The United States' war on drugs reflects a conflict between a uniquely American and heavily religious-based approach to morality and an equally unique belief in individualism and individual rights. This book shows how these factors also intersect with the racism and anti-immigrant xenophobia in the country to formulate policy in the drug war.

Juan Lindau explains the creation of the drug war, its evolution, its persistence, and its gradual reform. His analysis answers several questions: Why did the U.S. develop the global drug war and why did it use its power to create prohibition? Why did it prohibit some substances but not others? Why did it choose to punish rather than treat users and especially addicts? Why did it punish some more than others and why did it repeatedly double-down on prohibition even in the face of voluminous evidence that these policies were devastating so many countries and communities? And, why does it punish so much more severely than its peers?