Just Dope, Allison Margolin
Just Dope, Allison Margolin
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Just Dope
A Leading Attorney's Personal Journey Inside the War on Drugs

Author: Allison Margolin

Narrator: Sanya Simmons

Unabridged: 8 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/30/2022

Synopsis

For readers of Dopesick and Drug Use for Grown-Ups--a celebrated cannabis attorney's insider look at the War on Drugs and what comes next for the drug legalization movement.

Spoiler: everyone uses drugs. Whether you’re popping an aspirin for a headache, pushing through the day with an extra jolt of caffeine, unwinding with a perfectly rolled joint, or availing yourself of harder substances, chances are--at some point in your life--you’ve consumed mind-altering substances.

Getting high is something most of us do, and in many cases do safely--yet drugs remain a singular public enemy. The number of Americans arrested for drug possession has tripled since 1980. A whole fifth of the incarcerated population is in on drug charges. The War on Drugs--systematically designed to disenfranchise Black communities and leftist political activists--continues to wreak havoc to this day. The ugly truth is that drug prohibition doesn’t stop drug use. It only makes it more harmful.

Allison Margolin, an LA-based criminal defense attorney, is one of the nation’s leading experts in cannabis licensing and law. Integrating pop culture and personal stories into social analysis, she puts drug criminalization on trial to advocate for an evidence-based, commonsense approach to drug use and legalization. From a fresh policy and social commentary perspective, Margolin explores:
  •  The history of drug prohibition in the United States--when it started, how it evolved, and where it stands now
  •  The problem with campaigns like “This Is Your Brain on Drugs”
  •  How our current drug policy is rooted more in racism, bias, and pharma money than science or psychology
  •  The false dichotomy between “good” and “bad” drugs
  •  The grifting and exploitation of the Rehab Industrial Complex
  •  What real drug education can (and should) look like

For readers of Dopesick and In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Just Dope is part memoir, part whip-smart policy critique, part social drug history of LA, and a vital call to knowledge and action.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Theresa on July 09, 2022

This has a lot of good information in it. In the beginning, Margolin basically writes that she couldn’t decide how much she was writing a memoir and how much a straight up treatise as to why all drugs—not just marijuana—should be legalized. After all, alcohol is legal, and for ten percent of the pop......more

Goodreads review by Molly on May 18, 2022

2.5 stars. Before I start this review, I’d like to disclaim that I picked up this book with the full intention of using it as an educative source - I am pro the legalisation of all drugs as I believe it is the best form of harm reduction; the nature of the book isn’t the reason for the low stars, it’......more

Goodreads review by Kyle on October 19, 2022

Not quite what I expected. There was not as much about the case for and against the decriminalization of drugs. I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on April 19, 2022

Current (420 Day 2022) Description Inaccurate. Read As Memoir. If you go into this book expecting what the current description claims the book is - a take down of all drug laws by a lawyer who knows them well - ummm.... you're going to be severely disappointed. As pretty well every review earlier th......more

Goodreads review by Lauren on February 24, 2022

Thanks to NetGalley and North Atlantic Books for an ARC of this book. This was a really interesting insight not only into some of the cases Allison has dealt with, but also logical reasoning behind drug legalisation and reducing the regulations in place for marijuana in the US. Since I don't live in......more

Quotes

“ . . . Margolin’s best arguments draw on her courtroom experience to reveal how harsh and convoluted drug laws can be, even in states like California, where recreational cannabis sales are permitted.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Allison’s book could become a call to action for many.... As someone who has often been called the godfather of the Progressive Prosecutors’ Movement in this country, I am excited for Allison’s book to be published. Just Dope has the potential to become one of those once-in-a-generation books, shaking up popular beliefs about the role of drugs in American culture and tipping the scales towards a more humane and thoughtful approach in the future.”
—George Gascón, currently elected district attorney of LA, former two-term district attorney of San Francisco, and former chief of police of San Francisco

“Allison is a true marijuana lover from the heart—it's in her bloodline. She knows nothing else and is always trying to help. If you really wanna know about marijuana laws, you must read this book.”
—“Freeway” Rick Ross

“With Just Dope, Allison Margolin uses a fluid writing style that seamlessly weaves together disparate threads of her own life and sense of justice with courtroom drama, history, science, and a blistering critique of the Drug War. She chronicles her very personal odyssey from hippie child to D.A.R.E. student to drug user to Dopest Defense Attorney and offers frank appraisals of political and prosecutorial policies along the way.... Masterful and well written, I highly recommend this book.”
—Chris Conrad, cannabis author, activist, and court-qualified expert witness

“Allison Margolin has addressed America’s drug abuse crisis in a uniquely honest and compelling autobiography.”
—Eugene Schoenfeld, MD, author of the 1960s–70s newspaper column “Dr. Hip” and Dr. Hip’s Natural Food and Unnatural Acts

“ With Just Dope, Margolin uses a fluid writing style that seamlessly weaves together disparate threads of her own life and sense of justice with courtroom drama, history, science and a blistering critique of the Drug War.”
—The Leaf

“Masterful, expansive, well-written and fun to read, we highly recommend this book.”
—L.A. Cannabis News

“[Margolin] presents a footnoted argument that decriminalizing drug possession could broadly benefit U.S. society by justly treating drug use as an issue of health, not crime.”
—Library Journal

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