When our home sold quickly, we were caught off guard and rented a lovely, well-appointed apartment while we started looking for a new house. Living in an apartment has never been my thing, since I move too fast, forget things, and then must spend an extra torturous five minutes in the elevator or the multilevel parking garage. The real downside of living in an apartment in Denver is smelling pot at nine in the morning. My husband mistook my complaints for being judgmental. He reminded me that cannabis is often used for medical reasons. What hurt my heart was why so many people needed to be medicated or zoned out. How did this become a social norm?
Addiction to drugs, alcohol, and other substances is one of the most pressing public health concerns. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, over 20 million Americans suffer from a substance use disorder. Every day, families are torn apart, lives are lost, and communities are left reeling. Despite decades of the “War on Drugs” and billions spent on enforcement and treatment, the challenge persists.
British journalist, Johan Hari, offers a compelling answer in his groundbreaking book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. Through extensive research and storytelling, Hari challenges traditional views on addiction and argues that the root cause is not the substance itself, but the lack of human connection and trauma.
Consider the story of Patricia, a single mother of two from Denver, who started using prescription opioids after a car accident. Her use gradually increased without much notice. “I was still going to work, making dinner, being a mom,” she recalls. But as her dependency worsened, her life fell apart. She lost custody of her children, went through multiple treatment centers, and became homeless at 35. “I wasn’t looking to get high,” she says. “I just wanted to end the pain, loneliness, and feel okay.” Patricia’s experience is not unique. People often turn to substances not just for pleasure, but to cope with emotional pain, trauma, or isolation.
In Chasing the Scream, Hari traveled the world to explore how different societies handle addiction. He shares the story of Rat Park, a well-known experiment where rats in a stimulating and social environment chose not to drink drug-laced water, while those kept in isolation overdosed. The main message? When people feel connected and fulfilled, they are much less likely to become addicted.
Hari’s work carries significant implications: if isolation leads to addiction, then connection must be the solution. As the U.S. confronts rising overdose deaths fueled by fentanyl, along with increasing isolation, loneliness, and despair, Hari’s message is more critical than ever. He said, “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.”
Because apartment living was unbearable for me, we made the best of a bad situation and traveled for over two years before finding a new home. My thoughts about the residents in the apartments still haunt me. We must keep searching for ways to address pain, suffering, loneliness, and isolation. It is neither natural, healthy, nor fun to live in an altered state numbed by pot or any substance at nine in the morning. Let’s commit to connecting with our fellow humans. We just might be able to solve the addiction challenge. joneen@narme.org