The New Prohibition: Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War - Softcover

Provocative essays from peace officers, public officials, scholars, and policy experts analyze our drug laws -- and find they have failed us. Today's war on drugs funds terrorists, undermines justice, corrupts business, and destroys people's lives. Edited by Sheriff Bill Masters, these collected essays -- these voices of dissent -- challenge the core assumptions of what one author calls "our domestic Vietnam," the new prohibition of drugs.

Along with a foreword by Governor Jesse Ventura, The New Prohibition features 21 essays. The writers consist of two retired undercover narcotics officers, a U.S. district judge, a Congressman, a retired mayor who ran a needle exchange program, a lawyer who helped write America's drug laws, and numerous policy leaders from all points along the political spectrum.

Contributors address the relationship between the drug war and terrorism; the impact of drug policy on American business; the ethics of drug policy; the debate over marijuana; and the impact of prohibition on public health, civil liberties, and the right to bear arms. The last five essays discuss various strategies for reform.

In his foreword, Ventura writes, "My mother lived through Prohibition, and she told me that there are obvious similarities between alcohol then and drugs today..." Masters describes how he evolved from a drug warrior to an advocate of reform, a story he continues from his previous book, Drug War Addiction: Notes from the Front Lines of America's #1 Policy Disaster (2001).

The New Prohibition addresses one of the most problematic political issues of our day. As David Borden of the Drug Reform Coordination Network describes in his essay, "Whether the concern is health, safety, criminal justice, foreign policy, pain control, agriculture, civil liberties, housing, education, medical research, the environment, property rights, militarized policing of the borders and in our towns, or the corruption of our police forces and financial institutions, there are few aspects of policy -- or of life --that the drug war doesn't touch in some way."

Each of the essays approaches the problem from a unique perspective:

* Jesse Ventura notes that, because of today's drug war, "gangsters get rich while the government wastes money fighting a losing battle."

* Bill Masters concludes, "The only reason why drugs and crime have expanded to reach every Mayberry village in the country is our blind obedience to misguided laws and police tactics that just do not work. It is time to admit our own folly and stop our addiction to the drug war."

* Richard Mack writes, "In 1982, I was an undercover narcotics officer. I lived within the drug culture for six months. I hated every minute of it." Mack argues the drug war creates "more corruption and a huge black market in which organized crime flourishes and the police state crescendos."

* Joseph McNamara, a former chief of police, laments what he describes as "police drug gangsterism."

* Jack Cole, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, also worked in undercover narcotics. He writes, "I learned firsthand the family-destroying consequences of sending drug users (often mothers and fathers) to jail... I liked some of the people I was working on better than some of the people I was working for..."

* John L. Kane, U.S. District Judge, writes, "[O]ur national drug policy is inconsistent with the nature of justice, abusive of the nature of authority, and ignorant of the compelling force of forgiveness."

* Ron Paul, Congressman from Texas, concludes the drug war creates "[c]riminal gang violence, foreign military intervention, overcrowded prisons, threats to civil liberties, and a staggering waste of both tax dollars and law enforcement resources..."

* Kurt Schmoke, now dean of Howard University School of Law, helped organize a needle exchange program while mayor of Baltimore.

* Eric E. Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, argues "drug prohibition hurts the business climate, profits, and investor returns."

* Mike Krause and Dave Kopel discuss the foreign policy disaster caused by U.S. drug policies in Mexico and South America.

* Fatema Gunja notes America's drug laws harm race relations, social welfare, and public health.

* Nicolas Eyle describes the destabilizing impacts of the drug war on American neighborhoods.

* John Ross warns gun owners, "As long as we continue redoubling our efforts in the drug war, it will be used as the law-enforcement template for other prohibitions. Guns are at the top of the list."

* Doug Casey writes, "I see drug use as debilitating at best... But destroying liberty isn't an even remotely acceptable method to discourage drug addiction, nor is it very effective."

* Michael Huemer, professor of philosophy, argues that drug prohibition unjustly imprisons drug users.

* Ari Armstrong reviews the links between drugs and terror, and concludes the policies of prohibition are at fault.

* Paul Armentano and Keith Stroup answer the false claims about marijuana made by the Drug Czar's office.

* Jeffrey Miron reviews the difference between the liberal and the libertarian perspective on reforming drug laws.

* Jeffrey A. Singer, a medical doctor, suggests "medicalization" as an alternative to today's drug war.

* Ron Crickenberger describes his arrest for civil disobedience as he protested "a federal government crackdown on medical marijuana clinics."

* Jason P. Sorens outlines how state legislatures can restore states' rights with respect to drug policy.

* David Borden describes the international movement to reform drug laws.