Help! I'm Writing a Book!

And I need you to help me find interview subjects...

Long-time TCF readers know a special interest of mine—one which has often featured on this Substack—is the policy and economics of addictive products. As I’ve argued here and elsewhere, over the past decade we’ve seen an explosion in the availability and intensity of amphetamine, fentanyl, marijuana, gambling, and porn, among other products. Enabled by new technology, very old social problems have come creeping back. This event is, I’ve argued, both hugely socially important and radically under-analyzed—tens of millions of your fellow Americans are on drugs, and almost no one knows how to talk about why.

I’ve long aspired to remedy this issue, so I’m pleased to announce that I’ve signed a contract to write a book on the topic, to be published by Columbia Global Reports (publication date to come!), and tentatively entitled Vicious Habits. As currently planned (subject to change), the book will have chapters dedicated to fentanyl, gambling, pornography, marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco, as well as the concept of vice generally and the theoretical and empirical defense of prohibition. It will treat these different phenomena through the same lens: as harmful, habit-forming products with predictable economic and social effects, and which it makes sense for government to restrain. Vice, I will argue, is not new, even though its latest forms are unique. The same patterns show up over and over, and once we recognize them, it becomes easy to understand what to do about them.

I’m announcing the book now both so people are aware that I’m working on it, but also because I need your help to write it. Specifically, a big part of the book is not just theory and research, but the actual experiences of people living through the return of vice. Stories make a boring, academic book come alive, but they also provide much-needed clarity as to what the numbers and data look like in the real world.

Consequently, I’m looking to interview people who:

• have struggled with addiction to fentanyl, methamphetamine, marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, pornography, or gambling;

• are related to such a person, or are otherwise affected by their use;

• work in treatment or services for people dealing with addiction;

• have worked at selling any of these products, legally or illegally;

• Do academic work on these topics.

If you fit in any of these categories and are willing to talk, please email me at vicioushabits.cfl@gmail.com. I recognize that these are sensitive topics, and am happy to work with you to keep your story private to the extent you feel necessary. But I’d love to hear what you have to say.

If you’ve got questions about the book … so do I! More details to come.