The book: IN THE REALM OF HUNGRY GHOSTS
Author: Gabor Maté

There are aspects of this book that I am suspect of, but there are three aspects of it I completely agree with.

1. The war on drugs is a complete and total failure.
2. Addiction is a spectrum and we are all on it.
3. Heaping ever more punitive punishments on addicts does nothing to resolve their addiction and likely exacerbates it.

Because these three concepts run so counter to our cultural thinking on this topic, I highly suggest this book.

A concept that I keep bumping into is the desire for control and how it drives a whole host of behavior that violates boundaries. The most hurtful things that well-meaning Christians did to me when I came out were rooted in an attempt to control me. Hostile police interactions and excessive minimum mandatory sentencing is an attempt to control. The out-sized emotional reaction to pancake packaging change is about losing, a small, but real symbol of control.

How are we so brittle that we cannot accept the agency of other human beings? Our brains do us no favors here, as they are hard wired to experience change as negative. Change is the only constant in this existence, and you can either choose to grind yourself under that wheel resisting it, or you can embrace it.