BOOK ABSTRACT: DRUG WAR PROPAGANDA

When a newspaper article says police will get tough on "dealers and
users" of dangerous drugs, what do think? Good? It is about time? Or
do you think, "Hey, that's drug war propaganda"?

Media in the U.S. and abroad constantly tell us that drug users are
evil people who deserve to be treated harshly. Media repeats
government proclamations that drugs (deemed illegal by government)
cause illness, insanity, and death. Society will collapse, unless we
"get tough" on drugs. One drug is a gateway to another, says media,
and all use of drugs is unquestionably abuse. Jailing adults who take
"drugs", it is insinuated, is only to save our precious little
children, so who could argue? It is war, says government, and those
who take or sell drugs are demons. Since it is a moral battle
against the evil of "drugs", we are told, no one could possibly
question the righteousness of such a crusade. Of course, as
government and media sing in unison, anything but eternally
increasing punishments for "drugs" is the same as "legalizing" drugs
for toddlers. Above all, those who question the glorious war on
"drugs", they are the problem. Those who question our leaders (on
the subject of illegal drugs), they deserve punishment, say
government and media alike.

On and on it goes, from what seems to be everywhere in the media.
Continually we are told what bad people drug users must be, and how
evil are their drugs.

Many people, born and bred on such government dictates and edicts
concerning "drugs" swallow it all. Life is complicated enough
already. But for those who feel their stomach tighten when
established media daily "explain" why drug users should be jailed and
treated harshly, "Drug War Propaganda" is for them.

"Drug War Propaganda" (2003, Cafe Press, 324 pages) systematically
lays bare the methods and techniques media use everyday to demonize
drug users. The book is divided into eight chapters, each chapter
examines a rhetorical theme and tactic drug warriors use to smear the
very idea of not jailing drug users.

Without drug war propaganda, it would be impossible for government to
hunt down, arrest, jail, enslave, and often kill people who, like
those who consume alcohol or tobacco, are no different from their
non-drug using neighbors. Drug war (prohibition) propaganda lets
government get away with their brutal war on drug users, because the
public has been softened up with years of propaganda which makes
government prevarication about drugs and those who take them seem as
natural as springtime.