Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Chasing the Scream, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Drug Legalization and U.S. Policy
Addiction and Human Connection
Prohibition and the Cycle of Violence
Stories and Human Psychology
Summary
Analysis
During his research, Hari often asks himself what the drug war’s true purpose is. Officially, according to the UN and the U.S. government, it’s to eliminate all drug use, everywhere in the world. Hari’s perspective on this idea transforms when he meets the scientist Ronald K. Siegel, who tells him a story: a mongoose sees its mate die during a storm, then eats hallucinogenic plants to cope. In fact, Siegel’s research has shown that all kinds of animals, from grasshoppers and bees to cows and monkeys, intentionally eat psychoactive plants. A herd of Indian elephants broke into a moonshine warehouse and went on a drunk rampage, for instance, and traumatized water buffalo started eating opium plants during the Vietnam War.
So far, Hari has focused on the drug war, but in the rest of the book, he begins to look at alternatives to it. First, he investigates the science about drug use and addiction, and then he examines policy solutions that can succeed where the drug war has failed. In addition to providing a more lighthearted contrast to the devastating story of Marisela Escobedo from the last chapter, Ronald K. Siegel’s research on animals suggests that drug use is far more natural than modern humans might assume. The key finding in Siegel’s research isn’t merely that animals use drugs, but rather that they specifically use them to cope with pain. This implies that humans may use them for the same purpose—and Hari will make and defend this point in the chapters that follow.
Themes
The UN’s drug-free world pledge seems outlandish to Hari because the UN’s own statistics show that 90 percent of people who use drugs aren’t harmed by them. But the 10 percent who are harmed are generally the most visible: they “make up 100 percent of the official picture.” And governments intentionally reinforce this picture—for instance, when a WHO study found that the vast majority of cocaine users don’t become addicted, the U.S. government threatened the WHO with funding cuts, forcing it to suppress the evidence.
The UN’s stated goals are totally disconnected from the reality of the drug war and the established scientific evidence about drugs. While Hari acknowledges that it’s easy to overestimate the proportion of drug use that is harmful, the UN clearly knows that most drug use isn’t harmful. Thus, the UN should also recognize that it makes little sense to eliminate most drug use (not to mention eradicating all drugs). Hari suggests that the drug-free world pledge’s real purpose is instead to make peace with the U.S. government, which continues to push Anslinger’s antiquated stance on drugs. In other words, the U.S. is still pressuring the rest of the world into ignoring the scientific evidence and criminalizing drugs.
Themes
Hari notes that there are two different arguments for drug reform: an easy one and a hard one. The easy argument is that drugs are always harmful, but drug prohibition simply makes the problem far worse. But this argument is only partly true. The harder but more accurate argument is that most drug use is harmless, responsible, and positive, but a small minority is terribly harmful. This is the point of Professor Siegel’s research: like other animals, humans naturally seek out consciousness-altering substances. Drug use is ubiquitous across history, in all human societies. Siegel calls it “biologically inevitable”—just like the natural drives for food, drink, and sex.
While the hard argument against drug prohibition actually matches up with the scientific evidence about drugs, the easy argument is politically useful because it reaches the same conclusion without challenging the common misconception that all drug use is harmful. Hari clearly understands why people who believe in the hard argument might choose to win political support through the easy one. However, as a journalist, he’s committed to telling the truth, so he fully explains the hard argument and the scientific evidence that justifies it. Specifically, most drug use isn’t harmful because taking intoxicants is a universal human and animal behavior. However, a select few humans use intoxicants to avoid their everyday reality, and this behavior can cause serious problems.
Themes
Hari describes a 10-day festival in ancient Greece, where revelers took drugs and saw incredible hallucinations. Held annually for 2,000 years, the festival was highly secretive and run by government officials. Greeks viewed the drug, a fungus chemically similar to LSD, as a way to connect with the gods. In fact, this drug use was foundational to Western art, philosophy, literature, and science. The festival didn’t end until the rise of Christianity, which insisted that the Church should offer people’s only experience of ecstasy and connection to God.
Hari describes this ancient Greek drug festival because, in addition to backing up Siegel's conclusion that drug use is natural (or “biologically inevitable”), it also counters many common assumptions about drug use. For instance, it shows that drugs aren’t an exclusively modern phenomenon. The festival also proves that drug use is compatible with great artistic insight and scientific achievement. And it demonstrates that, far from causing madness and unrest, widespread drug use can actually offer great benefits to society. In a nutshell, this festival shows that drug use can mean all sorts of things in all sorts of different settings—but this heavily depends on how any given society treats it.
Themes
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Hari concludes that Harry Anslinger was part of a long tradition of repressing intoxication, which extends back to the beginning of recorded human history. Just as Victorians struggled to acknowledge that everyone has sexual fantasies, modern people are horrified to admit that everyone seeks out intoxication. Indeed, Professor Siegel argues that drug use is really an extension of humans’ own brain chemistry. After all, the brain naturally produces endorphins (which resemble morphine), and pleasure is really just a similar chemical release.
Siegel’s analysis helps Hari reframe drug use for his readers. Most modern people see drugs from the drug war’s perspective, as inherently dangerous and transgressive. But Hari wants his readers to learn to think of drugs as just one of the many natural tools that humans have always used to explore the world, enjoy themselves, and come together with others. What’s more, understanding how the non-addicted majority benefits from drug use can help readers clearly understand why drugs are so harmful to the addicted minority.
Themes
