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The War on Drugs: A History
A revealing look at the history and legacy of the "War on Drugs"
Fifty 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 charges―most of them involving cannabis―and 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 “deviant” form of globalization that offered economically marginalized people an economic life-line as players in a remunerative transnational supply and distribution network of illicit drugs. While several essays demonstrate how government enforcement of drug laws disproportionately punished marginalized suppliers and users, other essays assess how anti-drug warriors denigrated science and medical expertise by encouraging moral panics that contributed to the blanket criminalization of certain drugs.
By analyzing the key issues, debates, events, and actors surrounding the War on Drugs, this timely and impressive volume provides a deeper understanding of the role these policies have played in making our current political landscape and how we can find the way forward to a more just and humane drug policy regime.
Fifty 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 charges―most of them involving cannabis―and 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 “deviant” form of globalization that offered economically marginalized people an economic life-line as players in a remunerative transnational supply and distribution network of illicit drugs. While several essays demonstrate how government enforcement of drug laws disproportionately punished marginalized suppliers and users, other essays assess how anti-drug warriors denigrated science and medical expertise by encouraging moral panics that contributed to the blanket criminalization of certain drugs.
By analyzing the key issues, debates, events, and actors surrounding the War on Drugs, this timely and impressive volume provides a deeper understanding of the role these policies have played in making our current political landscape and how we can find the way forward to a more just and humane drug policy regime.
372 pages, Paperback
Published November 30, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 29, 2022
A collection of essays, each of which focus on a particular aspect of the history of America’s farcical and tragic so-called war on drugs.
One particularly thoughtful essay unpicks the various thorny issues with cannabis legalisation and argues that prohibition has benefited small cultivators and consumers alike—improvements in cultivation have been financed by the higher margins under criminalisation. Blanket legalisation will hand all of these benefits wholesale to large corporations, which are already eliminating many of the best practices that kept consumers safer, all in the name of capitalist efficiency (also known as self-defeating corner-cutting).
One particularly thoughtful essay unpicks the various thorny issues with cannabis legalisation and argues that prohibition has benefited small cultivators and consumers alike—improvements in cultivation have been financed by the higher margins under criminalisation. Blanket legalisation will hand all of these benefits wholesale to large corporations, which are already eliminating many of the best practices that kept consumers safer, all in the name of capitalist efficiency (also known as self-defeating corner-cutting).
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December 12, 2022The final essay reframes responsibility for the opioid crisis from easily-identified (albeit still culpable) villains like the Sackler family and Purdue pharma to neoliberal governmental policies, including obscure rules about which countries can produce raw material like poppy straw for opioid manufacturing and how pharmaceutical companies were able to shape those rules to their own advantage… hot hot hot research. That was the best essay IMO, although I appreciated the background and context throughout. Plus the audiobook was available on Hoopla from my library!
February 19, 2024
I was pretty disappointed overall. I expected this to be a much more interesting read, but I didn't really learn any new groundbreaking information, and the writing was incredibly dry. My brain was painfully bored while reading each essay, and if I didn't have OCD I would not have read the whole thing.
February 19, 2024
Valuable information about the effects of the war on drugs, who was affected, how and why. There are many implications left to be explored but overall great read
February 21, 2023
gutes buch leider bin ich jetzt traumatisiert und kann mindestens zwei monate keine bücher lesen
March 3, 2022
Informative, but not a comprehensive history. Some essays were more interesting and better written than others. The standouts for me were "Cannabis Culture Wars" by Emily Dufton, "The War on Drugs in Mexico" by Aileen Teague, and "The Pharma Cartel" by Kathleen Frydl. I wouldn't recommend reading this book all the way through if you're looking for an engaging narrative history, but certainly would recommend it for someone doing more in-depth research on the Drug War.
February 18, 2022
Ent like pacing with very few revelations for anyone even marginally familiar with the subject
July 4, 2026
A collection of essays from a variety of different scholars regarding Americas war on drugs. Each essay was definitely academic and informative, and many of them were quite fascinating. I thought the essay how the drug war affected Mexico and Afghanistan were particularly interesting. Both argue that these states took advantage of drug war policies in order to secure aid from the US for domestic purposes. In Mexico this meant cracking down on leftist guerillas, in Afghanistan this meant obtaining much needed resources for a weak central government. I also appreciated the essay on how the Controlled Substances Act actually helped regulate white markets for drugs like Valium.
There were a few essays I frankly didn’t really care about. In particular I found the one of on culture wars surrounding Cannabis to be very uninteresting. There was also not a strong through line between essays. Each obviously had to do with the war on drugs, but they did not build upon each other in any meaningful way. I was expecting a more comprehensive history from this book, and what it offers instead is a bunch of narrower perspectives on the topic. The essay format also meant that some of the topics I found particularly interesting weren’t discussed as in depth as I would have liked.
I don’t regret reading this book, but don’t strongly recommend it unless you have a specific academic interest in the topic.
There were a few essays I frankly didn’t really care about. In particular I found the one of on culture wars surrounding Cannabis to be very uninteresting. There was also not a strong through line between essays. Each obviously had to do with the war on drugs, but they did not build upon each other in any meaningful way. I was expecting a more comprehensive history from this book, and what it offers instead is a bunch of narrower perspectives on the topic. The essay format also meant that some of the topics I found particularly interesting weren’t discussed as in depth as I would have liked.
I don’t regret reading this book, but don’t strongly recommend it unless you have a specific academic interest in the topic.
October 4, 2024
Taught me so much that I didn't know about the U.S.' involvement in creating the global war on drugs in a way that benefited the American economy.
The CIA gave money to the contras and knew that that money was being used to support the drug trade bringing in crack and powder cocaine into the US.
The history of opium use and abuse in the US, including the over-prescribing of Valium.
Cannabis "exceptionalism" and legalization as an extension of American exceptionalism and an American government attempt at market capture, while perpetuating and creating the violence of the global war on drugs.
Incredible book that also includes information about the Herrera DTO in Chicago, the Psychedelic Wars, and the exploitation of others countries and people for the benefit of the American government.
Really well laid out book and focused around a historical perspective.
The CIA gave money to the contras and knew that that money was being used to support the drug trade bringing in crack and powder cocaine into the US.
The history of opium use and abuse in the US, including the over-prescribing of Valium.
Cannabis "exceptionalism" and legalization as an extension of American exceptionalism and an American government attempt at market capture, while perpetuating and creating the violence of the global war on drugs.
Incredible book that also includes information about the Herrera DTO in Chicago, the Psychedelic Wars, and the exploitation of others countries and people for the benefit of the American government.
Really well laid out book and focused around a historical perspective.
February 18, 2022
Not exactly my kind of a book I thought it was something different but I ended up finishing it and it was ok, gives a nice historical perspective and overview on the american aspect of drug trade in recent decades.
April 23, 2026
this was a bit of a drag to listen to and it left me disappointed. it was painfully dry and less informative than i thought it would be but i guess that makes sense bc it truly is just a collection of essays? boring
February 18, 2022
A solid essay collection. This is a topic I am continually expanding my knowledge on and so some of the essay only had half-new info for me but still a helpful academic work!
June 21, 2022
3.5/5
May 16, 2023
collection of articles/blog posts with no central narrative. interesting topics, just not really a book.
July 24, 2024
A bit dry. Audiobook was fine but I wouldn't have made it through a physical copy
Want to Read
January 28, 2026364.177 War
August 10, 2026
I loved the format of this, the distinct essays delving into different facets of the War on Drugs. They all cited very interesting sources as well, pointing to more areas of study.
If anybody wants an in-depth history of the entire war on drugs in one volume, this isn't it, and it would probably have to be frustratingly shallow. What this book is, is a great jumping off point for more research.
If anybody wants an in-depth history of the entire war on drugs in one volume, this isn't it, and it would probably have to be frustratingly shallow. What this book is, is a great jumping off point for more research.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews