Bad Trip: How the War Against Drugs is Destroying America
by Joel Miller
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joel MillerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-06-02
ISBN: 0785261478
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Book Reviews of Bad Trip: How the War Against Drugs is Destroying America
Book Review: Bad Trip is a Relevent and Great Read
Summary: 5 Stars
To put it succinctly, the war on drugs is a war against the American people. Over two-thirds of American adults born since 1955 have used illegal drugs at some point in their lives, most without any trace of subsequent harm. However, our gov't, through its Gestapo-like enforcement arm, the DEA (which has a vested interest in prosecuting the war to its maximum extent and keeping the war going as long as possible) continue to circumscribe the rights of the American people. Since the inception of the DEA the civil rights of Americans in regards to drugs have been increasingly ignored, and it's a rare politician who doesn't use the drug war as an opportunity to appear tough on crime. The DEA and many police forces actually rely on asset forfeiture to provide a substantial portion of their budgets, even though fewer than 5% of asset forfeiture cases involve any prosecution, let alone conviction. The DEA is then free to spend this confiscated wealth as it pleases. Orwell was prophetic.
Let's face facts: this is not a problem of supply, it's a problem of demand. But it need not be a problem at all. University sponsored and AMA and BMA endorsed research has consistently shown most "classic" drugs, such as weed, hash, heroin and morphine to be non-toxic. Coke is rarely dangerous, and then primarily to those with heart conditions. The prohibition of these drugs has caused the gov't to entirely surrender their ability to regulate a drug's content, which is far more detrimental to the health of any user of classic drugs in their unadulturated form. Medical studies have shown without fail that Alcohol is the most poisonous and detrimental of mood-altering substances.
Additionally, America's drug war has resulted in the wholesale destablization of producer and transshipment nations. The lawlessness seen in Colombia and along the Mexican border is entirely a result of America's campaign of zero tolerance-an unobtainable goal. Senator John Kerry perpetrated the prevaricative canard that criminal cartels were behind the drive for legalization. Nothing could be further from the truth: cartels always step into a vacuum, and they benefit from our draconian laws. One has to wonder where Senator Kerry gets his marching orders. Cartels would disappear if drugs were legalized, just as they did when alcohol prohibition was repealed in 1933.
Prohibition also leads to police corruption: studies show that 30% of police have been unlawfully involved with illegal drugs. The supreme court recently overturned a previous 9-0 ruling regarding the knock-and-announce rule, stating that the cops need merely identify themselves before entering a residence-usually violently.
Enforcement of drug laws are also racially biased (I'm a white male). Most drug users are white and casual users of weed, coke or heroin. Yet most of those doing time for drug offenses are disproportionately black and hispanic. It's a case of a predatory DEA wolfpack picking off the most vulnerable members of a herd, rather than facing down a banker who can afford something better than a court-appointed defence. It's so unfair it pangs the conscience.
America has among the most restrictive drug laws in the world, and they have only made the situation worse. Canada recently considered a Senate recommendation to legalize pot. Holland has legalized pot without any negative consequences: the Dutch have the longest life-span in the world and a violent crime rate less than 1 sixth of the US. Injection programs for the most hard-core heroin addicts in Switzerland have caused aids to disappear among this vulnerable group, and employment among them stands at 70%. Other countries have come to grips with this problem through rationality and compassion. America has not-and it has utterly failed. Studies of American conditions and behavior prior to 1914, when these subsances were legal, show no correlation to poorer health or crime-Alcohol is the sole exception to this.
President McKinley used cocaine for 27 years until his death by an assasin's bullet. Grant used morphine to ease his discomfort after his presidency. 250,000 Civil War vets were morphine addicts.
The police chiefs of Kansas City, MO, San Jose and San Diego, CA, Seattle, WA and many smaller departments have called for the legalization of drugs. Former drug czar Barry McCaffrey has called the Federal prison system "America's drug Gulag" and has stated "We cannot incarcerate our way out of this problem." Former Secy of State George Schultz has called for an end to prohibition and consideration of decriminalization and legalization.
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."-William Pitt.
Summary of Bad Trip: How the War Against Drugs is Destroying America
The war against drugs was supposed to make America better, right? It failed. Not only does the drug war fail to keep Americans from using drugs, but its crackdown tactics also produce bigger problems than it promises to solve. In this fearlessly audacious book, Joel Miller shows that drug prohibition creates tremendous amounts of crime and corruption, helps finance anti-American terrorists, makes a joke out of U.S. border security, chips away at constitutional liberties, militarizes law enforcement, and jails hundreds of thousands of Americans. And for what? A bigger, more intrusive government that cares less and less about individual rights. Told in a bold, uncompromising style, Miller's book reveals the true and terrible nature of the war on drugs and also, just as importantly, informs readers about what they can do to kick the drug-war habit."Miller nails it," says Larry Elder, host of ABC Radio's nationally syndicated Larry Elder Show and best-selling author. "He powerfully and persuasively articulates the folly, the harm and the unconstitutionality of our government's War against Drugs." And says Judge Andrew P. Napolitano of Fox News, "If you are interested in our freedoms or fearful of the government destroying human lives and wasting tax dollars on another American Prohibition, read this book and send a copy to every lawmaker and judge you know."
If you want to understand the drug problem in America, you first need to know how the government is making it worse. Bad Trip is the place to start.
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