The "Drug War" is a war that never was a war, and still isn't. Law enforcement does not fight nor win wars. They are reactionary, and enforce laws. Statistics and research do not match outcomes. We can spend many billions and get exactly where we are now, on a larger scale.

Education of Americans has helped somewhat, but has been about as effective as law enforcement and rehab.

Prevention needs to be rethought completely, as it alone can greatly lessen the need for law enforcement, healthcare, and rehab.

What this book misses, and what most all of America does not seem to comprehend, is 1 person buying and using drugs is like 1 person voting. Alone, no major social changes. Millions of votes can alter the course of history.

All drugs cause society some problems. Probably the most costly drugs for society are alcohol and tobacco. Heroin and Crack however have a very visible cost in an increase in criminality. Drug dependant people often drift into various forms of crime to support their habits. Other drugs such as cannabis also have side effects and there is evidence that long term use can cause a range of problems.

The book suggests that the policy developed by Nixon was in fact the correct policy. That is by making provision for rehabilitation centres for treatment of drug addicts. Rehab centres are cheap by comparison with jails and significantly cut drug use and criminality. The author of the book refers to studies carried out by the RAND Corporation into the cost benefits of such programs to support his case.

During the Reagan years the direction of drug policy changed. A number of parents groups had sprung up suggesting that teenage use of cannabis was responsible for a range of adolescent social problems. Money was taken from rehab centres to fund Nancy Reagan's "say not to drugs campaign".

In reality the "say no to drugs campaign has been successful." Cannabis and other drug use in American is far lower for adolescents than for other comparable countries. The basic problem was that as resources were taken from rehab centres hard drug use skyrocketed. This in turn led to the substitution of imprisonment as the main response to drug dependant criminality. The cost has been significant with a tremendous social cost of prison construction lessening funds for other government programs such as eduction. The arrest of drug dependant people also has led to massive increases in the imprisonment of Afro American people.

This book is one of the more impressive written on one of the significant issues facing American society,