The drug war’s systemic failures have become so glaring and tragic that even as that war rages on globally, many of the world’s most mainstream voices now advocate what was, until very recently, regarded as fringe and radical: the legalization, or at least decriminalization, of all drugs, not just marijuana. But while these macro-policy debates have finally become more rational and honest when it comes to data and policy outcomes, there is still far too little media attention paid to the human aspects of these debates: What are the underlying causes of addiction and why is it worsening? What is responsible for the skyrocketing rates of depression around the world and suicide in the U.S.? And why are communities ravaged by economic deprivation so vulnerable to the opioid epidemic and the pharmaceutical industry that exploits it?

The answers to these questions are not just psychological, spiritual, and medical, but also political — very political. It is extremely difficult to devise effective policy solutions to a problem when one does not understand its underlying causes; in this case, among the leading causes of many of these pathologies are policy choices in economics, the penal system, and resource distribution. Moreover, disturbing trends in addiction, mental health problems, and the opioid crisis reveal crucial signals — warning signs — about human trends that explain many of the most consequential political changes and thus, would be dangerous to continue to ignore.