Date: Tue, 02 Aug 1994 11:09:38 -0500 From: Leora Lawton Subject: drug book review Sender: Drug Abuse Education Information and Research Message-id: <01HFFE7ICYFE94G56O@ymir.claremont.edu> you may remember that I said we should review books for the benefit of education and discussion on this net, but you may have noticed that I didn't do it. Life got in the way, I guess., but now I'm going to try to make good. This first book I have already mentioned as a reference for racism and drug laws, but I'll go into a bit more detail. Drug Control Policy: Essays in historical and comparative perspective. Edited by William O. Walker, III. Penn State Press, 1992. This is a collection of essays about drug laws...their history and ramifications in a variety of historical and international contexts. Three of the authors are professors of history, one has a phd in history, another is working on his doctorate, and yet another is a professional writer and editor of economics and has written a book on drug wars. I bought this book from a catalogue totally by its title. I have done this several times and I'm always amazed that time and time again, scholars of drug laws conclude that more of the same is the last thing we need, that legalization of some form is more reasonable, and that drug laws come into existence because of complex political and economic forces, not usually because of their inherent danger. Each of these essay demonstrates how they reach their conclusions, whether examining the U.S.'s history (McWilliams, Courtwright, or Kinder) or whether looking at international contexts (Meyer, Marshall or McAllister). The essays are well written, referenced. I highly recommend them. I list the titles, with a little annotation to make it a bit clearer what they are about, but forgive me for the brevity of content. McWilliams, JOhn. Through the Past Darkly: the Politics and policies of America's drug war. Courtwright , David. Drug legalization, the drug war, and drug treatment in historical perspective. [US story] Meyer, Kathryn. Fast crabs and cigarette boats: a speculative essay. [this is about drug wars in china, starting with Great Britain's monopoly on selling opium to China from India] Marshall, Jonathan. Opium, tungsten and the search for National Security. [more stuff on international business and politics of drug trade supported by the US government, but, since profits were lucrative, one that led to corruption and misuse of government officials and resources] Kinder, Douglas Clark. Shutting out the evil: nativism and narcotics control in the United States. McAllister, William. Conflicts of interest in the international drug control system. [an economic argument about producing versus manufacturing countries and how they negotiated international drug laws] Have fun!!! leora lawton Leora Lawton Bellcore MRE 2A-219 445 South St. Morristown, NJ 07960