Strategic Suicide: The Birth of the Modern American Drug War:
Rave Reviews for 'Drug War,' on which Strategic Suicide is Based:
"The subtitle of Dan
Russell’s epic dissertation, Drug War: Covert Money, Power
& Policy, says it all. Make no mistake, this is not a book
about the so-called "War on Drugs" we hear about in the newspapers,
the one being fought on our streets between cops and druggies
or border guards and drug smugglers.... No, this book is something
else entirely, nothing less than a scathing expose of the corrupt
power structures which have emerged under the policy of US global
drug prohibition, and a detailed look at all the brutalities,
genocidal wars, and seedy covert operations that have been financed
by the inflated value of prohibited drugs since day one."
"While Drug War is without
a doubt one of the most illuminating books I’ve ever read, I must
warn you that it is by no means an easy book to read. Each paragraph
is dense with information that just keeps coming and coming, and
just about every other sentence is cross referenced to another
major source."
"Rarely do I read a book and have
the urge to tell everyone I know that they must stop what they
are doing read it immediately, but with Drug War that urge
came over me again and again. It is truly a very shocking and
astounding book, the reading of which marked a big turning point
in my own understanding of prohibition and 20th century covert
geopolitics. I thought I knew a few things about the War on Drugs,
but I didn’t know the half of it before Dan Russell pulled all
the pieces together for me. He had the guts to tell the whole
story like it really is, and engrave the grim history of our country’s
dirtiest secret on the record forever. I highly recommend you
check it out today should you dare know the truth." James
Kent, Publisher, Tripzine.com
"Dan Russell is a paradigm
shifter of the first order. This is a book that gives the world
a whole new way to understand the cosmology of drugs, intelligence,
shamanism, spirituality, assassination and war. If I had to pick
five books to keep as the best understanding of the insanity,
profit motive, Wall Street-driving, prison-industry-sustaining,
intelligence-agency-protected system this would be one of them.
An absolute must read for anyone coming from a legal, law enforcement
or academic background. More than 1300 footnotes leave no stone
unturned and a new dimension opened. Anyone who wants to understand
the real issues raised by drugs and the drug war cannot afford
to bypass this seminal work." Michael C.
Ruppert, former LAPD narcotics investigator; anti-CIA activist;
publisher/editor - From The Wilderness @ www.copvcia.com
"I just finished Drug War. Wow!
I have learned so much and enjoyed this read tremendously. Your
book was a watershed event for me. It helped me 'see the world
whole' and understand the drug business and the war on drugs in
an important new way. We are all pressed for time, but reading
your book was the ultimate time saver for me. There is nothing
more powerful than understanding the chaos when you are in it....Your
book is a monumental achievement....for goodness sakes this needs
to get out asap. Excellent is excellent!" Catherine
Austin Fitts, Federal Housing Commissioner, 1989-90; President,
Solari, Inc.; www.solari.com
"Dan Russell's Drug
War goes to the heart of the so-called 'drug-problem', really
a 'prohibition-problem': extra-curricular drug- and gun-running
by numerous governments, with that of the United States at the
head of the list, its cynical and duplicitous 'war on drugs' notwithstanding
- nought but a racist war on the poor and disenfranchised, both
nationally and internationally, and withal a 'war on the drug
competition'; nor ought we to forget who invented modern money
laundering shell-games, nor who profits the most from them. I
urge you to read Dan Russell's shocking exposé - may it
serve as a much-needed wake-up call!" Jonathan
Ott, author/co-author of Pharmacophilia Or The Natural Paradises,
Pharmacotheon, Persephone's Quest, The Road To
Eleusis, Hallucinogenic Plants of North America, The
Age of Entheogens, etc. (All Ott books are available thru:
Jonathan Ott Books, PO Box 1251, Occidental, CA 95465)
"The best book I ever read
on the Drug War." Celerino Castillo III,
lead DEA agent in Guatemala and El Salvador, 1985-90, who developed
much of the Contra cocaine evidence; author of Powderburns;
powderburns@prodigy.net
"Drug War epitomizes
such books as Alexander Cockburn’s Whiteout, Alfred McCoy’s
The Politics of Heroin, and Gary Webb’s Dark Alliance
all together, with riveting photography throughout. Written in
an easy to read, flowing style that is entertaining while at the
same time amazingly detailed, concise, and to the point, Drug
War covers one hell of a lot of ground. With a sixteen page
bibliography, and a copious amount of footnotes, this is a very
in-depth look at the current state of affairs, the whys and wherefores
of the Drug War." Preston Peet, High
Times Magazine
"Dan Russell's sequel
Drug War is on par with Howard Zinn's People's History
of the United States. This historical account needs to be
in every educational institution, beginning with high school,
to tell the other side of the story of our loss of earth-based
ecstasy. Drug War brilliantly shows how our healing relationship
with plant allies came to be replaced with the prevailing political
agenda of drug propaganda. I recommend this great book, which
I personally couldn't put down as it engages like a historical
/ political novel, for all schools of free thinkers. It is the
central text in our homeschool for my teenagers this year!"
Jeannine Parvati Baker, author of Hygieia:A
Woman's Herbal; Conscious Conception:Elemental Journey
Through the Labyrinth of Sexuality; Prenatal Yoga &
Natural Birth: Freestone
Innerprizes: Optimal Personal & Family Health
"In Drug War,
author Dan Russell convincingly demonstrates that the current
CIA-Drugs debate is part of a larger societal struggle between
the forces of freedom and those of repression, and that the phony
'drug war' is really just a 'trojan horse' in the creation of
what has been called 'friendly fascism.' Drug War is an
amazingly entertaining read, and the most comprehensive look yet
at the biggest mystery of our culture: why drugs are illegal,
who profits, and who benefits... a tour de force of intellectual
courage and honesty on a subject which encourages neither."
Daniel Hopsicker, The
Drug Money Times, author of the upcoming
Barry and the Boys
"An important, strenuously
argued contribution to the case against our nation's scandalous
narcotics policies and laws. Particularly valuable are the the
encyclopaedic historical and anthropological perspectives which
the author brings to bear on our cultural crisis. His scathing
review of today's unjust confiscation and sentencing statutes
is balanced by encouraging and badly-needed statistics about the
successes of alternatives, such as the Dutch decriminalization
program." Peter
Dale Scott, English Department, University
of California, Berkeley, author of Cocaine Politics, Deep
Politics, Crime & Cover-Up, Coming To Jakarta,
etc.
"Russell provides a vibrant,
detailed history of drug use and drug policy. This book should
be studied by anyone working to develop a policy that works. It
is obvious that we are currently repeating mistakes we have made
in the past -- hopefully this book will be widely read and more
sensible approaches can be pursued."
"Russell's review of history shows that
drug prohibition enforced by a war on drugs will not only fail,
it will make health, crime and other drug-related policies worse.
By learning from history we can break the spiraling cycle of extremist
policies and enact more cost-effective approaches that create
a safer and healthier America." Kevin Zeese,
Esq.,President, Common
Sense For Drug Policy
"A very impressive piece of work! You
have given the reader a detailed description of prohibition and
criminalization, and a chronicle of the early U.S. legal issues
and bureaucratic decisions. Further, you have sketched out the
economic, social, and political reasons for those decisions. Your
anecdotes are enjoyable, your breadth is magnificent, and the
data are well-supported... This is a hard-hitting account that
will disturb many of its readers, but may also expand their perspective
by offering alternative options to what has become a no-win situation."
Stanley Krippner, PH.D., co-author of The
Mythic Path, co-editor of Broken Images, Broken Selves
Journal
of Cognitive Liberties: "a penetrating examination of the
host of forces currently supporting the modern Drug War...sure
to become an essential addition to the Drug War library." Richard
Glen Boire, Esq., Executive Director, The
Alchemind Society
"Mr. Russell has produced
a work of careful scholarship that will interest not only the
participants in the drug wars, but the drug-gang victims as well.
This piece of contextually multidimentional history is academic
in the finest tradition, and, realistically, should be required
reading for junior high, high school, and college students as
a rational substitute for the "Just Say No" ditty. Teachers, by
reading and discussing this volume with their students, might
derive an attitude adjustment. The rationale is to drive home
the point that while not all illegal substances are harmful as
officially alleged, uninformed substance abuse is not innocuous."
"A fascinating tapestry of nineteenth
and twentieth century history weaves highly informative pictures
of medicine, racism, security agencies, and popular political
movements such as neocolonialism. Some of the materials are usually
excluded from current history books, and the author pulls no punches.
And gives names, dates, and places accurately. Many of our best
youth will recognize Drug War, the book, as the product
of a writer who is shining a light on the subject of substances
rather than shining them on in the customary way of often-uninformed
society."
"Drug War is heady, irreverent
stuff because the reader is confronted with a huge succession
of inescapable facts that challenge one’s views of the use and
abuse of substances, both natural and synthetic. As in many other
arenas of life, attitude is everything. "Pharmaco-shamanism" as
laid out in great detail in Russell’s previous book, Shamanism
and the Drug Propaganda, is reified in Drug War as
one meaningful and sensible path between the extremes of a "fixation
on sobriety" and some cultural acceptances of constant, purposeless
intoxication. Legitimate medical information and roadmaps and
systems of consciousness such as meditative practices help the
potential substance abuser to steer a clear path between the extremes
of drug abuse and drug-phobic sobriety to a healthy spiritual
life facilitated in part by culturally-defined sacraments. The
politico-historical element of substance use/abuse is partly summarized
by Russell when he says, "since it prefers to finance physicians
rather than drug-gangs, Holland has virtually eliminated drug-related
crime." Marshall F. Gilula, M.D., EEG/Epilepsy
Fellow, Department of Neurology, University of Miami School of
Medicine; www.mindspring.com/~mgilula
"But if there were a single
book that covered the subject well enough to stand alone, it would
definitely be Drug War by Dan Russell. If you are just
starting out in your study of prohibition, Drug War is
the book to start out with. If you are already well versed, it's
the best single reference book on the market. Its most important
feature is that it is well bound, and designed for years of use.
It is sewn into signatures, like the finest quality hardcover
books, not glued. The binding opens flat for easy reference, and
will not crack or split. This matters greatly because the book
is more than merely the fascinating story of one of history's
most shameful episodes. It is first and foremost a reference book.
You will not put it away on the shelf when you are done with it.
In all likelihood, you will never be done with it. I, personally,
expect to be looking stuff up in it for the rest of my life. If
it were bound like a normal paperback, I'd have broken its spine
already. It's that kind of book. It contains literally just about
everything you'll ever need to know about the WO(S)D and pointers
to everything else."
"This book's breadth, scope, and depth
is nothing short of awesome. Any competent historian does his
homework, but Dan Russell has done ours too. How he possibly could
have accumulated and cross-referenced such a motherload of pertinent
data, and still found time to live his life, is nothing short
of amazing. I eat, sleep, and breath secret history. Trust me,
it's extremely time consuming. My books reach literally to the
ceiling. My filing cabinets are so packed to overflowing with
clippings that I've had to add an entire closet full of cardboard
boxes. I am not easily impressed or often surprised. Yet Drug
War had me flabbergasted. I could scarcely read for ten minutes
in a row without learning something new. This guy has read everything,
and I do mean everything, even remotely related to the subject.
Even Mae Brussell would have been impressed."
"The man is totally amazing. His
book is an absolute must for anyone who wants to understand how
deeply the WO(S)D has come to influence world culture and political
economics, and why. Buy it. Read it. Refer to it. Recommend it
to others. It's a must. But don't take my word for it. Visit Dan's
Web site and read some excerpts from the book." Nessie,
San
Francisco Bay Guardian, 4/16/01
"What do the slave
laws of the Roman Empire, the Inquisition of the Middle Ages,
the extermination of Native American culture, and the modern War
on Drugs have in common? Surprisingly enough, these castastrophic
events - which destroyed the lives of so many millions of people
- emanate from a quest for control over spiritual reality, much
of which depends on severing connections to sacramental plants.
"The dots along this path have never
been connected until the release of Drug War: Covert Money,
Power & Policy by Dan Russell, a vast compendium of the
historic forces that shaped the Drug War. On page 52 of this issue
we are proud to present an excerpt from this remarkable book,
a chapter examing the campaign against midwives - who were demonized
as witches." Steven Hager, Editor-in-Chief,
High Times Magazine, November, 2001
"I have just been reading
a book called Drug War: Covert Money, Power, and Policy
by Dan Russell. Drug War is a massive 675 page expose on
the drug war. It names names, gives places and dates, and is well
footnoted. But before you dive into this book, be warned that
the writer is very much a hard leftist, and it shows in the adjectives
used and the tone of the writing....The book is about power and
mind control—the power of one civilization or culture to dominate
and then extinguish another. When William Bennett says America
is in a culture war against drugs, he isn’t kidding. And this
war did not start with Richard Nixon or the Harrison Narcotics
Act of 1914. It began 500 years ago when the Spanish brought military
power and the Catholic Inquisition to the Americas. The Catholics
were very insistent to the point of torture and murder that no
thoughts outside those allowed by the church were permitted. Worship
done under the influence of mind-altering chemicals obtained from
plants was to receive special attention. The dogmatic absolutists
of 500 hundred years ago have morphed into the moral absolutists
of today....Finally, I’d like to quote a paragraph from the book:
“Fascism is always maudlin. Industrial fascists need a scapegoat
to coalesce. Without the pharmakos, the Nigger, the Judas, the
Witch, the Dealer, the Fiend, the Hippie who inflicts such great
hurt on Our Salvation, there is no rationale for an ongoing Inquisito,
without which the structure of industrial fascism would be left
standing naked. It ain’t so much what they’re for, it’s what they’re
against.” You can find out about all these subjects and more by
reading Drug War: Covert Money, Power, and Policy, which
I would give a 3.2 out of 4.0." M. L. Simon, The
Rock River Times
"Drug War is
a sometimes glittering tale of how corrupted drug control and
global politics are soul mates. As long as this war lasts, Russell's
book is an encyclopedic weapon for drug policy reform intellectuals
and soldiers." Peter D.A. Cohen Ph.D,
Director, The
Centre for Drug Research, University
of Amsterdam
"Dan Russel's Drug
War is one of the more comprehensive studies on the real life
truth about the real drug war and the lies that have been told
to the American public. I recommend it to anyone who wants to
understand how American 'politics' plays an important role in
this political lie called the 'Drug War'. The American public
should be informed and make immediate changes to the American
political structure before it is too late. Otherwise, we will
become like our own worst enemies. I am afraid that it is a current
reality." John Carman, former Senior
U.S. Customs Agent, and whistle-blower: www.carmaninvestigations.com
amerikanexpose.com/customs
"Drug War’s sickening hypothesis
unfortunately makes intuitive sense once articulated, and has
the broad power not only to tie together a vast array of seemingly
unrelated geopolitical events, but explain the otherwise unexplainable
drug war. This book should be required reading for anyone who
is puzzled by the seeming irrationality of current drug policy,
concerned with the steady erosion of civil liberties...or simply
seeks to understand the history of the 20th century from a new
angle. I highly recommend it." R. Andrew
Sewell, M.D., University of Massachusetts/Memorial Health Care
"Russell’s Drug War is an excellent
antidote to the drumbeat for ever increasing incarceration and
punitive drug policies. We can learn a great deal from Drug
War about how our society got into the self-destructive mess
we are in, and how we can work our way out." Rick
Doblin, founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association
For Psychedelic Studies: www.maps.org
"Although I am not an expert in many of
the areas covered, I find this general history to be well written,
easy to read, and fascinating. I believe it will be one more nail
in the coffin of the Drug War." Lester Grinspoon,
M.D., Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
"A frightening but fascinating book -
An in-depth, accurate and very detailed story covering more than
a century of disastrous US policies on drugs and public health.
Every American should read it." Alain Pire, founder de huy! :
groupe pop/psyché originaire de la ville susnommée: http://members.xoom.com/al_pire;
BS, communications, Liège University; MS, computer science, Namur
University; Ph.D. on creativity and entheogens in the sixties
in prep; French translator of Drug War.
"This new book is
comprehensive and detailed. It is the best expose of the real
motives behind the Drug War. Entheogenists, Dan speaks truth about
pharmacoshamanism (a term which Ott pointed out is redundant).
He's been working with Ott. Drug War is miles ahead of
the other books and gives the full cultural and psychological
and historical background to the Drug War. It details the power
and lies behind the drug war and provides an alternative to speaking
the propaganda expressions provided by the prohibitionist agencies."
"The book accurately portrays what's
really driving the old witch hunt. Covers midwivery, racism, the
Inquisition, and all sorts of interesting topics. I keep thinking
that the reformers would be better off if they halted reform activism
until reading this book -- then regroup and address the real enemies,
the real situation. This book pulls you far outside the authorized
worldview. Dan jumps right to the heart of the matters and
doesn't spend time writing introductions, conclusions, and structural
roadmaps and transition passages. I hope to write a summary of
this detailed, comprehensive book along with his previous excellent
book about entheogens in Western history, Shamanism and Drug
Propaganda. He has a great blend of coverage of all the sacraments
with an enlightened respect for the entheogens. That makes his
works, like those of Ott, especially relevant drug-war books for
philosophers." Michael Hoffman is indeed
a philosopher. His erudite site is www.egodeath.com
Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda: Patriarchy and the Drug War:
"A magnificent production.
I find it not only brilliant, but beautifully organized and, of
course, something that needs to be. It is a tremendous work and,
by nature, a tremendous volume." Professor
Richard Evans Schultes, Director Emeritus, Botanical Museum of
Harvard University
"I had to write in
appreciation of the invaluable contribution you’ve made to
realizing the possible human. Immediately, I was impressed with
the multi-perspectives through which you see the classics. I find
your book a major ally in delivering truth today." Jeannine
Parvati, author of Hygieia: A Woman’s Herbal,
freestone@hubwest.com
"Dan Russell's book,
Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda starts with questions
of basic importance to ethnobotany. Anyone working in this discipline
is aware of the profond and ancient relationship between man and
plant.... Using studies such as my own among the Maku in
the northwest Amazon, ethnobotany can demonstrate the relationship
between psychoactive plants and the tribal roots of human religion."
"But if the psychoative plants are
so deeply rooted in our evolved sense of the sacred, why are they
so viciously banned in contemporary industrial cultures?
Dan Russell's book answers this question. This important volume
show clearly and easily how the cultural evolution of the occident
has created the present situation. Starting in the 'golden
age' when humankind had free access to the "mysterium tremendum,"
Russell shows with competence how little by little the state and
the church have coopted and banned direct access to traditional
sacred states."
"Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda
traces the cultural evolution of our species from shamanism to
the mass media religions. It is an important book, very well written,
a must for anyone interested in psychoative plants and the cultural
evolution of humankind. It is also a very pleasing volume
to read, the kind of book that will keep you holding your breath
until the end. I strongly recommend this heavily illustrated,
original, yet rigorously empirical historical vision."
Anthropologist and Ethnobotanist Pedro Fernandes
Leite da Luz, M.A.: pedroluz@rio.com.br
"Dan Russell is an
independent scholar whose recent book Shamanism and Drug Propaganda,
traces the roots of the modern Drug War back to their ancient
unconscious origins. Beginning with the evolution of Paleolithic
proto-hominids, Russell presents one example after another in
support of his thesis that the Drug War is a psychological inheritance
from ancient times, one which is now deeply embedded in and, in
some cases, the driving force of our culture of power and profits.
Russell draws extensively from archeological evidence, presenting
object after object engraved with archetypal symbols of shamanic
travels, and he deconstructs countless ancient stories and myths
to show that many of them alluded to visionary states elicited
by the ingestion of psychoactive plants and potions. Russell,
building upon the seemingly impenetrable work of John Allegro,
even presents evidence that the Bible is riddled with cryptic
stories and word-play bestowing the importance of shamanic inebriation.
"Shamanism and Drug Propaganda
is so detail rich that a summary does it an injustice. In essence,
however, Russell argues that over time, the stories told by ancient
people (culminating in the New Testament), have been co-opted,
corrupted, and manipulated by forces bent on producing a conformist
culture. Modern industrial culture, argues Russell, is dependent
upon the active eradication of the conscious knowledge of entheogens."Richard
Glen Boire, Esq., Executive Director, The
Alchemind Society, Journal
of Cognitive Liberties, Vol.1, Issue
1, Winter 1999/2000
