Chasing the Scream

by Johann Hari

paperback

Published Jan. 28, 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, imusti.

ISBN:: 978-1-4088-5782-3

(13 reviews)

For the first time, the startling full story of the disastrous war on drugs -- propelled by moving human stories, revolutionary insight into addiction, and fearless international reporting.

"January, 2015 will mark a century of the war on drugs in the United States: one hundred years since the first arrests under the Harrison Act. Facing down this anniversary, Johann Hari was witnessing a close relative and an ex-boyfriend bottoming out on cocaine and heroin. But what was the big picture in the war on drugs? Why does it continue, when most people now think it has failed? The reporter set out on a two-year, 20,000-mile journey through the theater of this war--to find out how it began, how it has affected people around the world, and how we can move beyond it. Chasing the Scream is fueled by dramatic personal stories of the people he meets along the way: A transsexual crack dealer in Brooklyn who wanted to know who killed her mother, and a mother in Mexico who spent years tracking her daughter's murderer across the desert. A child smuggled out of the Jewish ghetto during the Holocaust who helped unlock the scientific secrets of addiction. A doctor who pushed the decriminalization in Portugal of all drugs - from cannabis to crack. The title itself comes from a formative story of Harry Anslinger, first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, sent as a boy to the pharmacy for a neighbor screaming in withdrawal -- an experience which led him to fear drugs without regard to context. Always we come back to the front lines in the U.S., where we instigated the war and exported it around the globe, but where change is also coming. Powerful, propulsive, and persuasive, Chasing the Scream is the page-turning story of a century-long mistake, which shows us the way to a more humane future"--

6 editions

mictter reviewed Chasing the scream by Johann Hari

Review of 'Chasing the scream' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Una historia sobre la “war on drugs”, centrada primero en sus orígenes (la maquinaria de represión de la Ley Seca buscando su supervivencia, junto con un racismo declarado), para seguir con las víctimas (drogadictos, familiares, sicarios) y concluir con los programas de despenalización e incluso legalización que suponen cierta esperanza de que esta situación termine algún día.
A pesar de tratarse de un tema muy trillado, Hari consigue encontrar un enfoque interesante y combinarlo con una forma muy amena de narrar y enlazar unos episodios con otros. Un libro útil para repasar la postura de cada uno respecto de una de las mayores locuras de nuestros días, esté a favor o en contra de la legalización. Es de agradecer que no rehúya analizar el caso de la plaga de medicamentos opiáceos en Estados Unidos, analizándola según el estudio de las causas de la adición hecho en los primeros capítulos.
Algo …

Brad Fonseca reviewed Chasing the scream by Johann Hari

Review of 'Chasing the scream' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Excellent analysis of the so-called "drug war" and the damage it has wrought.

rototrav reviewed Chasing the scream by Johann Hari

Review of 'Chasing the scream' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I have really mixed feelings about this book. Hari's writing style is excecrable, and his account of the drug war is oversimplified. I can't emphasize enough how poorly written this book is - it reads like overly emotional, ham-fisted pap. And yet, I have to say that I think this book's popularity will be a net positive on the balance. It brings together a lot of good arguments in one place and makes them easily digestible and relatable to the kind of reader who might not otherwise be motivated to consider them. Is it dumbed-down, poorly written, and intellectually dishonest? Yes. But it will help change the conversation about drug policy in the more mainstream circles of American culture. That can't be a bad thing.