In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

by Gabor Maté

In Washington State the King County Bar Association has acknowledged the devastation caused by prevailing drug policies. In 2001 it adopted a comprehensive statement asserting that the War on Drugs is “fundamentally flawed and is associated with numerous negative societal consequences.” Their summary of the War’s disastrous effects reflects the consensus view of virtually all those, in North America and elsewhere, who have studied the question without ideological blinkers: the failure to reduce problematic drug use, particularly among children; dramatic increases in crime related to prohibited drugs, including economic crimes related to addiction and the fostering of efficient and violent criminal enterprises that have occupied the unregulated and immensely profitable commercial market made possible by drug prohibition; skyrocketing public costs arising from both increased drug abuse and increased crime; erosion of public health from the spread of disease, from the concealment and inadequate treatment of addiction and from undue restrictions on proper medical treatment of pain; the abridgement of civil rights through summary forfeitures of property, invasions of privacy and violations of due process; disproportionately adverse effects of drug law enforcement on the poor and persons of color; and the clogging of the courts and compromises in the effective administration of justice, as well as a loss of respect for the law.

“Effective Drug Control: A New Legal Framework for State Regulation and Control of Psychoactive Substances as a Workable Alternative to the “War on Drugs”; https://www.kcba.org/kcba/druglaw/pdf/EffectiveDrugControl.pdf. Maté, Gabor. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (p. 444). Ebury Publishing. Kindle Edition.