“Shouting into the Darkness isn’t just a sobering look at a young person’s struggle with drug addiction and mental illness and the wider society that looks for ways to either profit from or criminalize both. It’s also filled with gut wrenching humor, heartwarming descriptions of first love, and countless other relatable but hard to describe moments that Laughrin writes about with such clarity. Laughrin’s is a vital testimony and a requiem of the failed Drug War. This book should be shared with families and friends of those struggling with mental illness or substance abuse as well as read widely in schools, addiction centers, jails, and government halls.”
– Dr. Nick Smith,
Professor of Sociology, Communications Director for San Quentin’s prisoner-led Civic Engagement Group
“The narrative that Matthew describes here is shocking and often painful to read. But if we are going to understand the realities of these illnesses and what we can do to spare them – and us – we need to pay attention.”