Article Index      Subscribe to DrugWar Discussion and News List      News Archive      Preston Peet       How Drug Money Works      Save the Akha      You Are Being Lied To Excerpts      Drug Testing News      The Light Side     Great Links      Link To Us!      Bookstore      Home

Order "Underground- The Disinformation Guide to Ancient Civlizations, Astonishing Archeology and Hidden History" Edited by DrugWar.com editor Preston Peet- On Book Store Shelves Now!
Contributors Graham Hancock, Colin Wilson, Robert Schoch, Archaya S., John Anthony West, William Corliss, David Hatcher Childress, Michael Cremo, Frank Joseph, and many more discuss a huge variety of theories about humanity's ancient, hoary past and the enigmatic remains our ancestors left behind. Order your copies today!

Order "Under the Influence- the Disinformation Guide to Drugs" by DrugWar.com editor Preston Peet- On Bookstore Shelves

Heroin is "Good for Your Health": Occupation Forces support Afghan Narcotics Trade (May 10, 2007)
"The occupation forces in Afghanistan are supporting the drug trade, which brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence agencies and Western financial institutions."

U.S., allies seen as losing drug war (May 7, 2007)
"The United States and its Latin American allies are losing a major battle in the war on drugs, according to indicators that show cocaine prices dipped for most of 2006 and U.S. users were getting more bang for their buck."

101-year-old Zambian man nabbed over cannabis cultivation, trafficking (May 3, 2007)
"DEC spokesperson Rosten Chulu confirmed the arrest of Timothy Chilekwa, a peasant farmer of Namembo village in Southern province who was born in 1906. Chulu said the old man was nabbed for alleged unlawful cultivation of cannabis weighing 1.2 tons. He was also found trafficking two sacks of cannabis weighing 6. 95 kg, Chulu said. The spokesperson said the 101-year-old would appear in court soon."

Was Timothy Leary Right? (May 3, 2007)
"Are psychedelics good for you? It's such a hippie relic of a question that it's almost embarrassing to ask. But a quiet psychedelic renaissance is beginning at the highest levels of American science, including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Harvard, which is conducting what is thought to be its first research into therapeutic uses of psychedelics (in this case, Ecstasy) since the university fired Timothy Leary in 1963. But should we be prying open the doors of perception again? Wasn't the whole thing a disaster the first time? The answer to both questions is yes."

The Farce of the War on Drugs (May 1, 2007)
"My brother Howard Wooldridge served as a decorated police officer and detective in Lansing, Michigan for 18 years. During that time, he collared killers, drunk drivers, child molesters, rapists, wife beaters and drug dealers. What he learned launched him on a crusade to stop the federal government’s useless 35 year 'War on Drugs.'"

Coca Growers Shake the Andes Once Again (April 27, 2007)
"During the last few days, coca growers, especially in Peru and Colombia, have been in the news again, as their actions have given the media something to talk about."

LSD as Therapy? Write about It, Get Barred from US (April 27, 2007)
"BC psychotherapist denied entry after border guard googled his work."

No Jail for Willie Nelson on Drug Charge (April 25, 2007)
While the editor of DrugWar.com applauds this decision by the judge, I can't help but wonder how hard the judge would have thrown the book at me for the exact same offense.

The War on Salvia Divinorum Heats Up (April 14, 2007)
"Middlebury, Vermont, this week declared a public health emergency to prevent a local business from selling it. It's already illegal in five states -- Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Delaware -- and a number of towns and cities across the country, and now politicians in at least seven other states have filed bills to make it illegal there. For the DEA, it is a 'drug of concern.'"

Book Offer: Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug War Statistics (April 14, 2007)
"Normally when we publish a book review in our Drug War Chronicle newsletter, it gets readers but is not among the top stories visited on the site. Recently we saw a big exception to that rule when more than 2,700 of you read our review of the new book Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy."

Plant growers served search warrant (April 11, 2007)
"Three WSU students were surprised when a plant they were growing in their closet was mistaken for marijuana."

California in bid to impose 7.25% sales tax on cannabis (April 10, 2007)
"For decades, smoking marijuana has been an illicit affair, a key anti-establishment ritual for America's counter-culture underground. But the legalisation of the drug for medicinal purposes in California has presented its advocates with a dilemma: to remain firmly on the wrong side of the law or accept a demand to pay taxes on its sale."

The Other War: Democratic Candidates are Deafeningly Silent on the Drug War (April 9, 2007)
"There is a major disconnect in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House. While all the top candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed War on Drugs, a war that has morphed into a war on people of color."

Ex-officer likens drug war to Prohibition (April 8, 2007)
"Retired police officer Peter Christ on Tuesday compared the contemporary war on drugs to National Prohibition of the 1920s."

Minnesota drug laws: Are they too harsh? (April 8, 2007)
Momentum gathers for review of sentencing rules

Drug Czar Blasted for Lack of Leadership (April 8, 2007)
"During the course of research for this series, it became apparent that many prominent players in the war on drugs don't have many compliments for the current drug czar, John Walters."

Is the Drug War Nearing an End? (April 8, 2007)
"Little by little by little there is some hope that the "war" on drugs is becoming a political issue - the first step in undoing a set of policies that make little sense no matter how you look at them."

Law Enforcement Group Visits Maine To Advocate For Legalization Of Drugs (April 8, 2007)
"LEAP, or Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, says it has 5,000 members, made up mostly of retired and active law enforcement professionals. The group tours the country speaking to various civic groups about what they call a $60 billion failed war on drugs."

Afghans pin hopes on a new economy (April 8, 2007)
"As a competitive economy awakens in one of the world's poorest countries, the residents of Kabul are jockeying to get ahead in a city flush with cash from US soldiers, foreign aid workers, new investors, parliamentarians, and drug traffickers."

Salvadoran Murders in Guatemala (April 8, 2007)
"If the trip to Guatemala was a fiasco, Colombia was no better, Bush's arrival in Bogotá couldn't have happened at a worse time as every moment ticked off another scandal, some of them leading in the direction ofo President Uribe's office, and nothing that Bush or Uribe president could say concealed the fact that the Colombia phase of the U.S. anti-drug war was more dead than alive, which was even more certain when it came to extraditing Colombian suspected felons to the U.S."

Analysis: U.S. anti-drug war in Afghanistan (April 8, 2007)
"In a bluntly worded letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the lawmakers said inter-agency rivalry and U.S. policy failures in Afghanistan risked allowing it to slide back into chaos."

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories (April 7, 2007)
"A Georgia fire captain gets caught peddling coke, a pair of New Haven narcs lose their jobs, a former Mississippi police chief cops a plea, and a former Ohio cop goes back to prison. Let's get to it...."

Methamphetamine: Feds Make First Cold Medicine Bust Under Combat Meth Act (April 7, 2007)
"An Ontario, New York, man last Friday won the dubious distinction of being the first person arrested under the 2005 Combat Meth Epidemic Act. According to a DEA press release, William Fousse was arrested for purchasing cold tablets containing more than nine grams of pseudoephedrine within a one month period."

Harm Reduction: New Mexico Governor Signs Overdose Death Reduction Measure (April 7, 2007)
"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) Wednesday signed innovative legislation that would protect friends or family members who seek medical attention for drug overdose victims. The law is the first of its kind in the country."

Pot-Growing Takes Root in the Suburbs (April 1, 2007)
"In Coldwater Creek, a middle-class housing development outside Atlanta, the neighbors mind their own business and respect each other's privacy - ideal conditions, it turns out, for growing marijuana in the suburbs."

Bob Barr Flip-Flops on Pot (March 28, 2007)
"Bob Barr, who as a Georgia congressman authored a successful amendment that blocked D.C. from implementing a medical marijuana initiative, has switched sides and become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project."

What the heck is Sibel Edmonds' Case about? And why should I care? (March 28, 2007)
"Essentially, there is only one investigation – a very big one, an all-inclusive one... But I can tell you there are a lot of people involved, a lot of ranking officials, and a lot of illegal activities that include multi-billion-dollar drug-smuggling operations, black-market nuclear sales to terrorists and unsavory regimes, you name it... You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people."

Mexican Envoy Highly Critical of U.S. Role in Anti-Drug Effort (March 23, 2007)
"The United States has contributed 'zilch' to Mexico's efforts to combat the nations' joint problem with criminal narcotics gangs, Mexico's new ambassador to Washington said yesterday."

Colorado Has Song in Its Heart, and Not Drugs on Its Mind (March 14, 2007- Free NYTimes registration required)
"The Colorado General Assembly wants to be quite clear on this point: When the singer-songwriter John Denver praised the joys of Colorado and sang about 'friends around the campfire, and everybody’s high,' in 1972, he was not referring to illicit drugs. Definitely not. Don’t even think it. The high in question, lawmakers say, is really about nature and the great outdoors — the tingly feeling you get after a nice hike, perhaps."

U.S. faults friends, foes in drug war (March 5, 2007)
"The United States said top anti-terror allies Afghanistan, Pakistan and Colombia had fallen short in the war on drugs despite enhanced counter-narcotics efforts and it criticized perennial foes Iran, North Korea and Venezuela for not cooperating."

Cuba’s War on Drugs (March 5, 2007)
"A review of the main results of the Cuban efforts against illegal drug trafficking as well as prevention during 2006, shows a marked reduction in the presence of drugs on the island, with 1.7 tons of narcotics seized, the lowest figure of the past 11 years and almost four times less than the amount detected in 2003."

Drug War Corrupting Cops In Hawaii and Elsewhere (March 5, 2007)
"Claiming to be the 'world’s leading drug policy newsletter,' the Drug War Chronicle publishes a regular online feature called, 'This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories.' The typical Hawaii newspaper reader probably comes across these cops-gone-bad stories pretty rarely. But, when hundreds of reports compiled over the past year from around the nation are read at one sitting, they add up to a hidden cost of America’s ill-fated drug war -- widespread corruption inside local police departments, prisons and jails."

Drug war rips apart Mexico (March 5, 2007)
"More than 250 people were executed last year in Acapulco as the sweltering Pacific resort became the latest battleground between rival cartels battling for supremacy of the multibillion-dollar drug trade."

In Guatemala, officers' killings echo dirty war (March 5, 2007)
"The two sets of brazen killings set off a vicious diplomatic conflict between Guatemala and El Salvador — heightened by news reports suggesting that the congressmen were indeed drug dealers — and ignited a political scandal here. It shed light on how corrupt the National Police has become, and raised questions about links between drug dealers and high-level police officials, as well as whether the government can contain drug trafficking without international help."

Collision Course: Bolivia's "Coca, Si; Cocaine, No" Policy Runs Afoul of the International Drug Control Board and, Probably, the United States (March 1, 2007)
"A confrontation is brewing over Bolivian President Evo Morales' effort to rationalize coca production in his country and expand markets for coca-based products....Now, the Morales government is also pushing for expanded legal markets for coca products and, in a joint venture with the Venezuelan government, is preparing to begin coca product exports to that country."

Ga. Reconsiders No - Knock Warrant Rules (March 1, 2007)
"A group of lawmakers wants to make it harder for police to use ''no-knock'' warrants in the wake of a shootout that left an elderly woman dead after plainclothes officers stormed her home unannounced in a search for drugs."

Here we go again (Feb. 22, 2007)
"We're happy we could help with that, Mr. Vice President, but Colombian cocaine is still readily available in U.S. cities, so we have a difficult time thinking we got a good deal for our $4 billion. In fact, we don't believe Americans are getting their money's worth for any of the cash the government has thrown into the bottomless pit of the drug war. Court dockets are packed and prisons are overcrowded, yet illicit drugs are still readily available to anyone who wants them."

Latin America: Mexico Moves to Decriminalize Drug Possession -- So It Can Concentrate on Drug Traffickers (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Legislators from Mexican President Felipe's Calderon's National Action Party (PAN -- Partido de Accion Nacional) have introduced a bill in the Mexican Senate that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs for 'addicts.'"

DPS officials were told of lax lab security (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Texas Department of Public Safety officials were aware of security breaches in the handling of their drug evidence as recently as 2006 and as far back as at least 2003 — problems such as failure to log evidence out of storage, containers of marijuana left open and the lack of a monitoring system for a high-security drug vault — according to the agency's internal audits."

'Safest city' now has drug war (Feb. 22, 2007)
"From the shopping malls and the fashionable clothes of its residents, this could be any affluent U.S. suburb. Residents pride themselves on their prosperity. But in recent weeks, drug-related violence has shattered the tranquillity."

Mexican president gives soldiers pay hike as drug war intensifies (Feb. 22, 2007)
"Soldiers waging a nationwide offensive against drug traffickers will get a pay hike of nearly 50 percent this year in a bid to insulate them from corruption, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced Monday."

New Federal Study Shows Methamphetamine Use Decreased Between 2002 and 2005 (Jan. 31, 2007)
"A new analysis of data from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that past-year use of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant, declined between 2002 and 2005 among persons age 12 or older....The study also shows that the number of persons who used methamphetamine for the first time in the 12 months before the survey remained stable between 2002 and 2004 but decreased between 2004 and 2005."

Tell Governor Spitzer to Support Rockefeller Drug Law Reform (Jan. 31, 2007)
"The Rockefeller Drug Laws require extremely harsh prison terms for the possession or sale of relatively small amounts of drugs. Most of the people incarcerated under these laws are convicted of low-level, nonviolent offenses, and many of them have no prior criminal records. Today 14,139 people are locked up for drug offenses in NY State prisons, comprising nearly 38% of the prison population. This costs New Yorkers over half a billion dollars a year. Send a message to Governor Spitzer now, urging him to support real reform."

Mexico eyes Colombian experience in drug battle (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Mexico's top prosecutor on Thursday looked to Colombia's experience in counter-narcotics and conflict for lessons to help his government battle drug cartels whose violence has engulfed parts of the country."

Rio gang kills seven as drug war spreads (Jan. 27, 2007)
"The mutilated bodies of seven youths, some with their heads and legs chopped off, have been found in an abandoned car in a notorious Rio de Janeiro slum. They appeared to be the latest victims of a long-running drug war that has made Rio, which depends heavily on tourism, one of the most violent cities in the world."

Drug Policy Reform Group to Partner with State of New Mexico in Federally-Funded Meth Prevention Education Program (Jan. 27, 2007)
"In a first for drug reform organizations, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) New Mexico office has been designated to create a statewide methamphetamine education and prevention program directed at high school students, thanks to a $500,000 grant obtained by US Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) as part of a Justice Department appropriations bill. The grant is the result of years of close collaboration between DPA and New Mexico state and local officials dating back to the administration of former Gov. Gary Johnson (R), a prominent voice for drug law reform."

Spot in brain may control smoking urge (Jan. 27, 2007)
"Damage to a silver dollar-sized spot deep in the brain seems to wipe out the urge to smoke, a surprising discovery that may shed important new light on addiction. The research was inspired by a stroke survivor who claimed he simply forgot his two-pack-a-day addiction - no cravings, no nicotine patches, not even a conscious desire to quit."

Case highlights medical-pot dilemma (Jan. 23, 2007)
"'If they didn't arrest me with 1,500, it's not likely they're going to come back and arrest me for 50,' said Sarich, whose advocacy group, CannaCare, says it has provided marijuana plants for 1,200 patients all over the state. Some of his new plants, delivered by patients in Longview, Federal Way and Vancouver, Wash., are descendants of the plants he lost."

Alleged cartel members extradited to Texas (Jan. 23, 2007)
"A suspected Mexican drug lord whose cartel allegedly smuggled more than 4 tons of cocaine a month over the U.S. border will stand trial in Texas. Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, the alleged kingpin of the Gulf Cartel, and three other alleged drug lords appeared in a Houston court Monday. Mexican authorities delivered Cardenas-Guillen and 14 other alleged Mexican drug dealers and criminals to Houston late Friday and early Saturday, the Drug Enforcement Administration said."

Burdened U.S. military cuts role in drug war (Jan. 22, 2007)
"Stretched thin from fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military has sharply reduced its role in the war on drugs, leaving significant gaps in the nation's narcotics interdiction efforts."

S.F. area is No. 1 for regular drug use, study says (Jan. 21, 2007)
"The San Francisco metropolitan area has a higher percentage of people who are regular drug users than any other major metropolitan area in the USA, a study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found."

Executive Order 13420 -- Dismantling the DEA (Jan. 21, 2007)
"This is the order I will sign after delivering my inaugural address," says Steve Kubby, who is again running for office this time seeking the nomination from the Libertarian Party as their Presidential candidate.

Cocaine found on 99.9% of UK banknotes (Jan. 21, 2007)
"Pretty well every banknote in the UK shows traces of cocaine, forensic scientists have claimed. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, 99.9 per cent of the two billion notes currently in circulation have come into contact with Bolivian marching powder."

A Legacy of Torture: From Cointelpro to the Patriot Act (Jan. 21, 2007)
"In today's world, the US government's use of torture and complicity in its clients' use of it is part of the headlines on a regular basis. Yet very few US citizens believe that methods like waterboarding, beating, and electrical shocks could be -- and have been -- used on US citizens." But the fact that torture is used profusely in US jails and prisons is unsurprising to those who've been inside the US "justice" system.

Reefer Madness (Jan. 21, 2007)
"I was never an activist until I got busted [noted Tommy Chong]. But it ’s not so much my efforts as the substance itself. Pot lives and dies on its own reputation....Years ago, people would do booze jokes. Then they start dying of cirrhosis of the liver and all these alcohol-related car accidents. Alcohol started out as a fun thing and ended up as this evil thing that kills people. Pot is the opposite...."

In the Costly War on Drugs, Who's To Say What Is Right? (Jan. 21, 2007)
"It seems like you lack a certain enthusiasm for the war on drugs, I said. I do lack enthusiasm for the war on drugs, he said. I asked about legalization. He shrugged. 'Monday, Wednesday and Friday I think they should be legalized. Tuesdays and Thursdays I think they should be illegal. I don't like drugs. I strongly disapprove of them. The costs are great. But it's expensive to incarcerate somebody. The costs are enormous either way. I don't know what's right.'"

Democracy and Plan Colombia (Jan. 21, 2007)
Just what effects are the massive spraying in anti-cocaine and poppy efforts that are one of the main tenents of Plan Colombia, not to mention all the arms and training given to the Colombian military and governments to combat Colombian peasents...errr, I mean, dastardly narco-terrorists? No major advancement of democracy it appears.

Drug mafia, CIA blamed for sacking of Afghan governor (Jan. 21, 2007)
"As The Washington Post has plainly summarized, 'corruption and alliances formed by Washington and the Afghan government with anti-Taliban tribal chieftains, some of whom are believed to be deeply involved in the trade, [have] undercut the [counter-narcotics] effort.'"

PAST NEWS ARCHIVE

For Trade Orders Click Here

Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy: Rave Reviews

    "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:

    "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

Our Bookstore
Check out our bookstore for:
Drug Politics Books  Grow Books  Marijuana Books  Psychedelics Books  Shroom Books

Become a Drugwar.com Affiliate!
Affiliates Login Here

If you have credentials as either a writer or webmaster/marketeer, and would benefit from free use of this site, please click here.

Illustrated bibliographies on:
Drug Politics  Ethnobotany  Grow Books  Herbalism  Marijuana  Psychedelics  Shamanism  Shrooms

Illustrated Excerpts
Read illustrated excerpts from Drug War by Dan Russell, with rave reviews & ordering info.

Illustrated Excerpts
Read illustrated excerpts from Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda by Dan Russell, with rave reviews and ordering info.


Yaje: El Nuevo Purgatorio by Jimmy Weiskopf


Search:
Drugwar.com
Search WWW
Search Drugnews from The Media Awareness Project
Some other powerful search sites:
American Journalism Review Newslink
Drugtext Libraries
Drug Reform Coordination Network
MAPS Bulletin
Mario's Cyberspace Station
NORML
National Library of Medicine
Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
Stratfor Global Intelligence Update
USDA Plants Database
Editor     Webmaster     Copyright/Disclaimer     Privacy Policy