Drug Addicts Are Human Beings

The 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, Drug Addicts Are Human Beings.

"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

In 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.

Dr. Williams' research and observations have proven true to a scale he could never have imagined.

Conservative 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.

Dr. 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.

Includes a brief biographical sketch of author Dr. Henry Williams, a flawed yet vigorous patient advocate.