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Dopeworld: Adventures in the Global Drug Trade
In this irreverent ode to gonzo journalism, one writer travels the globe to explore the use of recreational drugs in cultures around the world.
After I got out of jail, I was determined to find out more about how the issue of drugs not only landed me there, but has shaped the entire world: wars, scandals, coups, revolutions. I read every book, watched every documentary. I saved up to buy plane tickets. I went to Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Italy, Japan and the Afghan border—all in all, fifteen countries across five continents.
Call me Narco Polo.
Just as Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations did for the world of food, Dopeworld is an intoxicating journey into the world of drugs. From the cocaine farms in South America to the streets of Manila, Dopeworld traces the emergence of psychoactive substances and our intimate relationship with them. As a former drug dealer turned subversive scholar, with unparalleled access to drug lords, cartel leaders, street dealers and government officials, journalist Niko Vorobyov attempts to shine a light on the dark underbelly of the drug world.
At once a bold piece of journalism and a hugely entertaining travelogue, Dopeworld is a brilliant and enlightening journey across the world, revealing how drug use is at the heart of our history, our lives, and our future.
After I got out of jail, I was determined to find out more about how the issue of drugs not only landed me there, but has shaped the entire world: wars, scandals, coups, revolutions. I read every book, watched every documentary. I saved up to buy plane tickets. I went to Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Italy, Japan and the Afghan border—all in all, fifteen countries across five continents.
Call me Narco Polo.
Just as Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations did for the world of food, Dopeworld is an intoxicating journey into the world of drugs. From the cocaine farms in South America to the streets of Manila, Dopeworld traces the emergence of psychoactive substances and our intimate relationship with them. As a former drug dealer turned subversive scholar, with unparalleled access to drug lords, cartel leaders, street dealers and government officials, journalist Niko Vorobyov attempts to shine a light on the dark underbelly of the drug world.
At once a bold piece of journalism and a hugely entertaining travelogue, Dopeworld is a brilliant and enlightening journey across the world, revealing how drug use is at the heart of our history, our lives, and our future.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published July 25, 2019
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August 27, 2020My first thought on getting this heavy hardback was the author must have done a lot of drugs in a lot of countries and probably been to prison. I like travelling, I've been to 50+ countries and taken a fair number of drugs but never when travelling. Prison has never appealed to me for an extended vacation. The best book on doing drugs and prison in a foreign country is Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail. A 10 star read of getting locked up in Bolivia, developing the cell into a guest house and getting an entry in Lonely Planet as 'unmissable'.
If I wasn't from here, I think I wouldn't mind so much an extended visit in our local prison. For some utterly unfathomable reason it is built on the most beautiful mountain on the island, with 180 degree views of other islands on the Caribbean, and alm next door to an Arab Prince's palace. The gate there has a chain and padlock which prevents anyone actually getting out, but there is a gap of about 8" between the two gates, good for pass-through of some takeout food.
Not that you need to pass it through. Last time I drove near the prison, about a month ago, there were five prisoners lounging around in the grass outside, we stopped and said hello since my son (a lawyer) knew one of them. I suppose they all went back in at some point.
There's nowhere to escape to anyway. It's a tiny island where would you go but home? You'd have to have a major escape attempt with boats and passports organised and everyone round here is just too lazy for all of that.
If I wasn't from here, I think I wouldn't mind so much an extended visit in our local prison. For some utterly unfathomable reason it is built on the most beautiful mountain on the island, with 180 degree views of other islands on the Caribbean, and alm next door to an Arab Prince's palace. The gate there has a chain and padlock which prevents anyone actually getting out, but there is a gap of about 8" between the two gates, good for pass-through of some takeout food.
Not that you need to pass it through. Last time I drove near the prison, about a month ago, there were five prisoners lounging around in the grass outside, we stopped and said hello since my son (a lawyer) knew one of them. I suppose they all went back in at some point.
There's nowhere to escape to anyway. It's a tiny island where would you go but home? You'd have to have a major escape attempt with boats and passports organised and everyone round here is just too lazy for all of that.
April 2, 2020
Giveaway win!
Dopeworld is part travel-log part history lessen and its all based around drugs. Niko Vorobyov is a former drug dealer who after spending time in prison became interested in the history of both legal and illegal drugs.
Niko thinks all drugs should be legalized and I agree. Making drugs illegal doesn't prevent drug abuse or crime. In fact countries where drugs like heroin and cocaine are decriminalized tend to have lower rates of crime and drug abuse. America has more people in jail on drug related charges than any other country on the planet and we have some of the harshest drug laws and yet we (America) still lead the world in drug use.
Niko also points out something that most black and brown people all over the world already know, drug laws tend to be racially motivated. In America for many years, cocaine a drug used mostly by white people was seen as cool and trendy. While crack cocaine a drug used mostly by black & brown people was overly criminalized. I mean you could get a life sentence for dealing crack cocaine The fact that you can get more time in prison for dealing crack than for rape or murder is nonsensical.
Dopeworld is a funny and informative look at how drugs have been used and viewed throughout history and in different countries. I found it hilarious that in the 1920's alcohol was illegal but heroin and opium were very legal.
I highly recommend Dopeworld to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the global drug trade.
Dopeworld is part travel-log part history lessen and its all based around drugs. Niko Vorobyov is a former drug dealer who after spending time in prison became interested in the history of both legal and illegal drugs.
Niko thinks all drugs should be legalized and I agree. Making drugs illegal doesn't prevent drug abuse or crime. In fact countries where drugs like heroin and cocaine are decriminalized tend to have lower rates of crime and drug abuse. America has more people in jail on drug related charges than any other country on the planet and we have some of the harshest drug laws and yet we (America) still lead the world in drug use.
Niko also points out something that most black and brown people all over the world already know, drug laws tend to be racially motivated. In America for many years, cocaine a drug used mostly by white people was seen as cool and trendy. While crack cocaine a drug used mostly by black & brown people was overly criminalized. I mean you could get a life sentence for dealing crack cocaine The fact that you can get more time in prison for dealing crack than for rape or murder is nonsensical.
Dopeworld is a funny and informative look at how drugs have been used and viewed throughout history and in different countries. I found it hilarious that in the 1920's alcohol was illegal but heroin and opium were very legal.
I highly recommend Dopeworld to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the global drug trade.
June 29, 2020
This was certainly a unique way of looking at the history and place/power of drugs throughout the world. I found it very enlightening, learning a huge amount about the history of drug use I never knew or would have thought would all be real.
Author/journalist Niko Vorobyov delivers his work in a way that kept me returning for more of the edge of witty humor running through it. I couldn't stop until I reached the end, and was left thinking about it afterward. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, the author, and publisher in return for my honest review.
Author/journalist Niko Vorobyov delivers his work in a way that kept me returning for more of the edge of witty humor running through it. I couldn't stop until I reached the end, and was left thinking about it afterward. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, the author, and publisher in return for my honest review.
March 28, 2020
Full disclosure: I won a free ARC of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. That's right: the first taste was free.
“Adventures in the Global Drug Trade,” declares the subtitle, and they're not exaggerating. Vorobyov delivers the straight dope on the current worldwide state of drug affairs, as well as an in-depth history of just how we reached this point. The book is candid, opinionated, thoroughly researched, and entertaining as hell.
The back cover mentions Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as a point of comparison. I can kind of see where they get that from--the book does have a bit of that feel to it--but I feel I should point out that it's not stylistically similar. That's a good thing, because--let’s face it--anyone trying to copy Hunter Thompson’s prose style is likely just going to embarrass themselves. Vorobyov has his own authorial voice. He doesn't need to imitate someone else's.
One thing he does, that I don't recall seeing often in books of this type, is to spend a paragraph or two at the end of each chapter setting up the beginning of the next one. Essentially, he’s recreated the cliffhanger for nonfiction. It definitely makes the book flow nicely, and it's also that much harder to put down. Well done!
Dopeworld is definitely better than your average nonfiction book. Recommended!
“Adventures in the Global Drug Trade,” declares the subtitle, and they're not exaggerating. Vorobyov delivers the straight dope on the current worldwide state of drug affairs, as well as an in-depth history of just how we reached this point. The book is candid, opinionated, thoroughly researched, and entertaining as hell.
The back cover mentions Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as a point of comparison. I can kind of see where they get that from--the book does have a bit of that feel to it--but I feel I should point out that it's not stylistically similar. That's a good thing, because--let’s face it--anyone trying to copy Hunter Thompson’s prose style is likely just going to embarrass themselves. Vorobyov has his own authorial voice. He doesn't need to imitate someone else's.
One thing he does, that I don't recall seeing often in books of this type, is to spend a paragraph or two at the end of each chapter setting up the beginning of the next one. Essentially, he’s recreated the cliffhanger for nonfiction. It definitely makes the book flow nicely, and it's also that much harder to put down. Well done!
Dopeworld is definitely better than your average nonfiction book. Recommended!
April 2, 2020
I need to say this first. I've read tons of non-fiction books. I tried a lot of history books, not my kind of reads. I've read plenty of economy and politics. This isn't Harry Potter, but it reads like one.
When I grade a book, I usually think about how many people in my circle would and should read it. Dopeworld made me think about how to get a 6 start or if I should downgrade all other books (maybe except "Never split the difference") a star lower.
I know what you expect from a book like this, and Niko knows it too. The first chapters are usually a story of a boy with drugs dealing > jail problems. Then he moves on to history politics and economy of every major drag. He visits the country of origin, he speaks with users and with police (usually it's one person, interesting right?) and he sums it up.
He also mentions countries with a different approach to a certain substance, how it gets there and how society works with this.
TL;DR: If you really don't want to read it, I'll sum up the most important points:
1. Drugs are illegal, so mafia runs it. If your mind goes to Italy now, think again. Hezbollah and every single terrorist take money from drug business too.
2. Different approaches to different substances: Some drugs should be legal like coffee, some should be regulated like alcohol, and some should be used under medical supervision like morphine. BUT NONE SHOULD BE SOLD ON THE STREETS.
3. If you think you're not an addict, try to skip coffee for a few days.
Last note, the audible version is 12hours, with amazing narration from Alexi Armitage! He even makes dialogue listenable by pretending a foreign accent.
When I grade a book, I usually think about how many people in my circle would and should read it. Dopeworld made me think about how to get a 6 start or if I should downgrade all other books (maybe except "Never split the difference") a star lower.
I know what you expect from a book like this, and Niko knows it too. The first chapters are usually a story of a boy with drugs dealing > jail problems. Then he moves on to history politics and economy of every major drag. He visits the country of origin, he speaks with users and with police (usually it's one person, interesting right?) and he sums it up.
He also mentions countries with a different approach to a certain substance, how it gets there and how society works with this.
TL;DR: If you really don't want to read it, I'll sum up the most important points:
1. Drugs are illegal, so mafia runs it. If your mind goes to Italy now, think again. Hezbollah and every single terrorist take money from drug business too.
2. Different approaches to different substances: Some drugs should be legal like coffee, some should be regulated like alcohol, and some should be used under medical supervision like morphine. BUT NONE SHOULD BE SOLD ON THE STREETS.
3. If you think you're not an addict, try to skip coffee for a few days.
Last note, the audible version is 12hours, with amazing narration from Alexi Armitage! He even makes dialogue listenable by pretending a foreign accent.
February 4, 2024
A breezy, snarky, slangy tour around the world of drugs, with some history and some recent developments, from a writer who was briefly jailed in the UK for being a drug dealer.
I spent this whole book thinking about the report on drugs commissioned in the USA by President Kennedy in the 1960s. That report concluded that the supply of drugs could never be eliminated by law enforcement; what does happen is that costly enforcement activities merely restricted supply which meant prices would be higher and the trade more profitable to those in control. At that time, heroin was available in England as an easily affordable prescription, enabling users to lead productive lives; compared to the criminalized approach in the US where drugs were so expensive users were committing property crimes to finance their habits. All the vast sums spent on enforcement and imprisonment (treating drugs as a criminal problem rather than a medical condition) only served to make drug dealers very wealthy (and that wealth then tends to corrupt the whole system).
Follow the money, the report suggested. Who benefits the most from things the way they are now? (Hint: drug dealers, law enforcement, and in the US, for-profit prisons).
President Kennedy did not live long enough to read this report. Vorobyov does not mention this 1960s report, and many of the same conclusions are reached by this author fifty-some years later. He does mention that the current state of prohibition benefits two groups of people: drug dealers, and advocates for legalization.
The situation in Vancouver, B.C. is misrepresented. One "safe injection" site does not a liberal paradise make ("The junkies won." he writes. Hardly. The opioid crisis is hitting Canada hard, with thousands of deaths each year, and as a consequence average life expectancy is in decline.)
This author has an annoying laddish style, and this volume is riddled with typos and typesetting errors (and this in an era where books are no longer even typeset). 3.5 stars rounded down
I spent this whole book thinking about the report on drugs commissioned in the USA by President Kennedy in the 1960s. That report concluded that the supply of drugs could never be eliminated by law enforcement; what does happen is that costly enforcement activities merely restricted supply which meant prices would be higher and the trade more profitable to those in control. At that time, heroin was available in England as an easily affordable prescription, enabling users to lead productive lives; compared to the criminalized approach in the US where drugs were so expensive users were committing property crimes to finance their habits. All the vast sums spent on enforcement and imprisonment (treating drugs as a criminal problem rather than a medical condition) only served to make drug dealers very wealthy (and that wealth then tends to corrupt the whole system).
Follow the money, the report suggested. Who benefits the most from things the way they are now? (Hint: drug dealers, law enforcement, and in the US, for-profit prisons).
President Kennedy did not live long enough to read this report. Vorobyov does not mention this 1960s report, and many of the same conclusions are reached by this author fifty-some years later. He does mention that the current state of prohibition benefits two groups of people: drug dealers, and advocates for legalization.
The situation in Vancouver, B.C. is misrepresented. One "safe injection" site does not a liberal paradise make ("The junkies won." he writes. Hardly. The opioid crisis is hitting Canada hard, with thousands of deaths each year, and as a consequence average life expectancy is in decline.)
This author has an annoying laddish style, and this volume is riddled with typos and typesetting errors (and this in an era where books are no longer even typeset). 3.5 stars rounded down
September 11, 2020
This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. So I'll go through the "good" before I get to the "bad".
Author Niko Vorobyov is a former purveyor of narcotics who has done time in prison for dealing drugs. He talks about this in the book.
The Good:
* There is some very interesting writing. I found the writing about his journey to Culiacán, and it's Narco culture to be particularly interesting. I have been following Mexican Narco culture for a while, and always like hearing new information, and new stories.
* The book covers quite a lot of ground; The Philippines, Mexico, Albania, America, Portugal, and many topics and areas in between.
* There is quite a lot of historical information here. While I take issue with the framing of some of it, there will no doubt be a decent amount of new information for many, if not most readers of this book.
The Bad:
* My biggest criticism of the book is that the writing was a bit too jumpy for my tastes; the book erratically moves from one topic/region to the next in a somewhat impromptu, off-the-cuff fashion. It could have done with much better editing and/or formatting, IMO.
* He's got a ridiculous bit of "reasoning" about how a drug addict's stereotypical degenerate and criminal behavior is the fault of... (wait for it) people who stereotype drug abusers, in a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. LMAO. What a shit take.
* I wanted to enjoy a book about drug culture, but the author managed to inject his political narrative into this story, somehow. I really hate it when books do this. There's a somewhat ridiculous chapter in the book called "Black Lives Matter" (yes, really). Here we get to listen to Vorobyov evangelize for the religion of anti-racism. He includes virtue-signaling quotes about how white lives inherently matter, but black lives do not. Typical low-resolution pablum. He goes on about how unfair it is that a disproportionate amount of black people are in prison, citing many different stats. He conveniently leaves out any stats on the disparate rates of crime by race or ethnicity, which might bear out a causal relationship between incarceration and crime.
He also goes on to talk about the death of Micheal Brown ridiculously, calling the 6'4", ~300lb young man an "unarmed teenager", in a slippery bit of wording. As if someone that large (or any size) needs to be "armed" to represent a threat. Brown's autopsy collaborated Officer Wilson's account; namely that Brown was shot in the top of his head close range, as he charged Officer Darren Wilson.
All of which is beside the point, to be honest.
The point is that I didn't buy a book about "Adventures in the Global Drug Trade" to hear partisan political rhetoric, shit takes on race relations, and long-form White Guilt™.
Terrible...
So while I had high hopes for this one, the jumbled formatting, and inclusion of the author's leftist evangelizing kind of ruined it for me.
1.5 stars, rounded down to 1.
Author Niko Vorobyov is a former purveyor of narcotics who has done time in prison for dealing drugs. He talks about this in the book.
The Good:
* There is some very interesting writing. I found the writing about his journey to Culiacán, and it's Narco culture to be particularly interesting. I have been following Mexican Narco culture for a while, and always like hearing new information, and new stories.
* The book covers quite a lot of ground; The Philippines, Mexico, Albania, America, Portugal, and many topics and areas in between.
* There is quite a lot of historical information here. While I take issue with the framing of some of it, there will no doubt be a decent amount of new information for many, if not most readers of this book.
The Bad:
* My biggest criticism of the book is that the writing was a bit too jumpy for my tastes; the book erratically moves from one topic/region to the next in a somewhat impromptu, off-the-cuff fashion. It could have done with much better editing and/or formatting, IMO.
* He's got a ridiculous bit of "reasoning" about how a drug addict's stereotypical degenerate and criminal behavior is the fault of... (wait for it) people who stereotype drug abusers, in a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. LMAO. What a shit take.
* I wanted to enjoy a book about drug culture, but the author managed to inject his political narrative into this story, somehow. I really hate it when books do this. There's a somewhat ridiculous chapter in the book called "Black Lives Matter" (yes, really). Here we get to listen to Vorobyov evangelize for the religion of anti-racism. He includes virtue-signaling quotes about how white lives inherently matter, but black lives do not. Typical low-resolution pablum. He goes on about how unfair it is that a disproportionate amount of black people are in prison, citing many different stats. He conveniently leaves out any stats on the disparate rates of crime by race or ethnicity, which might bear out a causal relationship between incarceration and crime.
He also goes on to talk about the death of Micheal Brown ridiculously, calling the 6'4", ~300lb young man an "unarmed teenager", in a slippery bit of wording. As if someone that large (or any size) needs to be "armed" to represent a threat. Brown's autopsy collaborated Officer Wilson's account; namely that Brown was shot in the top of his head close range, as he charged Officer Darren Wilson.
All of which is beside the point, to be honest.
The point is that I didn't buy a book about "Adventures in the Global Drug Trade" to hear partisan political rhetoric, shit takes on race relations, and long-form White Guilt™.
Terrible...
So while I had high hopes for this one, the jumbled formatting, and inclusion of the author's leftist evangelizing kind of ruined it for me.
1.5 stars, rounded down to 1.
July 30, 2019
I bloody loved Dopeworld. Author Niko Vorobyov is a smart if slightly cocky writer with a devilish and sarcastic wit. He takes us through his foray into drug dealing and is boldly upfront about his views. What you find out early on is that this is not an anti-drug book full of tales and tragedy about drug use. Dopeworld is far more complex than that and takes a wider perspective. Vorobyov explains just how drugs turn big money, run countries and those in power and have done for hundreds of years. Can we really win the war on drugs, and should we want to?
What are drugs anyway?
It’s a pretty broad term, ‘drugs’. If plants and chemicals are found naturally, should they be outlawed? Opium was legal for years and quite openly used by rich Victorian-era socialites who popped a few drops to treat what was ailing. Or discreetly popped into cups of tea by husbands controlling their ‘hysterical’ wives. Today, heroin still pumps deep in the veins of some countries, forever entwined.
We can drink ourselves stupid, pickling our livers losing jobs, families and our lives over it cheap booze. Yet, if you decide to ‘lay off the grog’ for a bit, you’re called a big big girl and told to harden up and grab a pint. It’s a brave man who chooses a J20 on a Friday night at ‘Spoons.
Smoking makes you a social pariah in most cities today. Yet, giving yourself lung cancer is still perfectly legal everywhere. Coming in packs of 25 sporting a picture of a rotting, cancer-ridden mouth on the packet does nothing to sway the consumer from buying. We become immune to seeing horrific images of body parts on pub and restaurant tables.
Can you trust an ex-drug dealer to tell you the truth?
Dopeworld is a thought-provoking read. Niko Vorobyov takes us through his personal relationship with drugs and the history of the main players (heroin, cocaine, marijuana, meth). How do some of us manage a healthy relationship with drugs and some do not? A rich wanker banker may keep a lid on his coke habit with a monthly blow out with his cronies while a poor woman in Detroit is gripped by addiction and becomes a crack whore. Why? Is it due to the social and economic demographic lottery? Mostly. Us humans are complex creatures and what is one man’s feast is another man’s poison and Dopeworld definitely gave me something to think about.
If you loved Marching Powder and Trainspotting you will love Dopeworld. A challenging, intelligent and mind blowingly funny read.
What are drugs anyway?
It’s a pretty broad term, ‘drugs’. If plants and chemicals are found naturally, should they be outlawed? Opium was legal for years and quite openly used by rich Victorian-era socialites who popped a few drops to treat what was ailing. Or discreetly popped into cups of tea by husbands controlling their ‘hysterical’ wives. Today, heroin still pumps deep in the veins of some countries, forever entwined.
We can drink ourselves stupid, pickling our livers losing jobs, families and our lives over it cheap booze. Yet, if you decide to ‘lay off the grog’ for a bit, you’re called a big big girl and told to harden up and grab a pint. It’s a brave man who chooses a J20 on a Friday night at ‘Spoons.
Smoking makes you a social pariah in most cities today. Yet, giving yourself lung cancer is still perfectly legal everywhere. Coming in packs of 25 sporting a picture of a rotting, cancer-ridden mouth on the packet does nothing to sway the consumer from buying. We become immune to seeing horrific images of body parts on pub and restaurant tables.
Can you trust an ex-drug dealer to tell you the truth?
Dopeworld is a thought-provoking read. Niko Vorobyov takes us through his personal relationship with drugs and the history of the main players (heroin, cocaine, marijuana, meth). How do some of us manage a healthy relationship with drugs and some do not? A rich wanker banker may keep a lid on his coke habit with a monthly blow out with his cronies while a poor woman in Detroit is gripped by addiction and becomes a crack whore. Why? Is it due to the social and economic demographic lottery? Mostly. Us humans are complex creatures and what is one man’s feast is another man’s poison and Dopeworld definitely gave me something to think about.
If you loved Marching Powder and Trainspotting you will love Dopeworld. A challenging, intelligent and mind blowingly funny read.
March 1, 2020
Great book on drugs in the world. This book covers the history of drugs, the various ways countries have handled drugs, the effect of drugs on society and individuals, descriptions of various drugs, drug dealers and organizations, and many other topics regarding drugs. The book is very through and interesting. There is a substantial amount of research which has been conducted. The author concludes that decriminalizing most drugs would be the best option which after reading this book I agree. This book should be read by all.
April 2, 2020
De schrijver reist de geschiedenis van een eeuw drugscriminaliteit na: Italie, VS, latijns-amerika, Filipijnen. Hij laat overtuigend zien dat de onwil om drugs te reguleren en zeker ook de 'war on drugs', de criminaliteit wereldwijd steeds weer de financiële middelen in handen heeft gegeven en nog steeds geeft, om de organisaties op een veel hoger plan te brengen. Hij pleit voor decriminalisering van het gebruik van alle drugs en voor de moed om drugsmarkten te reguleren. Politiek nog een lange weg te gaan...
February 16, 2022
This book had the potential to be much more valuable to me than it was. I keep being conceptually curious about gonzo journalism and then kind of disappointed with the results. In theory I would really enjoy a stripped-back, fuck-convention look at the world of the drug trade, and overall I did…I learned a lot from this book, but I feel like its political grounding was so paradoxically centrist and pro-establishment, and it kind of misuses “harm reduction” even though it contains a history of the origin of that term in HIV-safe community heroin injection sites. Harm reduction =/= government harm eclipsing the harm that is invoked by international mafias and organized crime, and that take is an extremely lazy conclusion for a book claiming to be in a trailblazing genre. I appreciate a lot of the angle that Vorobyov took, but I wonder if he felt too much pressure to instill his history with a moral or a policy plan for going forward, landing in a simplistic and unfortunately liberal place that didn’t need to be the conclusion of his investigation/arguments.
April 19, 2024
Such an informative and interesting read! My only complaint was the authors attitude, it was quite arrogant and off putting at times.
June 24, 2020
This book ventures over broad territory while maintaining a tight focus on recreational (and, mostly, illicit) drugs. It is -- in part -- an autobiographical account of the author’s short-lived career as a drug dealer and his subsequent prison experience. It’s also a global microhistory through the lens of drugs. It’s also a travelogue for the narco-curious who wonder things like: what the drug scene is like in Iran; or: what life is like on either side of the war on drugs in the hotspots of supply and demand. It’s also a gonzo policy tract, presenting scenes from the good (e.g. Portugal and New Zealand), the bad (e.g. the U.S.,) and the terrifying (e.g. the Philippines) of national policies on drugs, taking that knowledge into the author’s advocacy of legalization and other policy changes.
The book’s thirty-six chapters are arranged into eight parts. The first part is where one will find the autobiographical account of the author’s life as a street-level drug dealer. Part two is largely about the history of illegalization of various drugs (including America’s experiment with alcohol prohibition,) but it also has a chapter on the author’s experience with ayahuasca (a potent psychedelic substance historically used by shaman of tribes in Peru, but which has spawned a touristic cottage industry in Peru in recent years with the resurgence of popularity of psychedelics.)
Part three is about the rise of organized crime’s involvement in drugs in the Americas, and it includes a particular look at how Cuba was involved with (and touched by) the drug trade. The four chapters of Part IV focus on the United States, a reasonable distinction given not only America’s prominent demand-side dominance but also its ineffective, yet extremely costly, war on drugs [and the influence that was exerted globally in that pseudo-war’s name.] These chapters look at a collection of intertwined problems that America has experienced around the drug war, including: poor race relations, high imprisonment costs, and unnecessary loss of life. Part five shifts from the 800-pound gorilla of the demand side to its suppliers – notably Columbia and Mexico. There are extensive explorations of the Medellin and Sinaloa cartels and the fates of famous drug lords such as Pablo Escobar and El Chapo.
Part six shifts back to the individual as the primary unit of investigation (as opposed to the regional, the national, or the international levels.) However, this time the author, himself, is not the central character. He focuses on the story of a junky who managed to lead a normal life and of parents who lost children to overdose. A major theme of this book is countering the popular societal narrative that if one ever tries any illicit substance one will have a brief and miserable life as a drug-addled addict (as well as countering the fallacious belief that illicit drugs must inherently be more dangerous than legal one’s – alcohol being more damaging than a few illegal drugs along several different dimensions of danger – e.g. addictiveness, bodily damage, and encouragement of aggression.) The last chapter in this part is a fascinating look at how drug dealing via the dark web (anonymous online marketplaces that work on cryptocurrency) works in Russian (and how this could be improving safety.)
The penultimate part explores four prominent fronts in the War on Drugs. Here we see countries that are making all the costly mistakes of the United States, but – by virtue of weak governance – many additional ones, as well. Each of these locales shows the reader some new facet of the drug trade. With Russia we learn about how soldiers returning from the Chechen War brought with them a growing drug problem. In the chapter that deals with Iran [and its drug growing neighbors (e.g. Afghanistan)] we see an interesting twist in which hard drugs aren’t as challenging to acquire as one might expect under an Islamic theocracy. The Philippines has become the proverbial wild, wild west with police going Judge Dredd on drug dealers (Dredd is a comic book in which law enforcement, judgement, and punishment are all in the same individual’s hands.)
The final part shows some of the progressive shifts of recent years – moving away from a war on drugs and toward a tailored management of drug problems. The case of Portugal, a country that found itself with a huge drug problem but chose to handle it as a health rather than criminal justice issue, is highlighted. There is also a chapter on the wave of decriminalization and legalization of drugs (particularly of marijuana) in the US and elsewhere. The final chapter both discusses the drug issue du jour (the opioid crisis) and then finishes with an argument for why legalization combined with certain other policy changes would make for better outcomes.
The approach of this book is largely gonzo journalistic. It’s written in a humorous and self-referential fashion, and is not shy about taking a particular stance. It’s a fun and interesting read, and is conversational in style. The book is at it’s strongest when it’s telling personal stories – both the author’s own and those of the individuals that he meets in his journeys and in his life. As with gonzo journalism, more generally, its weakness can be seen in the reporting of the facts, in which it can be a little deceptive, lazy, or oversimplifying of complex problems here and there.
To avoid being gratuitous, I’ll give an example of each of those three criticisms [with the proviso that I read a review copy and they might be changed by the final published edition.] With respect to being deceptive, an example would be Vorobyov’s discussion of Albert Hofmann’s discovery of LSD. The author simply says that Hofmann “took” the substance (the phrasing implies he did it on purpose, but several other accounts I’ve read suggest Hofmann was accidentally exposed and didn’t know what was happening to him [such a smart fellow probably wouldn’t ride a bicycle home if he consciously took the substance.]) This may sound like nit-picking. I wouldn’t doubt that the author knows that detail, but was paying more attention to how he was expressing himself than fine details. An example of laziness with facts is seen when he discusses the cost of the drug war. He gives a dollar figure for Portugal, proposing that that has to be a better path than the US, which has spent a tremendous amount on the war on drugs. I suspect this is right, but he doesn’t offer a comparative figure for the US cost [just superlatives,] and so we are left to suppose it is the right conclusion. (Who knows, the relative size of both the populations and economies of the two countries might result in this assumption being wrong.)
To get to my last critical example, I have to first offer a bit of praise for something that the author does well. He often anticipates the opposing view and provides both evidence that supports his point and that supports the counterclaim. As an example, in the chapter on race relations he does point to the counter-point to his own that more police officers are killed by suspects than cops kill suspects during arrests [in the US, not necessarily the case in other places addressed in the book.] However, the ultimate point Vorobyov dismisses the discussion on is that cops (as opposed to suspects) sign on for that risk. [I feel I can safely say that no one applies to be a police officer with the idea that they will not have the best possible opportunity to defend themselves.] I’m not saying there isn’t a problem. There certainly is. However, attempts to reduce the issue to cops-are-all-just-racists-eager-to-get-their-guns-off (not this author’s stated argument, but at times the rant does seem to swerve into that territory) don’t get us anywhere.
While that may sound like harsh criticism, I wasn’t too concerned about such matters. As I mentioned, this reads like gonzo journalism, and such works are famous for not hiding bias, and – in that regard – I found this book more balanced than many. The form attempts to entertain, to present a personal argument, and to not get caught up in the minutiae of conveying precise facts. I wouldn’t quote fine detail or assume my interpretation of what was written was correct without fact-checking, but I don’t think there was any matter of fact that was far off the mark. And the fact that the author has a point-of-view that he’s advocating is par for the course.
This book was a fun and fascinating look at the narco-world. I was intrigued, educated, and sometimes horrified by what I learned. I’d highly recommend this book if you [like I] are curious about what goes on in the dark corners of the world beyond one’s everyday world.
The book’s thirty-six chapters are arranged into eight parts. The first part is where one will find the autobiographical account of the author’s life as a street-level drug dealer. Part two is largely about the history of illegalization of various drugs (including America’s experiment with alcohol prohibition,) but it also has a chapter on the author’s experience with ayahuasca (a potent psychedelic substance historically used by shaman of tribes in Peru, but which has spawned a touristic cottage industry in Peru in recent years with the resurgence of popularity of psychedelics.)
Part three is about the rise of organized crime’s involvement in drugs in the Americas, and it includes a particular look at how Cuba was involved with (and touched by) the drug trade. The four chapters of Part IV focus on the United States, a reasonable distinction given not only America’s prominent demand-side dominance but also its ineffective, yet extremely costly, war on drugs [and the influence that was exerted globally in that pseudo-war’s name.] These chapters look at a collection of intertwined problems that America has experienced around the drug war, including: poor race relations, high imprisonment costs, and unnecessary loss of life. Part five shifts from the 800-pound gorilla of the demand side to its suppliers – notably Columbia and Mexico. There are extensive explorations of the Medellin and Sinaloa cartels and the fates of famous drug lords such as Pablo Escobar and El Chapo.
Part six shifts back to the individual as the primary unit of investigation (as opposed to the regional, the national, or the international levels.) However, this time the author, himself, is not the central character. He focuses on the story of a junky who managed to lead a normal life and of parents who lost children to overdose. A major theme of this book is countering the popular societal narrative that if one ever tries any illicit substance one will have a brief and miserable life as a drug-addled addict (as well as countering the fallacious belief that illicit drugs must inherently be more dangerous than legal one’s – alcohol being more damaging than a few illegal drugs along several different dimensions of danger – e.g. addictiveness, bodily damage, and encouragement of aggression.) The last chapter in this part is a fascinating look at how drug dealing via the dark web (anonymous online marketplaces that work on cryptocurrency) works in Russian (and how this could be improving safety.)
The penultimate part explores four prominent fronts in the War on Drugs. Here we see countries that are making all the costly mistakes of the United States, but – by virtue of weak governance – many additional ones, as well. Each of these locales shows the reader some new facet of the drug trade. With Russia we learn about how soldiers returning from the Chechen War brought with them a growing drug problem. In the chapter that deals with Iran [and its drug growing neighbors (e.g. Afghanistan)] we see an interesting twist in which hard drugs aren’t as challenging to acquire as one might expect under an Islamic theocracy. The Philippines has become the proverbial wild, wild west with police going Judge Dredd on drug dealers (Dredd is a comic book in which law enforcement, judgement, and punishment are all in the same individual’s hands.)
The final part shows some of the progressive shifts of recent years – moving away from a war on drugs and toward a tailored management of drug problems. The case of Portugal, a country that found itself with a huge drug problem but chose to handle it as a health rather than criminal justice issue, is highlighted. There is also a chapter on the wave of decriminalization and legalization of drugs (particularly of marijuana) in the US and elsewhere. The final chapter both discusses the drug issue du jour (the opioid crisis) and then finishes with an argument for why legalization combined with certain other policy changes would make for better outcomes.
The approach of this book is largely gonzo journalistic. It’s written in a humorous and self-referential fashion, and is not shy about taking a particular stance. It’s a fun and interesting read, and is conversational in style. The book is at it’s strongest when it’s telling personal stories – both the author’s own and those of the individuals that he meets in his journeys and in his life. As with gonzo journalism, more generally, its weakness can be seen in the reporting of the facts, in which it can be a little deceptive, lazy, or oversimplifying of complex problems here and there.
To avoid being gratuitous, I’ll give an example of each of those three criticisms [with the proviso that I read a review copy and they might be changed by the final published edition.] With respect to being deceptive, an example would be Vorobyov’s discussion of Albert Hofmann’s discovery of LSD. The author simply says that Hofmann “took” the substance (the phrasing implies he did it on purpose, but several other accounts I’ve read suggest Hofmann was accidentally exposed and didn’t know what was happening to him [such a smart fellow probably wouldn’t ride a bicycle home if he consciously took the substance.]) This may sound like nit-picking. I wouldn’t doubt that the author knows that detail, but was paying more attention to how he was expressing himself than fine details. An example of laziness with facts is seen when he discusses the cost of the drug war. He gives a dollar figure for Portugal, proposing that that has to be a better path than the US, which has spent a tremendous amount on the war on drugs. I suspect this is right, but he doesn’t offer a comparative figure for the US cost [just superlatives,] and so we are left to suppose it is the right conclusion. (Who knows, the relative size of both the populations and economies of the two countries might result in this assumption being wrong.)
To get to my last critical example, I have to first offer a bit of praise for something that the author does well. He often anticipates the opposing view and provides both evidence that supports his point and that supports the counterclaim. As an example, in the chapter on race relations he does point to the counter-point to his own that more police officers are killed by suspects than cops kill suspects during arrests [in the US, not necessarily the case in other places addressed in the book.] However, the ultimate point Vorobyov dismisses the discussion on is that cops (as opposed to suspects) sign on for that risk. [I feel I can safely say that no one applies to be a police officer with the idea that they will not have the best possible opportunity to defend themselves.] I’m not saying there isn’t a problem. There certainly is. However, attempts to reduce the issue to cops-are-all-just-racists-eager-to-get-their-guns-off (not this author’s stated argument, but at times the rant does seem to swerve into that territory) don’t get us anywhere.
While that may sound like harsh criticism, I wasn’t too concerned about such matters. As I mentioned, this reads like gonzo journalism, and such works are famous for not hiding bias, and – in that regard – I found this book more balanced than many. The form attempts to entertain, to present a personal argument, and to not get caught up in the minutiae of conveying precise facts. I wouldn’t quote fine detail or assume my interpretation of what was written was correct without fact-checking, but I don’t think there was any matter of fact that was far off the mark. And the fact that the author has a point-of-view that he’s advocating is par for the course.
This book was a fun and fascinating look at the narco-world. I was intrigued, educated, and sometimes horrified by what I learned. I’d highly recommend this book if you [like I] are curious about what goes on in the dark corners of the world beyond one’s everyday world.
May 27, 2020
What is a grandmother with no drug experience beyond what is legally sanctioned (and some 1960s weed) doing reading a book about “the global social, economic and criminal underworld relating to the production, sale, and use of illegal substances”? That was the first question I asked after the first few pages of Dopeworld by Niko Vorobyov.
Next I wanted to know how a nice Russian kid who grows up in the UK with two well-educated parents gets mixed up in dopeworld in the first place. The answer provided a trajectory from a teenager selling coke on the street and Molly/MDMA/Ecstasy at raves to a promising student who takes a detour from university to a two-and-a-half year prison term for being caught with ecstasy on the London underground.
Vorobyov finds his true calling after prison, deciding to learn all he can about a world in which some narcotics are socially sanctioned and others can get you locked up. Vorobyov then embarks on a truth quest of research, travel, and interviews resulting in what he calls “a true-crime, gonzo, social, historical-memoir” and “f**ked-up travel book.”
His quest takes him to five continents, introduces him—and his readers—to many terrifying and colorful characters as well as to many terrifying incidents with drug lords, shamans, and drugs. None more elucidating than his journey into the Peruvian Amazon for a swig of ayahuasca, “one of the most powerful hallucinogens known to man.” This particular vision quest included a giant spider and knowing frog/lizard creatures. One ferries Vorobyov down a river to see an “infinite, never-ending kaleidoscope of impossible shapes and colors.”
There’s a lot of humor in this book, the tone is streetwise and uber-hip, but there is also a lot of heart—and instruction about what we need to face as a country, if not as a world, in order finally to take a more rational, intelligent, and workable approach to a worldwide problem.
Ultimately Vorobyov’s gonzo journalism leads one to the realization that the deeply engrained system of dopeworld “poisons kids, destroys families, drives wars, creates terrorists and splits our society.”
And for this grandmother, that makes this book a pretty big deal.
Next I wanted to know how a nice Russian kid who grows up in the UK with two well-educated parents gets mixed up in dopeworld in the first place. The answer provided a trajectory from a teenager selling coke on the street and Molly/MDMA/Ecstasy at raves to a promising student who takes a detour from university to a two-and-a-half year prison term for being caught with ecstasy on the London underground.
Vorobyov finds his true calling after prison, deciding to learn all he can about a world in which some narcotics are socially sanctioned and others can get you locked up. Vorobyov then embarks on a truth quest of research, travel, and interviews resulting in what he calls “a true-crime, gonzo, social, historical-memoir” and “f**ked-up travel book.”
His quest takes him to five continents, introduces him—and his readers—to many terrifying and colorful characters as well as to many terrifying incidents with drug lords, shamans, and drugs. None more elucidating than his journey into the Peruvian Amazon for a swig of ayahuasca, “one of the most powerful hallucinogens known to man.” This particular vision quest included a giant spider and knowing frog/lizard creatures. One ferries Vorobyov down a river to see an “infinite, never-ending kaleidoscope of impossible shapes and colors.”
There’s a lot of humor in this book, the tone is streetwise and uber-hip, but there is also a lot of heart—and instruction about what we need to face as a country, if not as a world, in order finally to take a more rational, intelligent, and workable approach to a worldwide problem.
Ultimately Vorobyov’s gonzo journalism leads one to the realization that the deeply engrained system of dopeworld “poisons kids, destroys families, drives wars, creates terrorists and splits our society.”
And for this grandmother, that makes this book a pretty big deal.
October 30, 2020
I am a Reagan guy. One might remember Reagan was known for the drug war. This was one area I did not agree with Reagan on from the earliest. My first memories of political thought and debate was of my New England teachers in the early 1980s explaining to us that drugs should be fought as a public health issue and not a criminal/war issue. My health teacher predicted exactly what would happen. We'd fill our prisons, poverty and gang violence would increase, we would make enemies around the world. I have now watched these predictions in the news happen for decades. This teacher of mine had the very same recommendations Vorobyov makes in this book, almost 40 years ago. This all could have been written before it all happened, and actually was.
One more cost that is hard to put your finger on. but it is huge. The CIA was created to spread American goodwill and build allies to fight communism. The Long Peace by Gaddis does a great job in explaining some of what they did. For a generation the CIA was admired, for good reason. The drug war has utterly destroyed any respect and trust the CIA rightly earned prior to this global disaster.
One more cost that is hard to put your finger on. but it is huge. The CIA was created to spread American goodwill and build allies to fight communism. The Long Peace by Gaddis does a great job in explaining some of what they did. For a generation the CIA was admired, for good reason. The drug war has utterly destroyed any respect and trust the CIA rightly earned prior to this global disaster.
October 25, 2019
In short, legalize and decriminalize drugs! (I wholly agree with this )
Very well written book by the former drug user and small time dealer, great read for someone who want an amateur view of the serious problem. There are some studies mentioned and actual travel;ling around the world, so not that shallow yet very very entertaining book. Four very very good and well earned stars!
I wish more politicians read these kind of books .
Very well written book by the former drug user and small time dealer, great read for someone who want an amateur view of the serious problem. There are some studies mentioned and actual travel;ling around the world, so not that shallow yet very very entertaining book. Four very very good and well earned stars!
I wish more politicians read these kind of books .
June 22, 2021
so first...the positives. i think vorobyov has a very engaging style of telling true events and his sense of humor is certainly there. its not a bad book. but sometimes you just dont jive with a book, just like sometimes you just dont get along with someone for no discernable reason.
firstly im not a big fan of the aforementioned humor. he really sounds like some 15 year old cum town listener. age doesnt really have much to do with maturity or how youthful you are but sometimes it really bums me out knowing there are borderline gen xers who really need to adopt the lingo of the fellow kids to stay relevant. i think his particular brand of libertarian social justice-esque speak peppered with ironic bigoted remarks is tired and overdone. the world is an awful hellhole. no one wants to be preached at by self righteous 'sjws' but there are parts of this book where vorobyov fully takes us out of the action to tell us how bad the war on drugs are.
as much as i agree with his message about the war on drugs, i was left with a nasty taste in my mouth when he really felt the need to go out of his way to justify his own drug dealing. why is that so bad? do i secretly harbor hatred towards addicts and users and dealers? no, and id rather not reveal my own personal relationship to drugs on fucking goodreads, but this specific instance happened after detailed the half century of destruction levied upon colombia thanks to the drug war. he begins to realize that maybe his dealing in europe did have a direct effect on the unimaginable suffering of an entire country, but then turns around and says that if you use a cell phone or any electronic with cobalt in it then you are directly funding genocide in the congo.
i entirely agree that capitalism, whether you like it or not, fully dominates our lives. you cannot live outside the system, you cannot live ethically, you cannot avoid a negative impact on others. this is immutable. the capitalist system ensures that we are, for better or worse, always related to one another. that even the most downtrodden of us affects someone else negatively through a violent international system of enforced poverty and misery. that being said, having this 'no ethical consumption' talk right after talking about the ravages of the drug-related civil war in colombia, again, really, really pisses me off. there is a difference between realizing your complicity and interconnectedness within a system and wiping your hands of all guilt. and i dont even think hes guilty of anything! dealers arent the devil. theyre not evil people. and im saying this as someone who lives in rio de janeiro, as someone who knows that the only presence in favelas are sometimes dealers paying 5 year olds R$50 to take a baggie down the hill. but to say this IN THAT CONTEXT rubbed me the wrong way.
and vorobyov was not dealing out of necessity or because he was groomed into it as a child. he admits his parents are middle class and respectable and he just got into it as a matter of fact. i dont agree with his jailing nor do i think one needs to be this broken beaten down victim to deserve empathy. but i think this level of posturing about how youre not even a little to blame for something you fully chose to do as a middle class european is insane. its really insane.
vorobyov shouldnt have been sent to prison and drugs should be fully legalized with an emphasis on drug safety and harm reduction, not because drugs are evil or whatever but because humanity has always gotten fucked up and preventing this always leads to far more tragedy than simply allowing people to smoke a fucking joint. i think he makes a really good point for this. but these are beliefs i already held prior to reading this book. his message bordered on preachy. and considering this tone, i dont really need to read a book by an annoying self righteous dude telling me shit i already know.
and i dont usually do this but i checked out his twitter, which of course isnt a complete representation of one's personality or anything, and ofc that confirmed my suspicions. some irony poisoned 40 year old irony poisoned-yet-woke anti communist (its ok guys, he was born in the soviet union, something he never ever fucking stops reminding you of) really wants you to read his book detailing the barbaric, gruesome shit third world people do to each other. yah he talks about how the first worlds need for drugs fuels this violence but really thinking about the drug wars relationship to imperialism is not his objective. vorobyovs only goal is to convince you that drugs are 100% ok.
regardless of what you think about drug use, i think the most foul part of this book was downplaying the opium wars as mere overreaction and opportunity for propaganda for the chinese communist party. like holy shit dude. of course the chinese used opium BEFORE england economically and militarily held a stranglehold on their country. the point was that life under colonial rule was markedly fucking worse and we all know that people who are fucking miserable tend to be drawn more to drugs than people who are overall content, a point that vorobyov made at least twice in the book. does he think having your country occupied by some fucking bucktoothed inbreds makes you HAPPY or something? i shouldve stopped reading then but no, i really powered through it and let myself take psychic damage from ridiculous audiobook.
and speaking of the audiobook, holy shit dude maybe dont imitate the accents of every third world person you meet lmao. i recognized that some of the voices were different from the narrators and thats obviously fucking fine but sometimes the narrator sounded like he was outright mocking someones accent. i can just imagine this fucking dude typing out some insipid 'ah, the pc police wont even let us have some fun, there are real problems in the world you know' tweet now and im shouting angrily in my room for him to shut the fuck up lmao im getting genuinely worked up the more i think about this. nothing annoys me more than annoying whataboutism from people who hate 'woke sjws' or whatever but then gallop away on their moral high ground posturing to everyone about how much better they are than you because they said so.
firstly im not a big fan of the aforementioned humor. he really sounds like some 15 year old cum town listener. age doesnt really have much to do with maturity or how youthful you are but sometimes it really bums me out knowing there are borderline gen xers who really need to adopt the lingo of the fellow kids to stay relevant. i think his particular brand of libertarian social justice-esque speak peppered with ironic bigoted remarks is tired and overdone. the world is an awful hellhole. no one wants to be preached at by self righteous 'sjws' but there are parts of this book where vorobyov fully takes us out of the action to tell us how bad the war on drugs are.
as much as i agree with his message about the war on drugs, i was left with a nasty taste in my mouth when he really felt the need to go out of his way to justify his own drug dealing. why is that so bad? do i secretly harbor hatred towards addicts and users and dealers? no, and id rather not reveal my own personal relationship to drugs on fucking goodreads, but this specific instance happened after detailed the half century of destruction levied upon colombia thanks to the drug war. he begins to realize that maybe his dealing in europe did have a direct effect on the unimaginable suffering of an entire country, but then turns around and says that if you use a cell phone or any electronic with cobalt in it then you are directly funding genocide in the congo.
i entirely agree that capitalism, whether you like it or not, fully dominates our lives. you cannot live outside the system, you cannot live ethically, you cannot avoid a negative impact on others. this is immutable. the capitalist system ensures that we are, for better or worse, always related to one another. that even the most downtrodden of us affects someone else negatively through a violent international system of enforced poverty and misery. that being said, having this 'no ethical consumption' talk right after talking about the ravages of the drug-related civil war in colombia, again, really, really pisses me off. there is a difference between realizing your complicity and interconnectedness within a system and wiping your hands of all guilt. and i dont even think hes guilty of anything! dealers arent the devil. theyre not evil people. and im saying this as someone who lives in rio de janeiro, as someone who knows that the only presence in favelas are sometimes dealers paying 5 year olds R$50 to take a baggie down the hill. but to say this IN THAT CONTEXT rubbed me the wrong way.
and vorobyov was not dealing out of necessity or because he was groomed into it as a child. he admits his parents are middle class and respectable and he just got into it as a matter of fact. i dont agree with his jailing nor do i think one needs to be this broken beaten down victim to deserve empathy. but i think this level of posturing about how youre not even a little to blame for something you fully chose to do as a middle class european is insane. its really insane.
vorobyov shouldnt have been sent to prison and drugs should be fully legalized with an emphasis on drug safety and harm reduction, not because drugs are evil or whatever but because humanity has always gotten fucked up and preventing this always leads to far more tragedy than simply allowing people to smoke a fucking joint. i think he makes a really good point for this. but these are beliefs i already held prior to reading this book. his message bordered on preachy. and considering this tone, i dont really need to read a book by an annoying self righteous dude telling me shit i already know.
and i dont usually do this but i checked out his twitter, which of course isnt a complete representation of one's personality or anything, and ofc that confirmed my suspicions. some irony poisoned 40 year old irony poisoned-yet-woke anti communist (its ok guys, he was born in the soviet union, something he never ever fucking stops reminding you of) really wants you to read his book detailing the barbaric, gruesome shit third world people do to each other. yah he talks about how the first worlds need for drugs fuels this violence but really thinking about the drug wars relationship to imperialism is not his objective. vorobyovs only goal is to convince you that drugs are 100% ok.
regardless of what you think about drug use, i think the most foul part of this book was downplaying the opium wars as mere overreaction and opportunity for propaganda for the chinese communist party. like holy shit dude. of course the chinese used opium BEFORE england economically and militarily held a stranglehold on their country. the point was that life under colonial rule was markedly fucking worse and we all know that people who are fucking miserable tend to be drawn more to drugs than people who are overall content, a point that vorobyov made at least twice in the book. does he think having your country occupied by some fucking bucktoothed inbreds makes you HAPPY or something? i shouldve stopped reading then but no, i really powered through it and let myself take psychic damage from ridiculous audiobook.
and speaking of the audiobook, holy shit dude maybe dont imitate the accents of every third world person you meet lmao. i recognized that some of the voices were different from the narrators and thats obviously fucking fine but sometimes the narrator sounded like he was outright mocking someones accent. i can just imagine this fucking dude typing out some insipid 'ah, the pc police wont even let us have some fun, there are real problems in the world you know' tweet now and im shouting angrily in my room for him to shut the fuck up lmao im getting genuinely worked up the more i think about this. nothing annoys me more than annoying whataboutism from people who hate 'woke sjws' or whatever but then gallop away on their moral high ground posturing to everyone about how much better they are than you because they said so.
October 25, 2022
I had been wanting to read this book for awhile, genuinely judging a book by its cover at a bookstore, and was delighted when my wonderful girlfriend got it for me as a gift. The author sums this book up plainly, "This is a true-crime, gonzo, social, historical-memoir meets fucked-up travel book." A former drug dealer travels the world in a path to understand the Drug War and humanity's relationship with drugs, and the results are fantastic.
This may be a book against the Drug War, but it is also a book that recognizes the harms of drugs. This is not a book here to tell you that all drugs are equal or that drugs are good, but it is one that takes criminals like Ross Ulbricht and puts them in a more positive light. It recognizes the harms of criminalization, of cops caring about arrest statistics more than communities, and traces the history of this world problem in a way few historians have done so compellingly.
With humor and deep personal insight, Vorobyov articulates exactly what many countries do right and wrong. Nowhere is perfect, but this highly-educated former drug dealer tells the story like nobody else can. If you're as fascinated by these dark topics as I am, and want to learn about the cultures that matter as much as the laws, give this one a read.
This may be a book against the Drug War, but it is also a book that recognizes the harms of drugs. This is not a book here to tell you that all drugs are equal or that drugs are good, but it is one that takes criminals like Ross Ulbricht and puts them in a more positive light. It recognizes the harms of criminalization, of cops caring about arrest statistics more than communities, and traces the history of this world problem in a way few historians have done so compellingly.
With humor and deep personal insight, Vorobyov articulates exactly what many countries do right and wrong. Nowhere is perfect, but this highly-educated former drug dealer tells the story like nobody else can. If you're as fascinated by these dark topics as I am, and want to learn about the cultures that matter as much as the laws, give this one a read.
October 13, 2022
I enjoyed it, although I had problems keeping track of all the various criminals, revolutionary groups, politicians and so on. There are a lot of names and places to remember.
Some of the historical events I knew already, but lots of things were new to me. Particularly shocking was the far reaching influence of the CIA and various colonial western powers. We've created a lot of problems, all over the world.
In the end, the conclusion is that the war on drugs was lost a long time ago and we would be better off decriminalising drug use and treating addiction as an illness instead of demonising users. I pretty much agree with that.
Some of the historical events I knew already, but lots of things were new to me. Particularly shocking was the far reaching influence of the CIA and various colonial western powers. We've created a lot of problems, all over the world.
In the end, the conclusion is that the war on drugs was lost a long time ago and we would be better off decriminalising drug use and treating addiction as an illness instead of demonising users. I pretty much agree with that.
July 15, 2021
a good collection of primary sources, I appreciate Vorobyov's commitment to travelling the world for his interviews. i also enjoyed his ability to make fun of himself, and his unique political perspective. it wouldn't have hit five stars without him addressing the racial and socio-economic basis of the war on drugs, especially as it relates to the U.S. and colonialism.
i generally think everyone should be better educated about drugs, so I recommend this to anyone who doesn't know the difference between smack and hash.
i generally think everyone should be better educated about drugs, so I recommend this to anyone who doesn't know the difference between smack and hash.
December 23, 2023
Had a hard time keeping my interest
August 16, 2024
Interesting, honest look at the trade in illegal drugs, with examples of how things could be if criminal elements of this trade were legalized. Canada is painted in perhaps a more positive light than it deserves.
August 8, 2019
'Ecstasy dealing in London, crack talking in Los Angeles, LSD dropping in Tokyo, heroin smoking in Sofia, cocaine cooking in Medellin, bounty hunting in Manilla, opium taking in Tehran. This is your next fix. This is DOPEWORLD.
DOPEWORLD is a bold and eye-opening exploration into the world of drugs. Taking us on an unforgettable journey around the world, we trace the emergence of psychoactive substances and our relationship with them. Exploring the murky criminal underworld, the author has unparalleled access to drug lords, cartel leaders, hitmen and government officials.
This is a deeply personal journey into the heartland of the war on drugs and the devastating effect it's having on humanity.'
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
This was a fantastic book that is very fitting to the current political situations surrounding drugs.
I really enjoyed seeing the effects of drugs throughout the ages and how countries, their governments and their populations have reacted to drugs and drug users over different generations.
I found it really interesting to see how different countries felt about and dealt with certain types of drug use. It was fascinating to see how people changed their opinions depending on what the government rhetoric was in the country they lived in.
With drug use such a prevalent thing in our society, this book does a fantastic job in breaking down drug use and the real statistics around drugs and crime.
Niko Vorobyov did a fantastic job with this book. The writing was wonderful and easy to follow and it didn't over load the reader with too much information. I will definitely be looking into this subject more using the notes at the end of this book as my base line.
I feel like I genuinely learned more about drugs and drug culture, and I truly believe that everyone could learn something from this book.
Dopeworld by Niko Vorobyov is a must read for everyone.
Geramie Kate Barker
gemsbooknook.wordpress.com
DOPEWORLD is a bold and eye-opening exploration into the world of drugs. Taking us on an unforgettable journey around the world, we trace the emergence of psychoactive substances and our relationship with them. Exploring the murky criminal underworld, the author has unparalleled access to drug lords, cartel leaders, hitmen and government officials.
This is a deeply personal journey into the heartland of the war on drugs and the devastating effect it's having on humanity.'
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
This was a fantastic book that is very fitting to the current political situations surrounding drugs.
I really enjoyed seeing the effects of drugs throughout the ages and how countries, their governments and their populations have reacted to drugs and drug users over different generations.
I found it really interesting to see how different countries felt about and dealt with certain types of drug use. It was fascinating to see how people changed their opinions depending on what the government rhetoric was in the country they lived in.
With drug use such a prevalent thing in our society, this book does a fantastic job in breaking down drug use and the real statistics around drugs and crime.
Niko Vorobyov did a fantastic job with this book. The writing was wonderful and easy to follow and it didn't over load the reader with too much information. I will definitely be looking into this subject more using the notes at the end of this book as my base line.
I feel like I genuinely learned more about drugs and drug culture, and I truly believe that everyone could learn something from this book.
Dopeworld by Niko Vorobyov is a must read for everyone.
Geramie Kate Barker
gemsbooknook.wordpress.com
October 11, 2021
I learned a little from this book, but not as much as I hoped. The author is a middle class young man who gets arrested and serves time for selling drugs, so he writes about a drug underworld from a middle class point of view and that is, I think, the most interesting and most unique thing about this book. I picked up a sense that the author felt the reader would think he was somehow cool for knowing about this underside and that made me less confident in his thinking, which anyway never got deep. But he did draw an extremely interesting but very brief comparison between the situation in Afghanistan and the situation in Mexico; describing the Taliban as effectively a drug cartel in its financial arrangment and the empowering of it and drug cartels in Mexico as being similarly the result of the United States citizens willingness to spend billions for drugs. While he exhaustively discusses the dire effects of making drugs illegal, the topic of why people are willing to spend so much money on them, which is a very important issue, and which continually goes unmentioned in discussions about, for example, the U.S. Mexican border, and would be very interesting to learn about, was not included. But, I did appreciate his drawing the Afghanistan Mexico cartel comparison.
January 29, 2021
Halfway through this thing I was thinking, what a childish view of the world this guy has. The book reads like the mindset of a middle schooler. Then he gets around to glossing over his employment with RT and the true propaganda intent of the book becomes apparent. Anti-American, anti-capitalist, pro-socialist, race-baiting tripe intended to sow discord. So much information regarding the U.S. is presented out of context or inaccurately that it's laughable. Makes everything else he writes about the world questionable, to say the least. I noticed he takes it very easy on Russia, China and North Korea, though. Interesting. Skim the "sources" at the end. Not exactly hard hitting stuff. You'd fail a 100 level college course if you used them on a term paper. Websites, magazines and newspapers with extreme political slants. But the author claims he's trying to delve beyond the media's approach to the subject. Uh huh.
November 1, 2019
This was a brilliantly amusing look at the history and underworld of drugs and drug users. Told from a very realistic, down to earth view, Vorobyov’s voice was compelling. With a perfect mix of interesting and beyond hilarious anecdotes. This was a brilliant read.
November 13, 2019
Excellent and timely reportage about the trillion dollar drug business and the way forward towards harm minimisation from someone who's been there. Essential reading for the rare politician who actually care about improving their society.
February 26, 2025
this was so interesting and written very much with personality. i don't think i've ever read this type of book where the author's personality comes through so well. i was never bored and learned a lot.
January 12, 2024
A brief history of the drug trade, from an ex drug dealer…
This book is almost an autobiography of the authors life with history interspersed, it delivers unique perspectives and is worth a read.
This book is almost an autobiography of the authors life with history interspersed, it delivers unique perspectives and is worth a read.
July 8, 2020
This book. Where to start? Well, I guess first of I dont even know what expectations I had off this book as they were sort of fulfilled, but I did enjoy the information I wasnt 'prepared' for, neither do I know how Niko would have written a book on all if not most drugs effects, properties etc. in this book. That would get boring and repetitive. Im glad he didnt do that thinking of it now.
This book speaks about the authors personal experience regarding drugs (he was a drug dealer, so one can be sure he know what he is talking about and not the 40 year old who read one article on something called MDMA and says he knows drugs). He also speaks of the war of drugs such as governments trying to fight it, society torwards drugs and also the most important of all, the various mafia and dealer which can turn countries upside down ruthlessly murdering and decapitating and raping thousands to bring the typical drug user their crack. Keep that in mind whenever doing drugs, where they come from! So many people know how that mafia can do 'controversial' stuff yet indirectly support these actions by doing drugs.
I never did drugs. I never tried them or want too. So this book enlightened me alot: I saw. every drug user as like a animal willing to destroy themselves and basically take some filth into their body. No sympathy.
Turns out not everyone doing drugs is bad, or its their fault. Maybe it is as they decided to take them, but they dont just decide 'hey, Ill stop heroin' and just do it: no issue or drawbacks.Nothing. Wouldnt the streets be empty of junkies if it worked that way?
I feel like my respect and sympathy torwards these individuals has grown. Maybe not completely but grown.
Also I guess its not as easy as banning drugs and problem solved :P naive from me to think that considering thats the case yet the black market is thriving.
Importantly - and this should be taken into consideration by people wanting to read this - the author does use some sarcasm and makes jokes. No religious jokes but some political ones, which might upset someone. Also some topics might upset some such as about satanic worship being part of the drug scene. Because come on - while its 2020 and we are supposed to be accepting and all, deep down do we really just accept satan worshippers and think thats normal? I certainly dont and dont want to change. Thats just mentally out of your mind but everyone to themselves.
Secondly, the author is a bit biased. Throughout the book it can be seen that Niko tries his best to be neutral in whether drugs are bad or not, but coming from drugs, having done them and sold them, sometimes he wants to edge to the 'well..you know cannabis' argument that deep down we are all sick of hearing.
All in all, I would still recommend this book as it got valuable information and insight of someone that was in the drug business themselves to speak about it and what it is doing to the community. If one dosent blindly follow the authors opinion (thats why its a opinion), this is a very good book to open ones mind to drugs and what you always wanted to know about them (just like a FAQ)
This book speaks about the authors personal experience regarding drugs (he was a drug dealer, so one can be sure he know what he is talking about and not the 40 year old who read one article on something called MDMA and says he knows drugs). He also speaks of the war of drugs such as governments trying to fight it, society torwards drugs and also the most important of all, the various mafia and dealer which can turn countries upside down ruthlessly murdering and decapitating and raping thousands to bring the typical drug user their crack. Keep that in mind whenever doing drugs, where they come from! So many people know how that mafia can do 'controversial' stuff yet indirectly support these actions by doing drugs.
I never did drugs. I never tried them or want too. So this book enlightened me alot: I saw. every drug user as like a animal willing to destroy themselves and basically take some filth into their body. No sympathy.
Turns out not everyone doing drugs is bad, or its their fault. Maybe it is as they decided to take them, but they dont just decide 'hey, Ill stop heroin' and just do it: no issue or drawbacks.Nothing. Wouldnt the streets be empty of junkies if it worked that way?
I feel like my respect and sympathy torwards these individuals has grown. Maybe not completely but grown.
Also I guess its not as easy as banning drugs and problem solved :P naive from me to think that considering thats the case yet the black market is thriving.
Importantly - and this should be taken into consideration by people wanting to read this - the author does use some sarcasm and makes jokes. No religious jokes but some political ones, which might upset someone. Also some topics might upset some such as about satanic worship being part of the drug scene. Because come on - while its 2020 and we are supposed to be accepting and all, deep down do we really just accept satan worshippers and think thats normal? I certainly dont and dont want to change. Thats just mentally out of your mind but everyone to themselves.
Secondly, the author is a bit biased. Throughout the book it can be seen that Niko tries his best to be neutral in whether drugs are bad or not, but coming from drugs, having done them and sold them, sometimes he wants to edge to the 'well..you know cannabis' argument that deep down we are all sick of hearing.
All in all, I would still recommend this book as it got valuable information and insight of someone that was in the drug business themselves to speak about it and what it is doing to the community. If one dosent blindly follow the authors opinion (thats why its a opinion), this is a very good book to open ones mind to drugs and what you always wanted to know about them (just like a FAQ)
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