“THANK YOU!” message=”I am deeply honored and humbled to have been awarded the prestigious PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. I recognize that High Price outlines many uncomfortable ideas and facts about topics we’d rather avoid such as race, poverty, and drugs. So, I am particularly grateful to the award selection committee, to everyone who has read High Price, to those who have interviewed me about High Price, and to the many people who have sent me their personal stories or letters of support.
When I had the idea to write High Price, I was told that the public had little interest in a “drug book” with facts and data. Of course, I knew differently. You are the reason I do what I do. So, receiving this award is truly an honor and I look forward to continuing to serve the public with sound empirical information, rather than with the hype and hysteria that too frequently parades as the official position.
High Price is my public education effort to combat drug myths, bad drug policy, and to help keep people safe. Each year, there are thousands of preventable drug-related deaths and millions languish unnecessarily in jails and prisons largely due to a misguided approach to drug education and regulation (aka War on Drugs). Of course, the poor and racial minorities are the primary targets of the war on Drugs.
The attention to High Price is especially gratifying and important now, as many countries around the world, including in Latin America and Europe, are questioning the status quo, and are looking for ways to articulate a better, more just drug policy/education approach.