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The New Prohibition is available from the publisher at 1.800.374.4049 ($14.95).
The New Prohibition
Voices of Dissent Challenge the Drug War
The New Prohibition, edited by Sheriff Bill Masters, was released on May 20, 2004. Journalists interested in a review copy should contact Ari Armstrong at 303.412.8366 or ari**AT**freecolorado.com. The New Prohibition, published by Accurate Press (St. Louis, Missouri), contains 21 essays (two of which are co-authored, making 23 contributors) and 224 pages. Seventeen of the essays were written specifically for the book, and four of them were adapted from previously published or presented material.
A high-res tif image of the cover may be downloaded. Text from the back cover summarizes, "Prohibition failed once... now it is failing us again. Provocative essays from peace officers, public officials, scholars, and policy experts analyze our drug laws -- and find they have failed us. Today's war on drugs funds terrorists, undermines justice, corrupts business, and destroys people's lives. Edited by Sheriff Bill Masters, these collected essays -- these voices of dissent -- challenge the core assumptions of what one author calls 'our domestic Vietnam,' the new prohibition of drugs."
Foreword, by Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura became the 38th governor of Minnesota in 1998, winning as a Reform Party candidate with a campaign budget of less than $400,000. After graduating from high school in 1969, Ventura joined the Navy and was trained as a SEAL (Sea, Air, Land). Following his honorable discharge in 1973, he attended North Hennepin Community College on the GI bill. After his 11-year career in professional wrestling, Ventura became an actor, appearing in films such as Predator. Ventura served as Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, from 1990 to 1995, citing crime reduction as a major issue, and then hosted a radio talk show. He is a member of the Make a Wish of Minnesota Board of Advisors, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He is also the author of three books, including Jesse Ventura Tells It Like It Is.
Section I: Perspectives from Law Enforcement
1. Shoveling Hay in Mayberry, by Sheriff Bill Masters
Bill Masters has served as sheriff of San Miguel County, Colorado (county seat, Telluride), since 1980. He is the author of Drug War Addiction: Notes from the Front Lines of America's #1 Policy Disaster.
2. Prohibition: The Enemy of Freedom, by Sheriff Richard Mack (Ret.)
Richard Mack served on the Provo, Utah, police force from 1979 to 1988. He worked as an undercover narcotics officer in 1982 and also served as a juvenile crime specialist and resource officer for the Provo School District. Mack was promoted to sergeant in 1985 and later became a detective. In 1988 Mack moved back to his hometown of Safford, Arizona, and successfully ran for sheriff of Graham County, a position he held until 1996. Currently Mack lives in Provo and works as an author and law-enforcement consultant. He is running for governor of Utah in 2004.
3. Gangster Cops in the Drug War, by Chief Joseph McNamara (Ret.), Ph.D.
Joseph McNamara served as a patrolman in Harlem before earning his doctorate in public administration at Harvard. In 1973 he became chief of police in Kansas City, Missouri. From 1976 to 1991 he served as chief of police in San Jose, California; then he was appointed a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. McNamara has written three best-selling detective novels and a criminology textbook.
4. End Prohibition Now, by Lieutenant Jack Cole (Ret.)
Jack Cole retired as a detective lieutenant after a 26-year career with the New Jersey State Police. For 12 of those years Cole worked as an undercover narcotics officer. He is currently the executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
Section II: Public Officials Speak Out
5. Policy is Not a Synonym for Justice, by Judge John L. Kane
John L. Kane has served as U.S. district judge in Colorado since 1978, becoming a senior district judge in 1988. He has also taught at the University of Colorado, the University of Denver, Trinity College, and Metropolitan State College. His awards include a Lifetime Judicial Achievement Award in 1987 from the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.
6. A View of the Drug War from Capitol Hill, by Congressman Ron Paul, M.D.
Ron Paul has represented Texas' 14th Congressional District since 1996, and he previously served in Congress from 1976 to 1984. After earning his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine, Paul served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s. He is the author of several books, including Challenge to Liberty; The Case for Gold; and A Republic, If You Can Keep It.
7.Forging a New Consensus in the War on Drugs, by Mayor Kurt Schmoke (Ret.), J.D.
Kurt Schmoke served as mayor of Baltimore from 1987 to 1999, and he is currently dean of Howard University School of Law. He gratuated from Yale University in 1971 and from Harvard Law School in 1976. Schmoke joined President Carter's staff, then worked as Assistant U.S. Attorney and State's Attorney in Baltimore.
Section III: Harms of the Drug War
8. A Businessperson's Guide to the Drug Problem, by Eric E. Sterling, J.D.
Eric E. Sterling is President of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary from 1979 until 1989. He was a principal aide in developing the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, the Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988, and other laws.
9. A Foreign Policy Disaster, by Mike Krause and David Kopel, J.D.
Mike Krause is a senior fellow with the Independence Institute. While serving in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1987-1991, he was a boat coxswain for drug interdiction operations during joint agency drug patrols in the Caribbean Sea. Dave Kopel, research director of the Independence Institute, formerly served as assistant attorney general of Colorado. He is the author of many books, including No More Wacos: What's Wrong with Federal Law Enforcement and How to Fix It.
10. The Social Costs of a Moral Agenda, by Fatema Gunja
Fatema Gunja is the director of the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts, a statewide nonprofit organization working to reduce the harms associated with illegal drug use and our current drug laws. She previously served as the communications coordinator of the ACLU Drug Policy Litigation Project.
11. A Frightening New Trend in America, by Nicolas Eyle
Nicolas Eyle is the founder and executive director of ReconsiDer, a New York-based non-profit organization that promotes alternatives to our current drug policy.
12. How Drug Laws Hurt Gunowners, by John Ross
John Ross is the author of the novel Unintended Consequences. He has also written Self-Defense Laws and Violent Crime Rates in the United States and technical articles for Precision Shooting and Machine Gun News. Ross is a certified personal protection instructor and an investment broker and financial adviser in St. Louis, Missouri.
13. The Drug War as the Problem, by Doug Casey
Doug Casey, a best-selling financial writer, is the author of The International Man and Crisis Investing. He writes a column for World Net Daily, serves as Contributing Editor for Liberty, and publishes International Speculator.
Section IV: Answering the Prohibitionists
14. America's Unjust Drug War, by Michael Huemer, Ph.D.
Michael Huemer is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Skepticism and the Veil of Perception and the editor of Epistemology: Contemporary Readings.
15. Drugs and Terror, by Ari Armstrong
Ari Armstrong edits the Colorado Freedom Report. His work has also been published in various newspapers and libertarian publications.
16. Your Government Is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana, by Paul Armentano and Keith Stroup, J.D.
Paul Armentano is an author and senior policy analyst for The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the NORML Foundation. His work has appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines, and anthologies, including Drug Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints; You Are Being Lied To: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths; and Busted: Stone Cowboys, Narco-Lords and Washington's War on Drugs. Keith Stroup, J.D., is the founder and executive director of NORML.
Section V: Strategies for Reform
17. Liberal Versus Libertarian Views on Drug Legalization, by Jeffrey Miron, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Miron is a professor of economics at Boston University. He has written extensively about crime related to alcohol and drug prohibition. Miron earned his doctorate at MIT in 1984.
18. Medicalization as an Alternative to the Drug War, by Jeffrey A. Singer, M.D.
Jeffrey A. Singer, M.D., is a general surgeon in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona. He served as Medical Spokesperson for Arizonans for Drug Policy Reform, the organization that drafted and promoted Arizona's Proposition 200 (The Drug Medicalization, Prevention, and Control Act of 1996). He is a contributor to AZMed, the journal of the Arizona Medical Association.
19. My Arrest for Civil Disobedience, by Ron Crickenberger
Ron Crickenberger served as political director of the Libertarian Party from 1997 to 2003, and he was the architect of the LP's Drug War Focus Strategy, a plan that seeks to end the drug war at the federal level by leveraging the Libertarian Party's influence on elections and policy at the local and national levels. In 2002, Crickenberger managed the congressional campaign of Carole Ann Rand that helped defeat incumbent Bob Barr over his opposition to medical marijuana.
20. Restoring Federalism in Drug Policy, by Jason P. Sorens, Ph.D.
Jason P. Sorens, Ph.D., is lecturer of political science at Yale University and founder of the Free State Project.
21. Out From the Shadows, by David Borden
David Borden is founder and executive director of StoptheDrugWar.org, the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet), in Washington, D.C.
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