read something if it's just going to reaffirm what I already believe.

misiti3780 10y ago
I have a lot more sympathy for people addicted to drugs. I have never tried hard drugs, so before I couldn;t really relate to what it might be like. He does a great job of showing that instead of thinking of people as "junkies", they are sick. It's no different than having cancer or AIDs or something else. Drug addicts are really really sick people that can usually be fixed. The sympathy you have for someone with terminal cancer is the same sympathy for the guy you walk past asking you for a dollar with needle marks on his arm. The only difference is one is always self inflicted, the other may not be. He also changed my opinion about legalization. I was on the fence before but this book, combined with books about violence in Mexico since 2006 (60K+ dead) have just pushed me over the edge. Other countries/cities have experimented with "legalization" of hard drugs (Switzerland, Vancouver, Portugal, UK back in the 50s?) and it works. When people can buy their daily fix and are treated like humans instead of junkies they are able to change their lives around.