The war on drugs makes it almost impossible for drug users to get milder forms of their drug—and it pushes them inexorably toward harder drugs. After absorbing all this, I realize we have been told a story about the prescription drug crisis that doesn’t graft onto reality. It has been presented to us through the old drug war story—the chemical is to blame, and if only we could eradicate the chemical, we could eradicate the problem. It is a tempting story, because it is so simple—and allows us to avert our eyes from how much of this problem was created not by pills, but by people.
