{"product_id":"drug-addicts-are-human-beings","title":"Drug Addicts Are Human Beings","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe War on Drugs is now a century old. The question isn't why we aren't winning; it's why we are fighting. Dr. Henry Smith Williams asked that question in his 1938 cult-classic book, \u003ci\u003eDrug Addicts Are Human Beings.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This is one of the most prophetic books of the twentieth century. At the birth of the drug war, a brave doctor saw exactly what it would mean for millions of people - how it would make addiction worse; how it would empower criminal gangs; and how it would destroy trust. He showed us a better way forward. He was ignored, and millions of lives were lost - but we can still listen to this beautiful, brave book, and choose his better path. Everyone should read this humane masterpiece. It will make you weep - and make you hope\" - Johann Hari\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1938, Dr. Henry Smith Williams saw the effects of decades of drug laws enacted between 1909 and 1924 that banned the importation and use of opium, cocaine, and marijuana and criminalized drug users to find out who benefited. No surprise, it wasn't the American public who were convinced by complicit newspapers that removing drugs and immigrants would eradicate crime but the pharmaceutical industry and law enforcement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDr. Williams' research and observations have proven true to a scale he could never have imagined.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eConservative cultural warriors in the early 1900s found a singular cause of every societal wrong: DRUGS. Especially when black, brown, and poor people use drugs. Harry Anslinger, who led the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930-1962, escalated the War in the wake of alcohol prohibition. Anslinger focused on marijuana, ignored the science of the day, and proclaimed it a scourge upon America. Drug laws enforced by newly empowered police at the height of Jim Crow legislation, eugenic 'science, ' and rampant xenophobia created governmental policies that remain in place to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eDr. Williams shows that the solution is treatment, not criminalization. But more importantly, he demonstrates the War on Drugs' sinister origins that are hauntingly familiar to anyone who's experienced friends and family dealing with the aftermath of the Purdue Pharma OxyContin tragedy.\u003c\/p\u003eThis edition features a never-before-published\u003cbr\u003einterview with Beat Generation icon William S. Burroughs discussing his\u003cbr\u003edecades-long history with heroin, morphine, and opium addiction, drug\u003cbr\u003emaintenance, and withdrawal. Unearthed from the Addicts Who Survived project\u003cbr\u003earchives and printed here for the first time, Burroughs' unfiltered account\u003cbr\u003estands alongside Henry Smith Williams' pioneering 1938 case for humane\u003cbr\u003eaddiction treatment, making this essential reading for Beat literature\u003cbr\u003edevotees, drug history researchers, and counterculture readers alike.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIncludes a brief biographical sketch of author Dr. Henry Williams, a flawed yet vigorous patient advocate.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Feral House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50021165465850,"sku":"9781627311700","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0840\/1253\/1962\/files\/imageloader_7ab52b72-a8e3-4a0b-93b4-101a9cabe38e.jpg?v=1786137292","url":"https:\/\/mindsourcebooks.com\/products\/drug-addicts-are-human-beings","provider":"Mind Source Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}