Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get OutOver the last fifteen years, American taxpayers have spent over $300 billion to wage the war on drugs--three times what it cost to put a man on the moon. In Drug Crazy, journalist Mike Gray offers a scathing indictment of this financial fiasco, chronicling a series of expensive and hypocritical follies that have benefited only two groups: professional anti-drug advocates and drug lords. The facts are alarming. More than twenty-five years ago, a presidential committee determined that marijuana is neither an addictive substance nor a "stepping stone" to harder drugs, but the embarrassing final report was shelved by a government already heavily invested in "the war against drugs". Many medical experts recommend simply prescribing drugs to addicts, and communities that have done this report a lower crime rate and reduced unemployment among drug users. In a riveting account of how we got to this impasse-- discriminatory policies, demonization of users, grandstanding among both lawmakers and lawbreakers -- conventional wisdom is turned on its head. Rather than a planned assault on the scourge of addiction, the drug war has happened almost by accident and has been continually exploited by political opportunists. A gripping account of the violence, corruption, and chaos characterizing the drug war since its inception, Mike Gray's incisive narrative launches a frontal attack on America's drug orthodoxy. His overview of the battlefield makes it clear that this urgent debate must begin now. |
Contents
A Tale of Two Cities Chicago 19951925 | 3 |
May It Please the Court | 23 |
Long Days Journey into Night | 39 |
The Devil and Harry Anslinger | 65 |
Addiction to Disaster | 93 |
River of Money | 111 |
Montezumas Revenge | 133 |
Mission impossible | 145 |
Reefer Madness | 171 |
Prescription for Sanity | 183 |
Appendix A | 199 |
US MURDER RATE | 200 |
19811993 | 201 |
19661996 | 202 |
AN ACTIVISTS GUIDE | 203 |
Notes | 215 |
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Common terms and phrases
alcohol American Disease Angeles Anslinger's attorney began Bogotá border Bureau Bush Cali cartel called cannabis cartel cash Chicago clinic coca cocaine Colombian Committee cops corruption court crack crime De-De dealers doctors dope Drug Abuse drug addiction Drug Enforcement Drug Enforcement Administration drug policy drug users drug war Dutch Escobar federal Gangster Disciples Grinspoon guys Hamilton Wright hand Harry Anslinger Health heroin hundred Ibid interview Juan Garcia Abrego judge kids Kosala lawmen Lester Grinspoon Lindesmith Lohraff look March Medellín medical marijuana ment methadone Mexican million morphine Musto narcotics National Nixon opium Pablo Escobar patients percent police political prescription President prison problem Prohibition prohibitionists quoted reform Salinas says September Smoke and Mirrors squad street thousand Tijuana tion traffickers treatment Trebach turned U.S. Dept U.S. officials United War on Drugs Washington White House York