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I first knew about Ryan Grim through his work as a journalist and I enjoy watching him on the online show Counter Points. I had no idea he had written this book but based on his intelligent and perceptive reporting decided to read it when I made the discovery.

Drugs. Our bodies are chemistry factories and often the natural processes in our bodies don't quite get the job done, making too much of this and too little of that. Medicine is around as a fix, but some like to take things further and use the body to go as far in one way or another as one can go. Grim mentions the everyday benefits of speed, to help get things done. But I think of those lyrics "if you give me weed, whites and wine and show me a sign then I'll be willing to be moving" Yikes, keep me off that highway!

I graduated high school in that famous year 1968 and drugs were certainly available but I never had the desire to take them. In college I smoked some grass but the effect was not pleasing and that was that. I've never suffered any significant pain and have never felt the need of anything more than 3 prescriptions. I've always felt empowered through speaking and writing while life in general has been enjoyable day in and day out. Honestly, I can't think of any reason to take mind altering drugs and the risk of damaging my brain simply to experience something exotic holds no appeal.

With this my view, this book seemed interesting for the journey deep into the world of drug users, but it seems a crazy world easily avoided and with no appeal. It is incredible what people will do to get drugs, what they will pay for them and how much they seem to need them. I say this apart from addiction, I'm referring just to the desire to take the stuff as one might like to consume one kind of food or another. While cultures throughout history have put mind altering drugs to use for religious or personal development, such as the native-American spirit quest, our culture just throws the stuff out there for anyone to do with as they wish. There's nothing larger than the self involved except the community for distribution.

Most of the book deals with trying to get stuff in spite of officials acting to prevent it. The complexity of searching and buying seem like a lot of work, except at Burning Man, but the lengths to which government will go to road-block drug use are absurd. Let people do what they want to do to themselves but act to support those who get into trouble using drugs.

Grim provides lots of information on how this or that drug became popular and how squeezing the market for one drug can cause a surge in use of another. It's strange to me that there should be such a need to get out of one's normal life that almost any drug is welcomed even if it doesn't duplicate the effect of a drug one has been taking. Grim doesn't offer much insight into why American culture causes the desire to alter the mind. Escape from normality seems to be a very big deal and of course alcohol is the predominant and legal way to do this, though it is good to see the end of celebrating the drunk as was once the case with Dean Martin and his friends. Drug use back in the 60's and 70's was THE subject in rock music and that has passed.

This book is dated. I checked Grim's website thisisyourcountryondrugs.com and it no longer exists, too bad because he used it to track drug popularity.

Interesting, well written, but for me it couldn't hit home.