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- Date: Tue, 02 Aug 1994 11:09:38 -0500
- From: Leora Lawton <leora@THUMPER.BELLCORE.COM>
- Subject: drug book review
- Sender: Drug Abuse Education Information and Research <DRUGABUS@UMAB.BITNET>
- 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
-