Summary of Johann Hari's Chasing the Scream

By IRB Media

Get the Summary Johann Hari's Chasing the Scream in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: One of Johann Hari's earliest memories is of trying to wake up one of his relatives and not being able to. As he grew older, he realized he had addiction in his family. Confused, not knowing what to do, he set out and traveled over 30,000 miles over three years to discover what really causes addiction--and what really solves it.

He uncovered a range of remarkable human stories--of how the war on drugs began with Billie Holiday, the great jazz singer, being stalked and killed by a racist policeman; of the scientist who discovered the surprising key to addiction; and of the countries that ended their own war on drugs--with extraordinary results.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638153252

IRB Media

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Book preview

Analysis

of

Johann Hari’s

Chasing the Scream

The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs

Table of Contents

Overview

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Important People

Author’s Style

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Overview

Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream (2015) is a history and evaluation of the war on drugs first launched by the United States in the 1930s.

The anti-drug campaign, which began long before Richard Nixon launched the official War on Drugs in 1971, was supposedly meant to put an end to widespread narcotics use in the United States. However, its origins had more to do with political and racial motivations. The chief architect of the project, Harry Anslinger, wanted to retain his position as commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which had essentially been gutted after the country’s prohibition against alcohol was repealed in late 1933. So Anslinger created a new bogeyman: narcotic addiction. Until this time, drug use in the United States was mainly regulated by doctors, and users continued to live mostly functional lives. This was possible because of a 1925 Supreme Court ruling which held that physicians were legally