Chasing the Scream
The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
Johann Hari · 2015 · Politics & Society
12 min · 12 chaptersNarrated in your voice
Original summary · AI-drafted, human-published · added by Library
What it's about
Johann Hari spent three years and traveled to nine countries to trace the drug war from its 1930s origins to its present-day human wreckage. He argues that the war on drugs was built on racism and bureaucratic ambition rather than science, that it misunderstands addiction itself, and that alternative approaches tried in Portugal, Switzerland, and Vancouver save lives that prohibition destroys.
Reading plan
Pick a finish date and Genius lays out the days — the plan shows today's target and keeps you honest.
Read together
Start a circle and share the code — everyone sees everyone's honest place in the book. Accountability, not leaderboards.
Who it's for
- Readers who want to understand how current drug laws came to exist and whose interests they served - Policymakers, social workers, and journalists working on addiction, criminal justice, or harm reduction - Anyone with a family member or friend struggling with addiction who wants a framework beyond willpower and blame
What’s inside
- 1The Birth of the Drug War1 min
The modern war on drugs was launched not primarily to protect public health but to hand a bureaucrat new power over stigmatized groups.
- 2The Persecution of Billie Holiday1 min
Selective, personally vindictive enforcement, not consistent law, has been the drug war's actual operating method from the start.
- 3Rethinking Addiction: The Rat Park Findings1 min
Addiction is driven less by a drug's chemical grip than by the isolation and deprivation of the environment a user lives in.
- 4Connection as the Antidote1 min
The opposite of addiction is not abstinence but genuine social connection and a sense of purpose.
- 5Prohibition and the Manufacture of Violence1 min
Criminalizing a drug market does not eliminate demand, it simply transfers control of that market to whoever is willing to use violence to run it.
- 6The Human Cost of Criminalization1 min
Punitive drug laws inflict more lasting damage on users, families, and communities than the drugs they are meant to suppress.
- 7Portugal's Experiment1 min
Removing criminal penalties for personal drug possession and redirecting resources toward treatment and social support reduces overdose deaths and problematic use more effectively than punishment does.
- 8Switzerland and the Vancouver Model1 min
Providing medically supervised, pharmaceutical-grade drugs and safe consumption spaces to the most severely dependent users stabilizes their lives and reduces death and disease without requiring abstinence first.
- 9Toward a Different Drug Policy1 min
Regulating and legalizing drug markets, paired with sustained investment in housing, treatment, and community, would do more to reduce drug-related harm than continued enforcement.
About Johann Hari
Johann Hari is a British journalist and author. He wrote for The Independent for years before a plagiarism scandal ended that career, then rebuilt his reputation through long-form investigative books, including this one and Lost Connections. He has close relatives who struggled with addiction, which drove his interest in the subject.
