Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

David Farber, distinguished professor of history at the University of Kansas, author of Crack and editor of The War on Drugs, explores the tragic consequences of Richard Nixon's 1971 declaration of a war on drugs. Looking at two key hinge points in this "war," Farber examines the conflict in the policymaking process between imperfect expertise and tempestuous political demands, and then the impact of that conflict on the lives of Americans, especially those most at risk of falling prey to drug abuse. Since 1971, Americans have traveled a hard road as they seek to balance the mass demand for the recourse drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, and opioids provide with the dangers of drug abuse and dependency. Even now, as the war on drugs has deescalated, Americans continue to fight over how drug use and abuse can and should be managed.