Summary Of The Eerie Truth About The War On Drugs

The Eerie Truth About the War on Drugs

Introduction

When considering drugs, and the effects they have on the world, people's minds immediately jump directly to cracking addicts on the streets that are begging for a few dollars. What are they going to do with this money? They will probably choose to use the money to fund their next fix instead of buying themselves food when they are clearly starving. How could someone who has the potential to live a prosperous life and be a contributing part of society be in a state like this, where they would rather get high than eat a meal? This is the reality of a multitude of drug addicts' lives. They are constrained to a life of begging, crime, and pity to survive. However, what goes unnoticed is

People do not often look below the surface. A drug addict is identified and immediately shunned and painted as a criminal. What if people started creating a different reality in which these people are seen as victims? Maybe they are victims of the system created to exile drugs, and maybe all they genuinely need is some help without immediately being thrown into prison with no aid to create a better life. What if the War on Drugs, that was created to shame and punish drug users, was a completely ineffective and unjust way of going about the issue of drugs in the world? This idea is thoroughly explored by Johann Hari in the novel, “Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of The War on Drugs.” In the novel, Hari uncovers the reality, that the War on Drugs is an inefficient, corrupt, and counterproductive means of fixing the “drug problem” in the world. This is reaffirmed through examining the initial reasons for starting this war and the lives that have been stripped

When doing this, she uncovers a key influential figure named Harry J. Anslinger. Anslinger was the first Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in the United States. His policies and beliefs laid the groundwork for the war. He argued that the criminalization of drugs was absolutely necessary, and the approach of punishment is ultimately the most effective for deterring and stopping drug use. Shockingly, Hari concluded her book with a statement saying, “That he became a drug user—and that he became a drug dealer” (Hari 297). This statement refers to Anslinger, whose policies inflicted so much pain upon so many people, come to find out, he was corrupt and even he had a point where he needed to rely on