Children of the Drug War

Taking for granted the need to reform drug policies around the world, this collection of sixteen essays focuses on the (often adverse) impact these policies have had on youth and families, and how to prioritize them in the call for reform. The essays are diverse and range from academic, to journalistic narrative, to interview. Organized into four major sections, they interrogate the costs of the "war on drugs," the rhetoric of fear in drug-policy and popular culture; the way race and class factor into drug-policies and their enforcement; the way families cope with incarceration and dependence; and how actual drug use among young people factors into (or is left out of) drug policies often targeting youth. Suggested discussion questions and introductions for each section are included. The contributors work in legal fields, nonprofits and NGOs working on human rights advocacy and drug-treatment, as well as academic research groups concerned with drug policy, production and consumption. The lack of any index makes connections between issues in different essays harder to track. Distributed in the US by Books International. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)