Over 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.

Journalist Mike Gray offers a scathing indictment of the financial fiasco of the war on drugs, chronicling expensive and hypocritical follies that have benefited only two groups: professional anti-drug advocates and drug lords.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-240) and index.