Hey Pogue,

I read a lot of fiction especially when I get into a series. I also read a lot of nonfiction across a wide range of subjects. So I’m going to leave you with some quotes from a book I massively enjoyed and found, opened my understanding. The book is Chasing The Scream: The First And The Last Days Of The War On Drugs by Johann Hari.

There is a stronger link between childhood trauma and addiction than there is between obesity and diabetes. Two thirds of addicts report being abused as children. That means that the war on drugs is a war on traumatised people that just need help.

The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety. It’s connection. It’s all I can offer. It’s all that will help in the end. If you are alone you cannot escape addiction. If you are loved you have a chance. For a hundred years we have been singing war songs about addicts. All along, we should have been singing love songs to them.

…the core of addiction doesn’t lie in what you swallow or inject – its in the pain in your head. Yet we have built a system that thinks we will stop addicts by increasing their pain.

Don’t be put off by the subject matter. Approach it with an open mind. If you read it I promise it will make you think and review what you understand about drug use. It also speaks more widely about how we approach life. Give it a try Pogue.

Wic