How the Drug War Ruins American Lives

This book reveals the disturbing truth about how the escalation of the War on Drugs over the past 30 years has eroded the human and property rights of Americans―while doing little to stop drug trafficking or use.Unique in its perspective this eye-opening book looks at the drug war as a rights issue and concludes that Americans civil liberties are clearly being violated. The volume proceeds from two premises: that over the past 30 years Americas War on Drugs has done more harm than good; and that if the United States is going to reform the criminal justice system the public must understand that this war is empowered by the profits it provides to law enforcement and other groups. A central factor causing the upsurge in the drug war the author explains is the fact that laws were passed in the 1980s that allowed law enforcement to profit from seizing property based on scanty evidence and without criminal charges. His meticulous research has revealed that this policing for profit is responsible for a variety of assaults on civil liberties including mass incarceration SWAT teams and random drug sweeps. A second factor that infects every aspect of the War on Drugs is racism―the widespread stereotyping of drug traffickers as African Americans and Latinos. These issues and more are explored in this book that lays bare what the media largely ignores.Shows that the War on Drugs has failed to achieve the goals that were originally set Argues that this war continues to erode human and property rightsExplores how the climate of the War on Drugs is changing Discusses the powerful actors that support the continued drug warShares provocative accounts of the impact of the drug war on regular citizensIncludes links to further reading and video evidence