Just Dope: A Leading Attorney's Personal Journey Inside the War on Drugs

For readers of Dopesick and Drug Use for Grown-Ups--a celebrated cannabis attorney's insider look at the War on Drugs and what comes next for the drug legalization movement.

Spoiler: everyone uses drugs. Whether you’re popping an aspirin for a headache, pushing through the day with an extra jolt of caffeine, unwinding with a perfectly rolled joint, or availing yourself of harder substances, chances are--at some point in your life--you’ve consumed mind-altering substances.

Getting high is something most of us do, and in many cases do safely--yet drugs remain a singular public enemy. The number of Americans arrested for drug possession has tripled since 1980. A whole fifth of the incarcerated population is in on drug charges. The War on Drugs--systematically designed to disenfranchise Black communities and leftist political activists--continues to wreak havoc to this day. The ugly truth is that drug prohibition doesn’t stop drug use. It only makes it more harmful.

Allison Margolin, an LA-based criminal defense attorney, is one of the nation’s leading experts in cannabis licensing and law. Integrating pop culture and personal stories into social analysis, she puts drug criminalization on trial to advocate for an evidence-based, commonsense approach to drug use and legalization. From a fresh policy and social commentary perspective, Margolin explores:
  •  The history of drug prohibition in the United States--when it started, how it evolved, and where it stands now
  •  The problem with campaigns like “This Is Your Brain on Drugs”
  •  How our current drug policy is rooted more in racism, bias, and pharma money than science or psychology
  •  The false dichotomy between “good” and “bad” drugs
  •  The grifting and exploitation of the Rehab Industrial Complex
  •  What real drug education can (and should) look like

For readers of Dopesick and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Just Dope is part memoir, part whip-smart policy critique, part social drug history of LA, and a vital call to knowledge and action.