Legalizing Marijuana: Drug Policy Reform and Prohibition Politics

This book is a frontal assault on the federal government's almost century-long campaign against marijuana in all its forms--cultivation, growing, selling, and recreational and medicinal use. Beginning with the anti-pot campaign of the first unofficial drug czar, Harry Anslinger, in the 1930s and continuing with only minor differences in emphasis through the recent Reagan, Clinton, and two Bush administrations, federal efforts to stamp out every form of marijuana use involve ignoring the independent reports of numerous federal commissions; supporting provably false claims about marijuana's effects; acquiescing to conservative law enforcement and religious groups' condemnatory agendas; generating a climate of fear in the electorate in order to cultivate messianic images for politicians; and ultimately governing in a way that does a disservice to all involved.

RUDOLPH J. GERBER is a retired appellate judge who served on the Arizona Court of Appeals until 2001. Currently a praciticing attorney in Phoenix, he is also on the faculty of the School of Justice Studies at Arizona State University.