One Nation Under the Influence: America's Drug Habit and How We Can Overcome It

Summary

We are in the midst of the worst drug crisis in American history. What are we going to do about it?

Around 100,000 Americans died of a drug overdose last year—nearly double the number who died in Vietnam. More than 1,000,000 have perished since 2000, thanks largely to an explosion of fentanyl and other addictive opioids. But fentanyl, abundant methamphetamine, and other lethal drugs are not the only things that are killing us: our policy is. So far, America has lacked the will to do better. That must change, and this book tells us how.

No one is immune, which is why Kevin Sabet has authored this remarkable book. Sabet, dubbed the "the quarterback of the new anti-drug movement" by Salon, has spent most of his life battling the destructive effects of drugs. In One Nation Under the Influence, he asks hard questions and provides clear answers, taking listeners from the streets of San Francisco and New York to the southern border, up to Canada, and across to Europe to show how we can chart a necessary way forward. The solutions are out there, if only we have the will to apply them.