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Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction\xa0(Hachette Go, 2021)\xa0tells a long-running, but largely unknown, story of how a few people and groups \u2013 propelled at first by the AIDS pandemic -- swam against one of the most powerful policy tides in America \u2013 our nation\u2019s 50-year war on drugs. Maia Szalavitz\u2019s book is a personal and political history of the idea of harm reduction, which is a philosophy, a set of health practices, and a call to action. Harm reduction is a powerful alternative to virtually all of the \u201cconventional wisdom\u201d about drugs and drug policy. Harm reduction starts by asserting that the health and safety of drug users, their families, and their communities should be the top priority of drug policy.\xa0Undoing Drugs\xa0is a global story, with stops in Liverpool, Amsterdam, the San Francisco Bay Area, Vancouver, Glasgow, and New York. By giving life to the saying that \u201cthe personal is political,\u201d Szalavitz shows how America might still turn away from the massive failures of the drug war to embrace an approach that seeks to put people first.\nSteve Beitler\u2019s work in the history of medicine focuses on how pain has been understood, treated, experienced, and represented. Recently published articles examined the history of opiates in American football and surveyed the history of therapeutic drugs. He can be reached at noelandsteve@gmail.com.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law