Customer Reviews

This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whether you've thought long and hard about the "War on Drugs" or never seen an episode of The Wire, this book will open your eyes and give you a fresh perspective. The research and historical bits alone are worth the price of admission (who knew coke was big in the 1890s or NAFTA allowed Mexican Meth to flow freely across the border?). What really sets this book apart, however, is the author's humor and willingness to include personal anecdotes in his story telling. Highly recommended.

Ryan Grim started with a simple question: "Where did all the acid go?" and expanded it to examine our country's obsession with drugs. The research is extensive, and it is woven together with interesting prose that is both thought-provoking and, perhaps unfortunately, extremely funny. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read both for serious drug policy students and laypeople who are just interested in the history of our unofficial national pastime. Highly recommended.

This is an important, sweeping history and condemnation of the War on Drugs, full of real-world anecdotes and statistics to back up the premise that every time the government or prohibition movements manage to crack down on one substance, Americans shift to using another, making "progress" in prohibition impossible. The chapters on the hypocrisy of U.S. global policy vis-à-vis U.S. drug policy to be especially thought provoking--(e.g., evidence the CIA aided and abetted opium/heroin traffickers in Laos in the 60s-70s, aided and abetted cocaine traffickers in Latin America in the 80s by working with the Contras, and the U.S. military turning an intentional blind eye to opium use and trafficking in Afghanistan today--even though the narcotics trade funds the Taliban). As entertaining as it was informative, I found myself laughing out loud page after page.

My one fairly significant complaint is Mr. Grim's laissez-faire approach to source attribution. Although this book is brim-full of statistics, there are no footnotes, endnotes, or even a bibliography. The 250-page book is followed by a 3-page "Notes" section that provides references to major sources in only glancing detail, but without anything approaching the specificity a reader would need to go look up the source on one's own. I suspect this stems from Grim's background as a journalist: no one wants their newspaper all cluttered up with footnotes and parentheticals, of course. However, a serious academic endeavor such as a full-length book requires far more detailed source attribution. In the "Notes" section and at several points in the text, Grim writes that he will post links to sources--particularly the numerous studies from which he gleans his many statistics--on his website, [..], but as of this posting, he has not done so. My own experience and world view make me predisposed to agree with most of Grim's theories, but the lack of attribution leaves me skeptical: I fear that those who support the country's current drug policies will point to the lack of citation (as well as Grim's unapologetic narratives of his own drug experiences) to undercut the legitimacy of his argument, and that would be a shame.

Having been a student of drug policy and having read tons of primary sources and reaction analysis, this was a good and refreshing read. Not only did it provide good analysis of research and material, but it was fun and really entertaining. The author's personal perspective and anecdotes pave the way for a meaty but well thought out and readable argument. If you know little about drug policy, this book is totally accessible, and if you're a wonk already, it'll make you see things you know in a different way. I definitely recommend checking it out!

This book should be required reading for everyone in America.
The "war on drugs" is one of the most frustrating, fallacious, feckless and foolish money-sucking endeavors that our country has ever contrived, and this book will tell you why. Not only have government-funded enterprises like DARE, enforced drug-testing, and all those ridiculous fear-mongering public service announcements been repeatedly proven completely ineffective (by multiple third-party objective studies that the government has tried to suppress), but they continue to propagate, and waste millions of precious taxpayer dollars every year. Not only has marijuana been proven to significantly help the terminally ill (and do little to no damage to the healthy), but its legalization (and subsequent sales taxes) could provide millions of dollars for the government each year. And this is just looking at the situation from an economic perspective.
This is a book for those who wish to know the truth, no matter what your political or personal views are. It's a book that lays out the facts, clear and simple, objective and informative, and fully aware of the situation at hand. Grim is obviously writing from a liberal standpoint, but one realizes right away that he values the truth above all else, and he never fails to provide a plethora of data and citations to back up his facts.
Grim's thesis is obvious yet astute-- "In reality, there's no such things as drug policy. As currently understood and implemented, drug policy attempts to isolate a phenomenon that can't be taken in isolation. Economic policy is drug policy. Healthcare policy is drug policy. Foreign policy, too, is drug policy. When approached in isolation, drug policy almost always backfires, because it doesn't take into account the powerful economic, social, and cultural forces that also determine how and why Americans get high." While the US government doesn't seem to understand this, you should, so read this book now!

I posted this review earlier, and for some reason it came off the amazon page, so here it goes again... Having been a student of drug policy and having read tons of primary sources and reaction analysis, this was an enlightening and refreshing read. Not only did it provide good analysis of research and material, but it was fun and pretty hilarious. The author's personal perspective and anecdotes pave the way for a meaty but well thought out and readable argument. If you know little about drug policy, this book is totally accessible, and if you're a wonk already, it'll make you see things you know in a different way.

Not being especially tuned in to, or turned on by, legal or non-legal drugs, I thought I'd be reading an uninteresting book by a usually insightful writer. Was I wrong! Ryan does provide facts and figures, but he follows with fascinating intersections and explanations for the failures and missteps of government efforts to eradicate drug usage.

Ryan Grim's THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY ON DRUGS: THE SECRET HISTORY OF GETTING HIGH IN AMERICA comes from a journalist who challenges everything you knew about America's drug culture and how it evolved. From government rules, standards and responses to drugs to social movements and links between drugs and the modern mass media's evolution, THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY ON DRUGS is a key blend of history and social issues essential for any library, from high school and college-level collections to general lending libraries.

Simply stated- this book needed to be written. Our country's relationship with drugs has been very complicated. By analyzing and reporting the facts, Grim has exposed the follies of our government's failed attempts at rational drug laws. If we as a nation, including parents, schools, law enforcement and politicians would approach the use of all drugs with honesty and factual information, we would not be seeing the many intended and unintended negative side effects of our laws. Grim has taken a brave approach in acknowledging his own experimentation with illegal drugs, which may alienate the reader who has preconceived fears of drugs.

This is an eye-opening book about the history of drug use in America and how our attitude toward drugs has evolved over the past 200+ years. Fascinating.