''Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs'' is a book by
Johann Hari
Johann Eduard Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British writer and journalist. Until 2011, Hari wrote for ''The Independent'', among other outlets, before resigning after admitting to plagiarism and fabrications dating from 2001 to 2011. Since t ...
examining the history and impact of drug criminalisation, collectively known as "the
War on Drugs". The book was published simultaneously in the United Kingdom and United States in January 2015. It inspired the 2021 film ''
The United States vs. Billie Holiday''.
Background and summary
In January 2012, Hari announced on his website that he was writing his first book, a study of the "war on drugs".
The release of the book coincided with the 100th anniversary of the
Harrison Narcotics Tax Act
The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act (Ch. 1, ) was a United States federal law that regulated and taxed the production, importation, and distribution of opiates and coca products. The act was proposed by Representative Francis Burton Harrison of Ne ...
in the United States, which was the world's first drug control legislation when it passed in December 1914. In ''Chasing the Scream'', Hari writes that two global wars began in 1914:
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, which lasted four years, and the war on drugs, which is ongoing.
In the introduction to the book, Hari writes that one of his first memories was of trying and failing to wake up a relative from a "drugged slump", and that he has always felt "oddly drawn to addicts and recovering addicts—they feel like my tribe, my group, my people". He also discusses his history of abusing anti-
narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that impairs the ability to regulate sleep–wake cycles, and specifically impacts REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. The symptoms of narcolepsy include excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), sleep-r ...
medication, a class of prescription drugs sometimes taken by people without the disease in order to stay alert.
Hari questions whether or not he is an addict and decides to go searching for answers to questions he has. "Why did the drug war start, and why does it continue? Why can some people use drugs without any problems, while others can't? What really causes addiction? What happens if you choose a radically different policy?"
Hari writes that he spent the next three years in search of answers, traveling across nine countries (United States, Canada, Great Britain, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Uruguay and Vietnam).
He profiles early figures in the drug war like jazz musician
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...
, a long-time heroin addict; racketeer
Arnold Rothstein
Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 6, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler who became a kingpin of the Jewish Mob in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have orga ...
, an early drug trafficker; and
Harry J. Anslinger, the first commissioner of the
Federal Bureau of Narcotics
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, with the enumerated powers of pursuing crimes related to the possession, distribution, and trafficking of listed narcotics including cannabis, ...
(who had a daily morphine habit).
He also interviews drug addicts, dealers, police and lawmakers today, as well as scientists, drug addiction specialists and drug reform advocates like
Danny Kushlick
Danny Kushlick is a British political activist and founder of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation (TDPF). He has appeared in British media on many occasions advocating for the legalisation of drug use and the legal regulation of supply. He stoo ...
and Steve Rolles, as well as
João Goulão, a doctor who has helped steer
Portugal's drug policy.
One of his interviewees is
Bruce K. Alexander, the researcher behind the "
Rat Park
Park was a series of studies into drug addiction conducted in the late 1970s and published between 1978 and 1981 by Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander and his colleagues at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
At the time ...
" drug addiction experiments done in the 1970s. Alexander's hypothesis is that drugs themselves do not cause addiction, which is largely in contrast to current popular beliefs about drugs and drug addiction.
Hari writes, "Many of our most basic assumptions about this subject are wrong. Drugs are not what we think they are. Drug addiction is not what we have been told it is. The drug war is not what our politicians have sold it as for one hundred years and counting."
Source documentation
In 2011, Hari was caught plagiarising quotes and misrepresenting them as direct speech from interviews he conducted. This raised questions about the credibility of his writing.
An introductory page of ''Chasing the Scream'' states that audio files of all quotes in the book from Hari's interviews are available online at the book's official website.
On the site, it states that there are more than 400 quotes spoken to Hari appearing in the book: "To be as transparent as possible, they are posted on this website – so as you read the book, you can listen the voices of the people in it, as they tell their stories for themselves." The book also includes 60 pages of explanatory notes on sources and interviews.
The website includes a section for questions and corrections, with a note from Hari asking readers to submit any factual errors in the book to be corrected "for future editions and for the record". This section includes a few transcription errors from recorded interviews that were not noticed until after publication; for example, a quote from
Bruce K. Alexander saying "learning to deal with the modern age” was incorrectly transcribed and printed in the book as "learning to live with the modern age".
Author and anti-plagiarism campaigner
Jeremy Duns
Jeremy Duns (born 10 December 1973) is a British author of spy fiction and the history of espionage.
Early life
Duns was born in Manchester and lived in New Zealand, India, Indonesia and Nigeria before the age of 10. He studied at St Catherine's ...
criticised instances where quotes were inaccurately transcribed or misrepresented, stating that out of a sample of dozens of clips, "in almost all cases, words in quotes had been changed or omitted without being noted, often for no apparent purpose, but in several cases to subtly change the narrative."
In a review for New Matilda, Michael Brull expressed reservations about Hari's citational practices and highlighted contradictions between the book's narrative and a 2009 article by Hari.
Book reception
Critical response
''Chasing the Scream'' has received mostly positive reviews from critics and journalists.
Kate Tuttle of the ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' called it a "passionate, timely book" and that through reading the stories of Hari's interview subjects, including drug addicts, drug dealers, scientists and politicians, "their combined testimony forms a convincing brief that drug prohibition may have spawned as much crime, violence, and heartache as drug use ever did".
Reviewer Nick Romeo of ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...
'' wrote that "Hari debunks many myths and fallacies surrounding addiction and the drug wars" and that the book is "an eloquent reminder" that drug addicts are humans.
Ed Vulliamy
Edward Sebastian Vulliamy (born 1 August 1954) is a British-born, Irish-Welsh journalist and writer.
Early life and education
Vulliamy was born and raised in Notting Hill, London. His mother was the children's author and illustrator Shirley ...
called the book a "righteous assault" and a "long-awaited history" on the war on drugs, "which imprisons millions and persecutes more". He was critical that the book omitted two crucial aspects of the situation – the first being how the "war" is in reality one waged against addicts and not those who financially profit from drugs, and the second concerning details of how legalisation of drugs would work in practicality. Vulliamy concluded that omission of these aspects does not detract "from the book’s argument, or the righteous movement of which Hari is an estimable spokesman". He noted the author's 2011 scandal, writing that a "shamed" Hari left to dedicate himself to documenting the war on drugs and that ''Chasing the Scream'' "is the prodigal fruit of that work, and with it redemption, if that was needed."
In his review for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'',
John Harris praised parts of the book but was negative overall. He wrote that although the work is a "powerful contribution to an urgent debate" on drug policy, Hari employs a "gauche journalistic equivalent of the narrative voice found in ''
Mills & Boon
Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the ...
'' novels". Harris also questioned why "a mere 52 words" are printed from Hari's interview with
Dr. Robert DuPont, the first director of the U.S.
National Institute on Drug Abuse
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal government research institute whose mission is to "advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual ...
and the keynote speaker at a
World Federation Against Drugs conference Hari attended.
Harris also admitted Hari's past record presents a challenge to reviewers, and made him more skeptical over things such as the DuPont interview, writing, "though it might be nice to set aside the events of 2011 and allow him a fresh start, his misdemeanours inevitably colour your experience of the book".
Hugo Rifkind
Hugo James Rifkind (born 30 March 1977) is a British journalist. He has been a columnist for ''The Times'' since 2005. He also presents a mid-morning show on Times Radio, Mondays to Thursdays (from Sept 2024.) From July 2020 (the station's laun ...
wrote in his review for ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' that it is "tempting, albeit petty, to read ''Chasing the Scream'' less as a book and more as an act of rehabilitation". Rifkind ultimately called it "thoughtful, thorough and questing, and full of fresh and genuine reportage about aspects of the drug economy".
''
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' praised the book, calling Hari "a sharp judge of character" and that the book is "a compassionate and humane argument to overturn draconian drug policies".
In 2018 Joe Muggs writing for ''
The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
'' Muggs characterizes ''Chasing The Scream's'' claims about addiction as shallow and pseudoscientific. Muggs also criticized Hari's use of celebrity
blurb
A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book. With the development ...
s to rehabilitate his image.
Expert response
David Nutt
David John Nutt (born 16 April 1951) is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He is the chairman of Drug Science, a non-profit ...
, an English psychiatrist and
neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in drug research, wrote a positive review of ''Chasing the Scream'' for ''
The Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...
''. He praised Hari's research into the early events of anti-drug laws, some of which, Nutt noted, he himself had forgotten ever occurred. He called the personal stories of those affected the most "horrific", writing "The lack of evidence of the war having worked, alongside massive evidence of failure, are detailed with a frightening clarity". Nutt, the former chief scientific advisor on drugs to the British government, concluded, "Read it and demand our politicians take note!"
Seth Mnookin, professor of science writing at MIT, wrote in his ''New York Times'' review that Hari is "in over his head" when writing about the current science of addiction: "
s misunderstanding of some of the basic principles of scientific research — that anecdotes are not data; that a conclusion is not a fact — transforms what had been an affecting jeremiad into a partisan polemic". Mnookin also characterises Hari's historical account of the early prohibition of drugs as "forced". In contrast, Mnookin's assessment of Hari's discussions of current events is generally quite positive.
See also
*
Drug liberalisation
Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing, legalizing, or repealing laws that prohibit the production, possession, sale, or use of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include drug legalization, drug releg ...
*
Drug prohibition law
The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances.
An area has a prohibition of drugs when its government uses the for ...
*
Drug policy reform
Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing, legalizing, or repealing laws that prohibit the production, possession, sale, or use of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include drug legalization, drug releg ...
*
Transform Drug Policy Foundation
Transform Drug Policy Foundation (Transform) is a registered non-profit charity based in the United Kingdom working in drug policy reform. As an independent think tank, Transform works to promote public health, social justice and human rights t ...
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
chasingthescream.com – Official website
2015 non-fiction books
British books
Drug control law in the United Kingdom
Drug control law in the United States
Drug policy reform
Non-fiction books about drugs
Non-fiction books about the illegal drug trade
Bloomsbury Publishing books
History of drug control
Non-fiction books adapted into films