A Quote by Chris Hedges

The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.

Chris Hedges

Quote Topics

Addiction Battle Drug Lethal Often Potent Rush War

Quote Author

Chris Hedges
American - Journalist

I learned early on that war forms its own culture. The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug, one I ingested for many years. It is peddled by mythmakers- historians, war correspondents, filmmakers, novelists, and the state- all of whom endow it with qualities it often does possess: excitement, exoticism, power, chances to rise above our small stations in life, and a bizarre and fantastic universe that has a grotesque and dark beauty.

Chris Hedges

The drug war has been a war where the direct casualties have primarily been America's poor; America's minorities; and often, unfortunately, America's vulnerable, in terms of people with disease and addiction and mental health.

Cory Booker

The opposite of addiction is human connection. And I think that has massive implications for the war on drugs. The treatment of drug addicts almost everywhere in the world is much closer to Tent City than it is to anything in Portugal. Our laws are built around the belief that drug addicts need to be punished to stop them. But if pain and trauma and isolation cause addiction, then inflicting more pain and trauma and isolation is not going to solve that addiction. It's actually going to deepen it.

Johann Hari

[T]he truth is that drug addicts have a disease. It only takes a short time in the streets to realize that out-of-control addiction is a medical problem, not a form of recreational or criminal behavior. And the more society treats drug addiction as a crime, the more money drug dealers will make "relieving" the suffering of the addicts.

Jay-Z

The Drug War is an addiction, really.

Bill Maher

I feel very blessed that at a young age I was able to navigate my battle with drug and alcohol addiction, and through recovery live a sober life. There is such a stigma attached to addiction and it was hard for me to both confront and overcome it. I am very proud and grateful that with the support of family and friends, I was able to do so.

Cara Santana

The bigger picture is that over the last 30 years, we have spent $1 trillion waging a drug war that has failed in any meaningful way to reduce drug addiction or abuse, and yet has siphoned an enormous amount of resources away from other public services, especially education.

Michelle Alexander

A potent poison becomes the best drug on proper administration. On the contrary, even the best drug becomes a potent poison if used badly

Charaka

Another California study counted 30,000 substance abusers who are pregnant are White woman. So, The Wire paints the picture of drug addiction, drug dealing, and drug abuse as being a specifically a Black issue.

Ishmael Reed

The socio-economic impact of gambling addiction is comparable to drug and alcohol addiction

John Warren Kindt

There is a safe, nontoxic drug called naloxone that can instantly reverse opioid overdose and prevent most of these deaths. But the drug war interferes with saving overdose victims in two ways: first, because witnesses to overdose fear prosecution, they often don't call for help until it's too late. Second, because the drug war supports the belief that making naloxone available over-the-counter or with opioid prescriptions would encourage drug use, the antidote is available only through harm reduction programs like needle exchanges or in some state programs aimed at drug users.

Maia Szalavitz

So often we have this image of what drug addiction looks like, and it's not fun. Our loved ones who go down that path are in pain.

David Sheff

Drugs are merely the most obvious form of addiction in our society. Drug addiction is one of the things that undermines traditional values.

Christopher Lasch

Western governments ... will lose the war against dealers unless efforts are switched to prevention and therapy... All penalties for drug users should be dropped ... Making drug abuse a crime is useless and even dangerous ... Every year we seize more and more drugs and arrest more and more dealers but at the same time the quantity available in our countries still increases... Police are losing the drug battle worldwide.

Raymond Kendall

On average, drug prisoners spend more time in federal prison than rapists, who often get out on early release because of the overcrowding in prison caused by the Drug War.