Chasing the Scream

This is worth your time....

Any additional comments?

I am a physician who has practiced a specialty of internal medicine for over 30 years.if you want advice: you should absolutely hear this book.The author makes a compelling case that most, if not all, drugs should be legalized and regulated.I believe that marijuana, opiates, cocaine and methamphetamine cause more harm than good when used recreationally.(Methamphetamine is especially harmful and is a common cause of heart failure and death in long-term users.)Nevertheless, the author has persuaded me that the harm caused by Prohibition and the War on Drugs is not worth the social benefit.Increasing numbers of young people are dying of narcotic overdoses. (Read the excellent Dreamland by Sam Quinones.) With enlightened policies that have worked for example in Switzerland – this can be stopped.Drug-related crime of all kinds – from the many thousands of horrific murders caused by the Cartels to petty theft to help support a habit – could be markedly reduced by legalization. The police could concentrate on criminals doing real social harm. The prisons would not be overflowing with those being brutalized for largely victimless crimes. The money spent arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning drug users could be spent with much greater social benefit. You will learn that many of our drug policies have been founded on ignorance and prosecuted with ulterior motives.There are aspects of this book that I disagree with. The author is not a physician and he has chosen his medical experts selectively. I believe he underestimates the power of "chemical hooks” to disrupt the human reward system and subvert the will.On the whole, he gives much credence to a lack of social connection and past psychotrama as the cause of drug abuse and addiction. I think he probably overemphasizes this influence. There are significant genetic factors that predispose to substance abuse and addiction – this is clearly true with alcohol for example. When susceptible humans meet easily available drugs there is likely to be trouble —and we must accept and be ready to cope with that fact. He freely admits that ending prohibition will probably increase the use of drugs of all sorts. But the drugs will probably be less potent and less dangerous. And the conditions of their use can be better regulated.Mental Health Services (which have not achieved the same scientific foundations or effectiveness as the rest of medicine) and other social services would be significantly challenged by legalization. They could at least be better funded and possibly evolve their effectiveness with the windfall of money not wasted on prohibition.All this said, he has convinced this skeptic that legalization and regulation is the better path. I suspect he will also convince you.

194 of 203 people found this review helpful

Absolutely magnificent

A more inspiring and insightful book I cannot imagine. Brilliantly presented and truly earth shattering. I do so hope the influences of this well researched work reach far and touch the key people who are in positions to make changes in our society.

38 of 41 people found this review helpful

A Must if the drug war has touched you at all

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This should be required reading for anyone directly involved in the drug war. It is told in an extremely compelling fashion, and in great detail. Despite this it never lags.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Chasing the Scream?

The history of how the US government destroyed medical treatment, for drug addicts WORLDWIDE.

Which character – as performed by Tim Gerard Reynolds – was your favorite?

Chino, the drug addict illegitimate child of an addict and her rapist father police officer.

If you could give Chasing the Scream a new subtitle, what would it be?

Truth is the first casualty in all wars.

Any additional comments?

If enough people read this book, and act on it, we can bring the problem of addiction under control, and restore a more peaceful society.

47 of 52 people found this review helpful

Great factual story

I am very impressed with the authors research on this matter. It has opened my eyes and my heart to a new way of thinking about the so called "War on Drugs". Having grown up in the 60's,70's & the 80's I see how a different approach to this would have had much better results. I have lost friends to drugs and would love nothing more than to see it controlled in this manner. I suggest this read to anyone who has been or is effected by drugs for that matter anyone period!

23 of 26 people found this review helpful

good source material but maddening narration

This book stands apart from others I have read on the subject - e.g. recently "Narconomics" - in that the author takes a very personal and humane approach to the interviewees and subject matter. This seems appropriate and makes the material more interesting than a strictly rational treatment of the subject.

However, the narration detracts greatly from the material in the book because the narrator insists upon reading passages in what he assumes would be the voice of the speaker. These voices range from grating caricatures to down-right insulting stereotypes. The narrator has a background in theater and maybe this is supposed to draw the listener in, but for me it destroys the pathos evoked by the stories in the book.

I recommend the book itself, but consider reading it instead of listening to it.

18 of 21 people found this review helpful

All you need is love..........

This is a flaming piece of propaganda that is almost enough to turn me away from my beliefs towards decriminalizing drugs......when I see (or hear) someone twist words around, ignore facts, and jumble examples this badly, I presume he doesn't have a strong and rational enough argument to be able to sell it without these propagandist tools.

The premise here -- at least one of them, it's hard to keep them straight -- is that all one needs is love, a purpose in life, and virtual utopia to avoid and/or recover from a drug addiction. It's a fairyland premise that makes me want to scream. This idea sounds all rosy and peachy keen, except when it's applied to reality where, even without drugs, there still are boring McJobs, social isolation, physical infirmities, abusive parents, chronic unemployment, and government Catch 22s. It's certainly a premise that will not stand the test of reality.

And the author chooses some very prejudicial language to make his point -- drug addicts are not "jailed", they're "caged", for instance. Then there's the author's claim that if drugs were legalized, the drug cartels would fade away like the gangsters had when Prohibition was repealed......ignoring the fact that they (organized criminals) didn't fade away, they just switched to other forms of crime to continue making their piles of money and piling up power.

If only we could give drug addicts a big hug and invite them to share our Sunday dinner, they would have the tools they need to break their addiction (eye roll here) - where the author assumes every addict wants to be free of his/her addiction on one hand, but on the other hand says that some addicts prefer their addictive life to the boring McJob they might have otherwise. Oh, and the author ignores the fact that boring jobs (janitor was one mentioned here) will always exist, so if McJobs are part of the problem, that isn't going to change with decriminalization or legalization.

The author barely mentions the biological component of addiction, which is constantly brushed away as "such a minor part", though genetics is never something to ignore and sweep under a rug. But, the author also has a hard time realistically judging voting statistics, when he claims a vote that split 55% for and 45% against was a landslide that won by "over 10%!!!". While the numbers are right, the truth is that it's a slight victory, hardly a landslide, and it means that almost half the voters will have to be won emotionally since they lost at the polls, and will be a force to be reckoned with. A strange interpretation of facts.

There is some good stuff here -- the history of the start of the "drug wars," the financial motives behind it, and the bullying of the US against other countries was interesting. And I do support a lot of what he wants, though I hate what and how he presents his support. Still, I had a hard time finishing this book and getting through the "all you need is love" speeches and his blatant ignoring of the parts of reality and history that don't match his ideas.

49 of 59 people found this review helpful

Blew my mind

after ensuring the bibliography wasn't filled with junk reports and checking facts with the drug guys and medical gals around campus for verification on dubious and surprising points, I can proudly proclaim that the big facts and figures are correct. I believe his worst infraction was screwing up someone's title or something insubstabtial like that.

So, I'm inspired and fired up. Can someone tell me where the revolution is scheduled to be and if they have coffee there? I'll carpool if needed.

26 of 31 people found this review helpful

Beautifully written

The book is powerful. Extremely well researched. Changed everything I thought I knew about drugs and addicts. The author engages the reader from the first sentence to the last

21 of 25 people found this review helpful

Persuasive but overly-Extrapolative

I agree with the book's major premise - that the war on drugs was created on false pretenses and that it should be dropped (since it's racist, costs lives and doesn't work) but then the author went on to make conclusions about how things SHOULD be done that stretched credulity. You can't do social research by interviewing a few people here and there . . . so the last quarter of the book was a bit of a bore for me.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

much too lengthy

A very good story, but the last few hours are so repetitious that finishing the book was a real chore. Could easily be cut in half and still present a very compelling story.

9 of 11 people found this review helpful