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
In his papers, Harry Anslinger frequently ranted about his enemies, like Edward and Henry Williams. In his research, Hari discovers that these men were some of the drug war’s first opponents. Henry Williams was a stern Los Angeles doctor who, like Anslinger, hated addicts and thought their lives had no value. But Williams claimed to discover shocking evidence that Anslinger wasn’t pursuing the Mafia, but rather working for them—he was helping them corner the market for drugs by making them illegal.
It's easy to assume that doctors and researchers have only begun opposing the drug war in recent decades, as new evidence about drugs and prohibition has gradually shaped a new scientific consensus. But this assumption is wrong: the Williams brothers prove that there has always been serious medical opposition to the drug war. Thus, the drug war did not spread because nobody knew better—rather, it spread because officials like Anslinger expressly chose to ignore the scientific evidence that disagreed with them. While unproven, Williams’s accusation reveals an important truth about drug prohibition: it hands the market over to criminal gangs like the Mafia.
Themes
In 1931, a heroin addict undergoing withdrawal visited Henry Williams’s brother Edward, a doctor who specialized in opiate addition. Edward Williams wrote the man a prescription for heroin—which was common practice, as pure opiates taken under medical supervision aren’t harmful to the body. But the addict was actually an undercover agent working for Anslinger. The police arrested Edward Williams—but his brother decided to fight back.
Edward Williams’s practice shows that not only did some doctors oppose the war on drugs, but there was actually a medical consensus about the safety of heroin before the government banned it. Thus, Anslinger arrested Williams for doing what was standard medical practice at the time.
Themes
Henry Williams knew that before opiates like heroin were illegal, patients frequently bought them from pharmacies and used them without issue. Opiate users faced no stigma, and of the small minority who became addicted, most kept steady jobs. But the Harrison Act and Anslinger changed this. Addicts were still desperate to get drugs, which were now part of an illegal market—and far more expensive than before. Criminal gangs like the Mafia took over this market, while addicts took to crime to pay for the overpriced drugs. As drug crime grew, Anslinger’s department got more funding and recognition.
Williams’s specific insight was that drugs are safe in and of themselves, but drug prohibition makes them harmful. This idea, which will recur throughout the rest of Hari’s book, has been a clear scientific consensus since before the war on drugs even started. For people in the early 20th century, it was plain to see; but for people living today, who have never known a time before the war on drugs, it can be very difficult to separate drugs’ effects from prohibition’s. Meanwhile, Anslinger’s perverse incentives came back into play: he wanted more drug crime and violence, because these phenomena made his job more important, so he pushed the policies that would increase them.
Themes
The Harrison Act exempted doctors and prescriptions from the ban on heroin and cocaine, so Edward Williams started a clinic to help as many addicts as possible. It worked: the treatment helped them get steady jobs and give up crime. The city government celebrated Williams’s success—but Harry Anslinger was furious at him. The Federal Bureau of Narcotics started shutting down addiction clinics around the U.S. Many of Edward Williams’s former patients lost their jobs, returned to crime, and died on the streets. Around 20,000 doctors were convicted for breaking the Harrison Act, and Anslinger was dead set on making Edward Williams one of them.
Yet again, Anslinger managed to crush knowledge and justice with power: he circumvented the law and unnecessarily ruined thousands of lives, and nobody could stop him. Arguably, he inflicted far more senseless violence on addicts than drugs themselves did. Thus, his actions raise the question of when good intentions are no longer a justifiable defense for doing harm. Even though he believed that he was doing the right thing, he had clear, substantial evidence that he was doing just the opposite—but he chose to ignore this evidence instead of taking it seriously.
Themes
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Henry Williams visited Anslinger in Washington to plead his brother’s case. Anslinger lied to Williams, saying that the case was a mistake, but then aggressively prosecuted it anyway. The jury convicted Edward Williams, and doctors across the U.S. stopped prescribing narcotics. This caused an outcry. Anslinger’s agents started quitting in protest; one doctor even tried to assassinate Anslinger.
Anslinger’s disingenuous response to Henry Williams shows that he didn’t care whether what he was doing was right, or whether Edward Williams was truly guilty of violating the law. Instead, like with Billie Holiday, he wanted to expand his own power by turning Edward Williams into a tool and a symbol. The backlash to Williams’s conviction shows that many people at the time, including people in Anslinger’s Bureau, knew the truth about drugs. But it also shows that since Anslinger didn’t take these people seriously, they had little power to stop his drug war.
Themes
In 1938, Henry Williams published a book suggesting that the Bureau was shutting down addiction clinics in exchange for huge bribes from criminal drug gangs. But while the Bureau’s California chief was convicted of doing this, there is no evidence that Anslinger ever did. Hari argues that Anslinger was motivated by fear and panic, not financial self-interest. Henry and Edward Williams ultimately died in obscurity and have been largely forgotten today.
Henry Williams’s accusations are understandable in context, because Anslinger’s policies didn’t make logical sense: while he claimed to want to fight addiction, he was making it worse and fueling organized crime. But Williams made a crucial error that Hari sees recur throughout the history of the drug war: he wrongly assumed that Anslinger was acting rationally. In reality, Anslinger’s drug policies stemmed from personal experiences and biases—which he then imposed on everyone else.
Themes
