The US television series, “The Wire,” is a thinly-veiled documentation of Baltimore City’s institutional problems, of which drugs available at almost every corner is an inherent part. It is now often cited as one of the greatest shows in the history of television. Its fans include Barack Obama and Edward Snowden. And references to the show pop up in any conversation about drugs and police.

David Simon, who worked for The Baltimore Sun as a police reporter for more than a decade before he went on to write and create this HBO television series, has one major piece of advice, something he says by stressing it with the use of ‘F’ word : “Stop this war on drugs.”

Simon has one solution: End the drug war.

“The drug war gives everybody permission to do anything. It gives cops permission to stop anybody, to go in anyone’s pockets, to manufacture any lie when they get to district court …. The drug war gives everybody permission. And if it were draconian and we were fixing anything that would be one thing, but it’s draconian, and it’s a disaster.”

Chapter 4 of Dr Anirudh Kala’s smashing new book on drugs is titled “The War on Drugs is a War Against Our Own Young People.” It makes the same argument, based on history, data, and a sane analysis.

“Most of What You Know About Addiction Is Wrong” – Dr. Kala’s book about how to fight drugs and addiction is a damning indictment of government policies, politicians’ shenanigans, the police’s dumb approach and the general wisdom that anyone who consumes, peddles, sells or deals in drugs should be caught and put in jail under one or the other stringent law.

In this scintillating talk with Dr Anirudh Kala and another anti-drug activist and author Mohan Sharma, senior journalist SP Singh questions every strain of popular received wisdom about drugs and how to control the menace. Human connection, the experts say, is the key weapon.

At a time when Punjab and Punjabis are crying hoarse about “chitta” being sold everywhere, news of drug overdose (OD) appear incessantly in daily newspapers and politicians blame each other for either not stopping drugs, or, worse, actively aiding the drug trade, Dr Kala’s book only underlines something that can be stated in drug terms: “What the hell were they smoking when they gained this wisdom?”

From the idiocy of keeping liquor and tobacco outside the classification of drugs, to the criminalisation of cannabis, opium and even opioids, to the utter insanity called the “Narcotic-Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act” (NDPS Act) to the atrocity called drug deaddiction centres, Dr Anirudh Kala demolishes the popular wisdom -domain by domain, chapter by chapter, data by data, and drug by drug.

Some of his chapter titles are questions we should be asking of experts. For example, chapter 5 is titled: “Why are Cannabis and Opium ‘drugs’ while alcohol and tobacco are not?” Also, “Is there a safe level of drugs?” “Is there a safe level of drinking?” “Which is the most dangerous drug?”

In his book, Dr Kala cites a quote at a re-hab centre in Mohali, that said: “Apna Siyana Dimaag Jooton Ke Rack Par Rakh Kar Aao.” When you read his book, we offer you the same advice.