The "war on drugs" is an ideological device within the criminal justice system that targets drug use as particularly evil behavior that deserves severe punishment. As applied to single women with children, the patriarchal courts view such drug-using women as particularly evil, since their behavior affects their children. Most often these drug-using women are poor and live under social and psychological conditions that spawn drug use as coping behavior. Feminist analyses of various criminal justice issues that impact women, such as spousal abuse, have typically focused on greater intervention by the criminal justice system to protect women. In the case of the "war on drugs," feminist analyses and action should focus on protecting women from the criminal justice system. The focus of public policy should be on preventive and treatment measures that will relieve poor mothers of the stress and despair that precipitates their drug use. 58 footnotes