Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts and Pushers

In this polemical response to the controversy about drug use and drug criminalization, Thomas Szasz suggests that governments have overstepped their bounds in labelling and prohibiting certain drugs as dangerous substances and incarcerating addicts in order to cure them. Szasz asserts that such policies scapegoat illegal drugs and the persons who use and sell them, and discourage the breaking of drug habits by pathologizing drug use as addiction. Readers will find in Szasz's arguments a cogent and committed response to a worldwide debate.