American Drug War, Annotated Bibliography Example

Gray, James P. “Why our Drug Laws have Failed and What We Can Do About it: A Judicial Indictment   of the War on Drugs.” Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.

James Gray has had a long career in the justice department, serving as a federal prosecutor, a trial judge and now as a California Court Justice.  His stance is that the drug war is an inefficient and ineffective policy that, as he says, is “wasting unimaginable amounts of tax dollars, increasing crime and despair and severely and unnecessarily harming people’s lives.” He attributes the vast amount of tax dollars that are funded into the drug war, making it highly lucrative.  It is those who run the drug wars wish that the war be one that is never ending.  Gray takes a look at the failed policy and points out its many faults.  Gray also analyzed the prison system and criticizes how it is overflowing with non-violent drug offender.

NPR.org (2007) “Timeline: America’s War on Drugs” Web. Retrieved 31 May, 2010 from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490

National Public Radio creates a time line of the Drug War in America.   The time line begins in 1971 with Richard Nixon’s official declaration of a “war on drugs”.  Nixon identified drug abuse as “public enemy number 1.” The time line ends in 2006 with the discovery of one of the famous Mexico – U.S. Drug tunnels, this one fount in Tijuana.  Major drug kingpins and cartels are discussed.  Events high lighted include major military operations that resulted from the drug war, such as the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1986. The time line presents and outline of the major players and events leading up to the current situation today.

PBS.org, n.d.  “A Social History of America’s Most Popular Drugs.”  Frontline Web. Retrieved 31 May, 2010 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/socialhistory.html

This article is a part of the PBS Frontline series.  This article looks at the social aspect of each drug, the effect it has not only on individual users, but on society itself.  It examines the different drugs popular in American today and the path that led them here.  Each drugs history is given, describing how it was discovered, its originally usage, and its current use.  Drugs included in the survey are amphetamine, cocaine, crack, LSD, marijuana, opium and heroin.

Office of National Drug Control Policy (2001) “What America’s Users Spend on Illegal Drugs 1988- 2001. Executive Office of the President Office of National Drug Control Policy. Web. Retrieved 31 May, 2001 from      http://www.ncjrs.gov/ondcppubs/publications/pdf/american_users_spend_2002.pdf

This publication was prepared by the Office of Programs, Budget, Research and Evaluations for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.  It basically looks at four drugs for its evaluation, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana.  The report admits that “because of the quality of available data, there is considerable imprecision in estimates of the number of chronic and occasional users of drugs, the retail sales value of their drug purchases, and the amount of drugs they consume.”  Therefore, while the report has some statistical value, its numbers must be viewed with some suspicion.

Robinson, Matthew B., Scherlen, Renee G. “Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.” Albany: State   University of New York Press, 2007.

The authors analyzed the yearly reports released by the Office of National Drug Policy entitled The National Drug Control Strategy.  These reports are allegedly created in order to provide statistical data that will lead to reducing the supply and demand of illegal drugs. Through this data, policy is shaped and implemented.  However, criticism has often arisen due to the apparent ineffectiveness of the policy,  since the demand and supply of drugs continuously increases each year.  The authors, upon analyzing the data, came to the conclusion that data was being intentionally distorted in order for the war on drugs to continue.