Drug Addicts Are Human Beings: The Story of Our Billion-Dollar Drug Racket, How We Created It and How We Can Wipe It Out

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From Salon.com: The book that helped Johann Hari was one he stumbled upon in the stacks of the Senate library in Washington, D.C. “I found a book that almost vanished as far as I could tell called Drug Addicts are Human Beings," said Hari. He pulled this book out from oblivion on his quest to understand the War on Drugs, which is over 100 years old. The book was written by a doctor, Henry Smith Williams. Published in 1938, this was a book that told the future. “Drug Addicts are Human Beings is an eerie book because you read it and you see that there was a man who saw everything that was coming down the line. He saw exactly what the drug war would mean. He saw it exactly, how many people it would kill. He saw that there was an alternative that would save their lives,” says Hari. “These were insights that were widely known and that were systematically destroyed and dismantled.” And they were systematically destroyed and dismantled primarily by one man: Harry Anslinger. “I think if you want to understand why the drug war started, and why it continues today, it's really important to understand this man: Harry Anslinger," says Hari. "I think [he's] the most influential person who hardly anyone's ever heard of.” In the 1930s, these two men — Dr. Henry Smith Williams and bureaucrat Harry Anslinger — were at odds with one another about how to deal with the problem of addiction. “One of things that was so shocking, looking at the early history of the drug war, was to realize, oh, this was massively contested,” says Hari. “This did not just slide into history. There was a huge fight about whether this thing was ever going to happen, and it could have gone the other way.” Henry Smith Williams (1863-1943) was a medical doctor, lawyer, and author of a number of books on medicine, history, and science. COVER TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT THE AUTHOR PROLOGUE CONTENTS CARTOONS CONGRESSIONAL STATEMENT OF THE NARCOTICS PROBLEM INTRODUCTION: PUBLIC ENEMIES IN HIGH PLACES BOOK I: CRUEL, BUT NOT UNUSUAL 1. THE. AMERICAN INQUISITION 2. AMBULATORY ADDICTS 3. CODE VERSUS CLINIC 4. ROLL OF HONOR 5. HYPOCRISY OF THE CODE 6. "MEDICAL MARTYRS" 7. JUST A LETTER 8. CAN YOU BELIEVE? BOOK II: EXECUTION BY CODE 9. A FEW TYPICAL CASES 10. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? 11. THE MURDER OF GEORGE CHRISTENSEN 12. EXECUTION BY CODE 13. A GAME OF BLUFF 14. ADDICTS ARE HUMAN BEINGS, NOT CRIMINALS BOOK III: THE BLACKMAIL CODE AND THE DOCTORS 15. 20,000 INNOCENT PHYSICIANS BRANDED AS FELONS 16. EVOLUTION OF THE BLACKMAIL CODE 17. PHYSICIAN VERSUS DOPE PEDDLER 18. THE BLACKMAIL FORMULA 19. A TERRORIZED PROFESSION 20. LEGAL PRESCRIPTIONS BY THE MILLION 21. A WORD ABOUT STOOL PIGEONS 22. THE PHYSICIAN AS SCAPEGOAT 23. IGNORANCE AND FANATICISM 24. A KINDERGARTEN EXERCISE INTERLUDE-IPSO FACTO RACKETEERS BOOK IV: IPSO FACTO RACKETEERS IN ACTION 25. OFFICIAL INTERPRETATIONS 26. TRICKS OF THE TRADE 27. MANHANDLING THE LAW 28. THE POWER OF A FIXED IDEA 29. HOBSON'S CHOICE 30. CONTEMPT OF SUPREME COURT 31. THE SOLICITOR GENERAL DOES HIS BIT 32. MARIJUANA-NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR RACKETEERS BOOK V: FROM STAR CHAMBER TO COURT OF JUSTICE 33. STAR CHAMBER 34. DUBIOUS ETHICS 35. THREE RECENT EPISODES 36. ONE JUDGE READS THE LAW 37. HALL OF JUSTICE 38. JUDGE YANKWICH INTERPRETS THE LAW 39. THE REASON WHY 40. SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS APPENDIX H.J. RES. 642, A BILL, TO PROVIDE FOR A SURVEY OF NARCOTIC DRUG CONDITIONS IN THE UNITED STATES