Book
High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users
Americans love to indulge in psychoactive substances to enhance or manage their moods: from caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine to energy drinks, pharmaceuticals, and street drugs. For users in a culture of self-medication and pleasure, a “drug-free America” seems to be a fantasyland that most of us do not want to inhabit.
High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks a fundamental question about drug policy and social norms in the United States: Why do we endorse the use of some drugs while criminalizing the use of others? This illogical separation shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and healthcare in ways that affect all Americans. In over 45 years of the drug war, drug use remains relatively unchanged despite billions of dollars spent annually on interdiction and research. The US has yet to develop an informed understanding about drugs, users, and desire—a knowledge deficit that perpetuates failing policies and limits research and health care practices.
This book addresses ideological divisions in research, policy, and social norms to fill in a bigger picture of US use practices. It includes user narratives that express a wide variety of experiences with drug use and speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization.
By challenging what we think we know about drugs and users, High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users, signals the next wave of drug reform in the US. Equitable policy and practice starts with recognition of a full spectrum of drug use practices.
University of Washington Press
Book Chapters
“Pleasure and the New Normal of Recreational Cannabis in the United States,” The Routledge Handbook of Interdisciplinary Cannabis Research, Dominic Corva and Joshua Meisel, eds. Routledge. January 2021
“Women and the Politics of Pleasure in Critical Drug Studies,” The Impact of Global Drug Policy on Women: Shifting the Needle, Julia Buxton, Lona Burger, and Gia Margo, eds. Emerald Publishing Group. November 2020
Articles
“The Missing ‘I’ in Drug Research and the Epistemic Justice of Disclosure,” Ingrid Walker, The International Journal of Drug Policy, December 2021
“Developing a Transformative Drug Policy Research Agenda in the United States,“ Ingrid Walker and Julie Netherland, Contemporary Drug Problems. December 2018
“Introduction: Intoxication,” with Alexine Fleck, New American Notes Online, (NANO), Issue 9. April 2016. Intoxication, NANO, Issue 9, co-edited special issue with Alexine Fleck. April 2016
“Pleasure & the Domestication of Intoxication,” NANO, Issue 9. April 2016
“Drugs and Rec: A Dispatch from the Evergreen State,” Points: Alcohol and Drug History Society, September 2014
Reflection on the Global Commission on Drug Policy Report: ‘The War on Drugs Has Failed’,” Points, Alcohol and Drugs History Society, July 2011
OpEds
“Drug Research Ignores Stable or Pleasurable Use—And That’s a Problem,” (coauthored), Filter, August 2019
“Safe Consumption Sites for Users Should be Reconsidered,” with Erick Seelbach, Tacoma News Tribune, April 2018
“Safe Consumption Sites Will Save Lives, Money, and Improve Public Health,” The Stranger, September 2017