Description
Book SynopsisA revealing look at the history and legacy of the War on DrugsFifty years after President Richard Nixon declared a War on Drugs, the United States government has spent over a trillion dollars fighting a losing battle. In recent years, about 1.5 million people have been arrested annually on drug chargesmost of them involving cannabisand nearly 500,000 Americans are currently incarcerated for drug offenses. Today, as a response to the dire human and financial costs, Americans are fast losing their faith that a War on Drugs is fair, moral, or effective. In a rare multi-faceted overview of the underground drug market, featuring historical and ethnographic accounts of illegal drug production, distribution, and sales, The War on Drugs: A History examines how drug war policies contributed to the making of the carceral state, racial injustice, regulatory disasters, and a massive underground economy. At the same time, the collection explores how aggressive anti-drug policies produced a devian
Trade ReviewA sweeping, wide-ranging, and accessible history that powerfully exposes how the drug-war policies of the past fifty years have underscored racial injustice, the prison industrial complex, and failed public health outcomes.
The War on Drugs is a must-read. -- Peter Andreas, John Hay Professor of International Studies and Political Science, Brown University
Farber has brought together an impressive group of scholars for this volume; their contributions are serious, well-documented, and compelling. Together, they fill an important gap in the history and enduring legacy of the war on drugs. A significant contribution to the field. -- Isaac Campos, author of Home Grown: Marijuana and the Origins of Mexico’s War on Drugs
