all encompassing view of thr Global drug pandemic

This book was so eye-opening for me. I have heard about Fentanyl and I knew that it was addictive, but I had no idea how potent it was. My sister is a nurse in an ER and gets addicted patients all the time; this book explained what a slippery slope it is to addiction with Fentanyl.
The author’s transition in the different aspects of the drug epidemic were all encompassing. He goes into the difficulties of controlling these substances and the nuances of the designer drugs (Novel psychoactive substances, or NPS) coming from China. He delves into the legislature and the history of drugs leading up to the situation where we find ourselves today. The politics of drugs astounds me. In China, for example, it’s highly illegal to use these drugs, but the government turns a blind eye to the companies tweaking these substances because the exports are mostly going to the US and because the nation is making so much money off of it.

His point of view is very factual and he balances on the razor’s edge with no judgment within the discussion of how to deal with the issue and how to take care of drug users by providing them “safe” drugs (such as traditional substances like LSD, rather than synthetic chemicals) if they choose to use them rather than forbidding everything and thus forcing users into this dangerous world of new substances which could have cataclysmic effects. I appreciate the scientific viewpoint of drugs and their effects. He explains how almost everything is now laced with fentanyl, and how customers are now getting drugs which are falsely labeled without knowing what exactly they are taking. I found it mind blowing that if you were to walk into an abandoned fentanyl factory, then you would likely die of an overdose within minutes. Another highly interesting fact for me was that many heroin users are drawn to fentanyl when overdoses happen because it means the high must have been better. This is extremely counter-intuitive since the customers are likely to die, but the dealers then appeal to more users.
Aside from the history of drugs and today’s market, I admired the author detailing how to get drugs checked and the companies offering these services. The author also explores how other countries tackle the issue by using supervised injection sites or, in the case of New Zealand, highly restrictive legal outlets. Unfortunately, the US often does not allow independent drug testing organizations at music festivals because they don’t want to admit that drugs are being consumed. Other countries go as far as offering prescription grade heroin or therapies such as methadone to users who have failed all other treatment options. This has proven to cut down on overdoses and crime throughout those countries.
I highly recommend this book to everyone to better understand the difficulties drug user face and to get a more well rounded view of what the world looks like as these synthetic substances threaten to topple entire economies.

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