Book launch: The Next Fix by Kojo Karam

The question is no longer if we should legalise drugs. It’s: what happens when we do? The future of drugs is here, and it’s dangerously unequal.

Over the last decade, the status quo around drugs has collapsed. Drugs once sold as safe cures have been revealed as ineffective or dangerous, while substances criminalised for generations are being reborn as breakthrough mental health treatments, wellness supplements, Silicon productivity tools and billion-dollar investment opportunities. How did this reversal happen — and who stands to benefit? Join us as we welcome the brilliant Kojo Karam to Housmans to celebrate the launch of his essential, brilliant and harrowing new book.

In The Next Fix, award-winning author Kojo Karam travels from Scotland to Colombia, Ghana to the United States, to uncover the forces reshaping the global drug landscape. Moving between glossy corporate cannabis expos to grassroots activist campaigns and the question of reparations, he traces the growing tension between movements fighting for justice after decades of prohibition and the finance-world race to profit from a newly legal frontier.

Will drug reform finally undo the racial violence, environmental destruction and public health failures of the War on Drugs? Or will it simply open a new chapter in global capitalism, creating a smooth transition from cartel barons to Wall Street oligopolies? Urgent, moving and deeply reported, The Next Fix asks whether the War on Drugs is really over – or merely changing its chemical formula.

"Brilliantly arranged and rich with fresh insights" Akala "A radical, beautifully written understanding of our history" Owen Jones

Kojo Karam is a Professor of Law, author and investigative journalist. This year he co-founded a new global research centre at Loughborough University which will examine how drug markets are changing. Born in Ghana and raised on Merseyside, he is now based in London. He regularly contributes to the Guardian and Novara Media and has written for the New Statesman and the New York Times. He is the author of Uncommon Wealth (2022).

Kojo will read from the book, followed by a discussion of around 45 minutes and a Q&A. The shop has limited space, so please book ahead to avoid disappointment. Tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please contact shop@housmans.com for a free ticket. If you choose 'book + entry' your copy will be available to collect on the evening. For earlier collection or delivery contact the shop (postage £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com.

Doors open 18:45, event starts 19:00.