The book uses a case study approach to examine the effects of drug use on society. Examples are provided of how drug law enforcement efforts have gotten out of control because such efforts sometimes violate constitutional rights and generate undue fear among citizens. The author contends an "imaginary" drug crisis has been manufactured, one that sacrifices constitutional rights under the guise of drug control. Showing how the drug war fits into a socially destructive process, the author calls for an end to the drug war before it destroys society further. He describes a chain of destruction in terms of five links--identification, ostracism, confiscation, concentration, and annihilation. In this chain of destruction, drug users are portrayed as victims and scapegoats at the hands of authoritarians. References and notes