Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State [Hardcover]

Richard Lawrence Miller (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0275950425 | ISBN-13: 978-0275950422 | Publication Date: February 28, 1996

The war on drugs is a war on ordinary people. Using that premise, historian Richard Lawrence Miller analyzes America's drug war with passion seldom encountered in scholarly writing. Miller presents numerous examples of drug law enforcement gone amok, as police and courts threaten the happiness, property, and even lives of victims--some of whom are never charged with a drug crime, let alone convicted of one. Miller not only argues that criminal justice zealots are harming the democracy they are sworn to protect, but that authoritarians unfriendly to democracy are stoking public fear in order to convince citizens to relinquish traditional legal rights. Those are the very rights that thwart implementation of an agenda of social control through government power. Miller contends that an imaginary "drug crisis" has been manufactured by authoritarians in order to mask their war on democracy. He not only examines numerous civil rights sacrificed in the name of drugs, but demonstrates how their loss harms ordinary Americans in their everyday lives. Showing how the war on drug users fits into a destruction process that can lead to mass murder, Miller calls for an end to the war before it proceeds deeper into the destruction process. This is a book for anyone who wonders about the value of civil liberties, and for anyone who wonders why people seek to destroy their neighbors. Using voluminous examples of drug law enforcement victimizing blameless people, this book demonstrates how the loss of civil liberties "in the name of drugs" threatens law-abiding Americans at work and at home.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Independent researcher Miller continues the argument he began in The Case for Legalizing Drugs (LJ 4/15/91). Drawing on his latest book, Nazi Justiz (Praeger, 1995), he makes an extended analogy between Germany repressing the Jews and America repressing drug users. In chapters on identification, ostracism, confiscation, concentration, and annihilation, he shows that democracy, privacy, and family life can be lost in our society just as they were when these policies were applied to the Jews. Because of "bureaucratic thrust," the criminalization aimed at one group consumes the entire society. In contrast, Miller thinks drug use is normal and should be regarded as such; he marshals convincing evidence that it can be mature and responsible. If drugs are abused, he does not think criminalization or medical force are solutions, any more than they would be solutions to unemployment. Although many will find Miller's case overstated, it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. Recommended for most libraries.?Janice Dunham, John Jay Coll. Lib., New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Using chain-of-destruction analysis based on Raul Hilberg's The Destruction of European Jews, Miller argues that the drug war has moved from identification through ostracism and confiscation and that concentration and annihilation are currently 'in "prototype" stage.' Before readers conclude that Miller's belief that 'the war on drug users masks a war on democracy' is extreme, they may wish to consider the disturbing evidence he amasses. A powerful, passionate argument that the war on drugs serves only authoritarians' interests.”–Booklist

“Drug Warriors and Their Prey is a rich with insights into the growth of state power-. Of all of these books, Millers is the most jarring, the most insightful, and the most important.”–Newsbrief

“Miller succeeds in revealing a bureaucracy run dangerously amok in what he and a growing chorus of other respected voices believe is a quasi-religious and unwinnable war whose time is past.”–Kansas City Star

“Even those disturbed by the "war on drugs" will find Richard Miller's latest work shocking--like being in a capsizing boat. For those who don't like the term "war on drugs" this book gives the concept a fresh meaning. For those who argue, such as Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), that a "war on drugs" has never been fought, Miller pulls together a vast array of circumstances to make the case that "war" may be too polite a term to describe what is happening in our society....Drug Warriors and Their Prey is rich with insights into the growth of state power--how it grows, how arguments are framed for its expansion, and the careful identification of targets against which to exercise that power.”–Newsbriefs

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Trade (February 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275950425
• ISBN-13: 978-0275950422
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most powerful books that you will ever read., October 4, 1999

By 

Georgina Fenichel (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State (Hardcover)

The author has done the work and now the citizens must spread the "gospel". Like a seer Lawrence is able to anticipate the insane trajectory of where this drug war is leading. Though the picture he paints is ugly, if these drug warrior zealots are not vigorously challenged now he clearly shows how much uglier it will become. The evil of Nazi Germany and that of the US drug war are clearly shown to progress via the same chain of events: identification, ostracism, confiscation, concentration, and the final solution ie annihilation. Miller is an American hero doing the best he can to awaken conciousness.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely well researched & scary! If only it were fiction!, March 6, 1999

By 

Gordon C. Wilson (Laguna Niguel, Calif. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State (Hardcover)

As a passionate archenemy of the "Drug War", the "Drug Czar" and everything else brearhing of fascism in this once-free country, I have read many many boks and articles against this so-called war. I even try (if possible without gagging) to read books that try to support this horrendous farce - many of which are written by people who are drug warriors themselves or just terribly deluded) because I think it's very important to know my enemy. Of all the books that I have ever read on this atrocity, this book has got to be the most articulate and momentous. Other books slash at the war, make fun of it, and are often quite entertaining as well as frightening. Entertainment definitely has its place, and it is great when one is (somehow) able to laugh at even matters as horrendous as child-beatings, rapes, and drug warriors. Sometimes that's the only way we can face the grim realities. This book spares, for the most part, any humor, however, and just tells us, very convincingly, how it is. The author's thesis is simple: He sees a direct parallel between the drug war and the Nazis in Germany. I would like to believe that he is being too extremist in his position. Surely our drug czar and his henchmen will never be as ruthless and terrifying as Hitler! That's what I once thought too, but after reading the book I was convinced otherwise. The creators of this "drug-war" are no mere well-intentioned fools or people ignorant of abstract concepts such as freedom. They have one clear goal in mind: power, power and more power. Let's hope enough Americans wake up in time and the see chasm into which the road is leading us! This incredibly well researched and articulate just may wake us up in time - that is, if it doesn't scare us to death first. Read the book! Read it NOW!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!

Gordon Wilson (Mathematician, Libertarian, and a bit of a mixture between Paul Revere and Patrick Henry )

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now that I've read this book, I want to burn a flag., December 29, 2000

By 

"ebreit42" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State (Hardcover)

This is one of the most powerful books I've read in a long time. Richard L. Miller deserves an award. In this book, the author details the erosion of civil liberties by the current war on drugs. For those familiar with this area, he trots out the typical points: harsh penalties for minor violations and loss of civil liberties for all.

But what makes this book special is the author's analysis of legal issues and history. Richard Miller is an independent scholar who has written about Nazi justice (in "Nazi Justiz"). I thought his application of Nazi jurisprudence to the drug war was overkill at first. Little did I know just how wrong I was. As one reviewer put it, this book will help you lose weight.

What sets this book above the others on the drug war is that Miller explains how the war effects the innocent, and how innocence is no longer an adequate defense. In fact, Miller has a Justice Department official quoted as saying that innocence was not a defense to forfeiture of assets. He argues that asset forfeiture has corrupted law enforcement at all levels.

In one example, Miller tells of an elderly couple in one California county who owned a mutil-million dollar ranch adjacent to a national park. Apparently, the Park Service wanted the land, the local law enforcement the assets (in the form of the house, possessions, etc.). Thus, police had to get a warrant to raid the property. First, they searched it illegally. This is a typical tactic of DEA agents and local law enforcement, who search a house and either plant or discover evidence that they can use to get a warrent later. Regardless, the courts have determined that even illegal searches and seizures are acceptable in the war on drugs. All of this is documented in the book. Even in the illegal search, no drugs were discovered. An elderly couple, go figure?

If you think that stopped the police, DEA, et al., then you haven't read the book. One local officer testified before a judge that "thousands" of marijuana plants were being cultivated on the property. This testimony was based on a lie told to the officer by another. Although both were aware of the lie (and the couple's complete innocence of ANYTHING), this way neither officer could be chared with perjury. Needless to say, the judge issued the warrant.

During the raid, the husband was sleeping. He was roused awake by his wife's screaming and was shot to death as he put down his rifle, which he had becuase he thought he was being robbed and was defending his wife. The agents participating in the raid evicted the wife. Even agents of the U.S. Park Service were involved, in case you doubted their complicity.

It gets better. The location of the ranch was in a different county than the one in which the local police were from! They went out of their own jurisdiction for the express purpose of seizing property from people THEY KNEW were innocent. All of this was expressed by the county prosecutor (where the ranch was), when he said that they appeared to be motivated by a desire to obtain the property and assests of its owners.

This book is meticulously documented and researched. The analysis of the legal issues with references to the Nuremburg Tribunal and Nazi legal principles is stunning. As well as his telling of the internment of Japenese-Americans to demonstrate how segments of society can be treated if the propaganda warriors desire their elimination.

If you're not enraged by the time you're finished reading this book, your heart is dead.