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High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users
Whether drinking Red Bull, relieving chronic pain with oxycodone, or experimenting with Ecstasy, Americans participate in a culture of self-medication, using psychoactive substances to enhance or manage our moods. A "drug-free America" seems to be a fantasyland that most people don't want to inhabit.
Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks fundamental questions about US drug policies and social norms. Why do we endorse the use of some drugs and criminalize others? Why do we accept the necessity of a doctor-prescribed opiate but not the same thing bought off the street? This divided approach shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and health care. And despite the decades-old war on drugs, drug use remains relatively unchanged.
Ingrid Walker speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization, incorporating first-person narratives to show a wide variety of user experiences with drugs. By challenging current thinking about drugs and users, Walker calls for a next wave of drug policy reform in the United States, beginning with recognizing the full spectrum of drug use practices.
Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks fundamental questions about US drug policies and social norms. Why do we endorse the use of some drugs and criminalize others? Why do we accept the necessity of a doctor-prescribed opiate but not the same thing bought off the street? This divided approach shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and health care. And despite the decades-old war on drugs, drug use remains relatively unchanged.
Ingrid Walker speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization, incorporating first-person narratives to show a wide variety of user experiences with drugs. By challenging current thinking about drugs and users, Walker calls for a next wave of drug policy reform in the United States, beginning with recognizing the full spectrum of drug use practices.
- GenresNonfictionDrugs
226 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2017
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115 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 9, 2018
Written first with data, then with Vox (personal experiences), this book certainly stimulates profound thought about the dichotomies surrounding drugs, drug users, and the American political, economic, governmental, legal, and societal influences upon the drug culture. Used as a discussion resource, this book caused a great deal of heat and generated a deeper look at our culture, our society, and ourselves. Picture a drug user... Then read this book. Your images might surprise you.
September 14, 2019
Something everyone should be listening to...
High (Drugs, Desire & a Nation of Users) by Ingrid Walker and narrated by Sally Martin is something everyone should be listening to. It’s an intriguing book that grabs your attention, yet is a subject the majority of people ignore or fail to realize how it affects us. 4 ½ stars for the content, 4 stars for narration.
A small list of things examined: controlled drug use vs. addiction, why do we say it’s socially acceptable/OK for some drugs/highs but condemn others (caffeine, liquor, running, ecstasy, cannabis, etc.), first hand accounts of illegal and legal drug use (VOX narratives), how the medicalization of prescription drugs complicates matters, criminalization, history of drug laws (Harrison Tax Act 1914, Nixon, Reagan years), advertising (prescriptions, anti-drug commercials), did you know of the 250 million drug users world wide less than 10% are addicts?, questions such as if you have several glasses of wine daily or a couple beers daily are you an addict?, media representation of drug users, the crack baby myth, prescriptions (in our culture, the trust we place in them and the prescribers), pop-culture/TV shows/movies (Mr. Robot, Breaking Bad, Weeds, & more), prison/probation/drug courts (the amount of time served by drug offenders increased by 153% between 1988-2012), how do we research/learn when we’re in a climate of criminalization?, The Silk Road, times change and our society changes with it (opium, cannabis, and cocaine were used legally about 100 years ago), the word addiction varies across institutions and is ever-changing, how do we register the point at which drug use becomes dangerous/problematic?, addiction medications create their own problems, stats such as over 97% of Americans who use an addictive drug other than alcohol do not become addicted to it, did you know methadone is more addictive than heroin?, is the human need for intoxicated pleasure a fourth biological drive?, we hear about addiction but not causal use, and more.
Overall it’s a thought-provoking listen, but I found a couple things lacking (the reality is there’s a lot to cover- I could easily listen to an additional ten hours on this subject if the author opts to expand). I would like to have a couple of the subjects be more in depth as they only scratched the surface along with more first hand accounts infused throughout the book (first hand accounts of professionals & regular folks would go a long way for those who are in the mindset “all drugs are bad”). Regarding the intro, there is a decent amount of facts mixed with what is to come in the book- if you are well-versed in this subject, you may wish to skip ahead. Important subjects that weren’t discussed that I’d like to see added: Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) and the DEA attempting to ban the tree (supplement) yet there is a pharmaceutical company trying to patent the alkaloids in it, the Portugal drug study, Florida’s billion dollar treatment industry, and Church of Safe Injection.
The narrator, Sally Martin, did a good job overall. There were a couple words pronounced differently, but I believe it’s a regional thing. I would listen to another book narrated by her.
I would recommend everyone listen to this book as the subject affects us all, whether or not we choose to recognize or acknowledge it. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking book or a book that will inspire you to initiate change, this is the one.
*I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you for allowing me to listen and review the book!
High (Drugs, Desire & a Nation of Users) by Ingrid Walker and narrated by Sally Martin is something everyone should be listening to. It’s an intriguing book that grabs your attention, yet is a subject the majority of people ignore or fail to realize how it affects us. 4 ½ stars for the content, 4 stars for narration.
A small list of things examined: controlled drug use vs. addiction, why do we say it’s socially acceptable/OK for some drugs/highs but condemn others (caffeine, liquor, running, ecstasy, cannabis, etc.), first hand accounts of illegal and legal drug use (VOX narratives), how the medicalization of prescription drugs complicates matters, criminalization, history of drug laws (Harrison Tax Act 1914, Nixon, Reagan years), advertising (prescriptions, anti-drug commercials), did you know of the 250 million drug users world wide less than 10% are addicts?, questions such as if you have several glasses of wine daily or a couple beers daily are you an addict?, media representation of drug users, the crack baby myth, prescriptions (in our culture, the trust we place in them and the prescribers), pop-culture/TV shows/movies (Mr. Robot, Breaking Bad, Weeds, & more), prison/probation/drug courts (the amount of time served by drug offenders increased by 153% between 1988-2012), how do we research/learn when we’re in a climate of criminalization?, The Silk Road, times change and our society changes with it (opium, cannabis, and cocaine were used legally about 100 years ago), the word addiction varies across institutions and is ever-changing, how do we register the point at which drug use becomes dangerous/problematic?, addiction medications create their own problems, stats such as over 97% of Americans who use an addictive drug other than alcohol do not become addicted to it, did you know methadone is more addictive than heroin?, is the human need for intoxicated pleasure a fourth biological drive?, we hear about addiction but not causal use, and more.
Overall it’s a thought-provoking listen, but I found a couple things lacking (the reality is there’s a lot to cover- I could easily listen to an additional ten hours on this subject if the author opts to expand). I would like to have a couple of the subjects be more in depth as they only scratched the surface along with more first hand accounts infused throughout the book (first hand accounts of professionals & regular folks would go a long way for those who are in the mindset “all drugs are bad”). Regarding the intro, there is a decent amount of facts mixed with what is to come in the book- if you are well-versed in this subject, you may wish to skip ahead. Important subjects that weren’t discussed that I’d like to see added: Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) and the DEA attempting to ban the tree (supplement) yet there is a pharmaceutical company trying to patent the alkaloids in it, the Portugal drug study, Florida’s billion dollar treatment industry, and Church of Safe Injection.
The narrator, Sally Martin, did a good job overall. There were a couple words pronounced differently, but I believe it’s a regional thing. I would listen to another book narrated by her.
I would recommend everyone listen to this book as the subject affects us all, whether or not we choose to recognize or acknowledge it. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking book or a book that will inspire you to initiate change, this is the one.
*I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you for allowing me to listen and review the book!
April 6, 2021
all reviews in one place:
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About the Book: Why are some substances – severely punished, and others you can obtain via prescription, a request, in the pharmacy or just the grocery store? Why is social drinking – normal, even encouraged behavior, while pot for social anxiety is stigmatized? What’s the difference between drug users and abusers? All this and many more questions are being contemplated in this book via data, statistics, personal experiences and testimonies of others.
My Opinion: A hard and dull read. Interesting testimonies, fair amount of information, thought provoking hypotheses on the whole war on drugs, stigma, and the double standards in it. But a poor approach that made this book a chore.
night mode reading ;
skaitom nakties rezimu
About the Book: Why are some substances – severely punished, and others you can obtain via prescription, a request, in the pharmacy or just the grocery store? Why is social drinking – normal, even encouraged behavior, while pot for social anxiety is stigmatized? What’s the difference between drug users and abusers? All this and many more questions are being contemplated in this book via data, statistics, personal experiences and testimonies of others.
My Opinion: A hard and dull read. Interesting testimonies, fair amount of information, thought provoking hypotheses on the whole war on drugs, stigma, and the double standards in it. But a poor approach that made this book a chore.
March 11, 2018
really dense, but it does have a lot of good information and things to consider.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews