In this groundbreaking hybrid-biography, the extraordinary journey of DEA agent Richard T. Sanchez is told through two converging lenses: the author’s sweeping cinematic reconstruction of Richard’s life, and Richard’s own raw, unfiltered voice. Together, they form a story that transcends memoir, redefining what it means to survive the past, confront the present, and rise into purpose.

Born into chaos and shadowed by addiction, Richard’s earliest lessons came from a world where loyalty was twisted, love was fragile, and survival required silence. From ballooning heroin in his cheek as a boy to walking the front lines of America’s evolving war on drugs, his life is a study in contradiction; a son of the chaos who became a soldier against it.

This is the story of that transformation.

Across ninety-two immersive chapters, “Chasing The High” takes readers from the dusty streets of Floresville to the violent expansion of the Mexican cartels; from the adrenaline-soaked operations of the CLE and DEA to the quiet, shattering moments where ghosts of the past pressed hardest against the man he was becoming. It is a portrait of an officer shaped by scars, sharpened by faith, and driven not by glory but by the desperate hope that his story could end differently than the one he was born into.

Told with emotional depth, historical force, and a narrative style that reads like a thriller anchored by truth, this book reveals the cost of service, the weight of memory, and the relentless pursuit that lives inside every man chasing not drugs, not criminals…
but purpose.

“Chasing The High” is powerful. It is human. It is unforgettable.

And once you enter Richard’s world, you will not leave unchanged.