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Selected Books on Drug Policy and Criminal Justice Reform

If you would like to have us review your book for inclusion on this page, please e-mail: media@november.org.

So Many Tears, by Teresa Aviles. In So Many Tears, Teresa Aviles tells the heart-wrenching story of how the War on Drugs took away her first-born child, Isidro. Implicated in a federal drug conspiracy, Isidro was sucked into the maw of the criminal justice nightmare and sentenced to 26 years for a first-time non-violent drug law violation, destined never to return to the arms of his loving family.

Arrested with no drugs, money or evidence of any sort, and convicted on the questionable word of a paid government informant, Isidro was eight years into his sentence when he was taken deathly ill. Even now this mother still doesn't have any real answers. Isidro's death certificate, written by US Bureau of Prison officials, still states he was a White Male who died of AIDS.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Claims Made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, by Matthew B. Robinson and Renee G. Scherlen. This book critically analyzes claims made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the White House agency of accountability in the nation's drug war. Specifically, the book examines six editions of the annual National Drug Control Strategy between 2000 and 2005 to determine if ONDCP accurately and honestly presents information or intentionally distorts evidence to justify continuing the war on drugs.

Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went Up in Smoke, by Dean Kuipers (Bloomsbury) Founded in 1993, Rainbow Farm in rural Michigan attracted law enforcement surveillanc, as it became a safe haven for a diverse group of caring local and countercultural people. After a series of confrontations with authorities, police snipers killed Crosslin and Rohm two days before the more infamous 9/11 NYC terrorist strike. Kuipers argues that maximum force is not always morally justified when dealing with the emotional issues surrounding the War on Drugs.

"Burning Rainbow Farm" is a 2007 Michigan Notable Books winner and can be ordered online at Amazon.com

The Real Cost of Prisons Project has comic books available for distribution:

Prison Town: This comic tells the tale of how financing and siting of prisons and jails affects the people of rural communities in which prisons are built. It also tells the story of the how mass incarceration affects the people of urban communities, where the majority of people who are incarcerated come from. Included in the comic book are alternatives to the current system.

Prisoners of the War on Drugs: The comic book includes: the history of the war on drugs, mandatory minimums and how racism creates harsher sentences for people of color; stories on how the war on drugs works against women, three strikes, obstacles to coming home after incarceration, how mass incarceration destabilizes neighborhoods, and alternatives to the present system.

Prisoners of a Hard Life: Women and Their Children: This comic book includes stories about women trapped by mandatory sentencing and the War on Drugs and the "costs" of incarceration for women and their families. A two-page story details the trial and sentencing of Regina McKnight. Also included are "Change is Possible" alternatives to the present system, a glossary and footnotes.
Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing, by Norm Stamper. An unflinchingly critical look at American policing by a widely respected big-city police chief, a call for radical legislative reform by an accomplished insider in law enforcement, and a touching, intensely personal memoir that reads like the hard-boiled reportage of a tough-talking street cop. Stamper is the former Police Chief of Seattle, WA.


Instead Of Prisons: A Handbook For Abolitionists - This handbook is written for those who feel it is time to say "no" to prisons, for those open to the notion that the only way to reform the prison system is to dismantle it, for those who seek a strategy to get us from here to there.

The Stolen Lives Project: Killed By Law Enforcement: Provides important and compelling exposures of the nationwide epidemic of police brutality and outright murder.

Police Encounters: The Black Man's Guide to Handling Encounters with the Police & Protecting Your Constitutional Rights (Kommon Cents) by George Gordon and David Walker. The abuse of people of color in the criminal justice system is so advanced that a special 248 page racially-oriented manual has been published aimed at a community that feels most victimized. The fact that this book is even out there, and widely perceived as needed, says it all. Visit Kommoncents.com for more.

Beat the Heat: How to Handle Encounters With Law Enforcement; By Katya Komisaruk. Saying the right thing during an encounter with the police can mean the difference between going home and going to jail. Beat the Heat gives you a set of easy-to-remember legal tactics for protecting yourself and the people you care about. Available from AK Press.


Drug War Addiction: Notes from the Front Lines of America's #1 Policy Disaster; By Sheriff Bill Masters, San Miguel County, Colorado. Masters is a veteran of the "Drug War." He was so good at it that he won an award from the DEA. As the years passed, however, Masters began to harbor misgivings. A few years ago, Masters came to the conclusion that the drug war is itself an addiction - and that drug prohibition is more damaging to the fabric of American society than drugs could ever be.

Drug War: Covert Money, Power & Policy - The Real History of the Drug War; by Dan Russell. Bestselling writers, professional researchers, degenerate drug users and just plain old folks offer fact-based alternatives to the disinformation of prohibitionist anti-drug warriors. Nearly 50 contributors examine, dissect, ridicule and otherwise conclusively prove that the War on Some Drugs and Users is not only destructive and stupid, it's flat out evil.


15 to Life: How I Painted My Way to Freedom; by Anthony Papa with Jennifer Wynn. A rare adventure story: how a family man, railroaded by the subterfuge surrounding the War on Drugs, was able to get an early release from prison and become a major activist against draconian drug laws.

Family Arrested: How To Survive The Incarceration Of A Loved One; By Ann Edenfield. The author, based on personal experience, shares how to survive the prison system and gives the reader a glimpse into this frightening and rarely discussed world. "Each suggestion is shared in an easy-to-read form that should be on the shelves of every battered women's shelter, homeless shelter, prison library, halfway house, and public defender's office." - Richard Benke, Associated Press


Gates of Injustice - by Alan Elsner is a compelling exposé of the U.S. prison system: it tells how more than 2 million Americans came to be incarcerated ... what it's really like on the inside ... and how a giant "prison-industrial complex" promotes imprisonment over other solutions.


Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America's Poor, ed. by Tara Herival and Paul Wright. Available from The Prison Legal News web site.

The Celling of America: an Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry, ed. by Daniel Burton Rose, Dan Pens and Paul Wright. Available from The Prison Legal News web site.


Shattered Lives: Portraits From America's Drug War - By Mikki Norris, Chris Conrad, Virginia Resner.
Photos and stories of the Drug War POWS and other victims of this destructive political policy. Size: 8-1/2" x 11". More than 150 photos in130 pages.

Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess & How We Can Get Out - by Mike Gray. Dramatically reveals the violence, corruption and chaos that characterize America's longest-running war. Author Mike Gray is best known as writer of the film The China Syndrome, and the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, for which he has served as a writer and producer.


Addict in the Family: How to Cope with the Long Haul - by Dr. Andrew Byrne. This book helps love one's and friends to understand the plight, the needs and how to treat an addict.

Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure; By Dan Baum. Baum interviewed more than 175 people - from John Ehrlichman to Janet Reno - to tell the story of how Drug War fever has been escalated; who has benefited along the way; and how the mounting price in dollars, lives, and liberties has been willfully ignored. Baum is a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, and has worked as a journalist on four continents


America's Longest War: Rethinking Our Tragic Crusade Against Drugs; By Stephen Duke and Albert C. Gross. Written by Yale law professor Duke with lawyer/writer Gross, it is both comprehensive and accessible, devoid of academic jargon, yet detailed in its historical treatment and analysis. The authors' subject, in the broadest sense, is how and why the formulation of America's drug policy purposefully ignores scientific data and requires rejection of historical perspective. Available from your local bookstore, or www.amazon.com.

Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family - by Charles Bowden. Profits previously unimaginable are within reach for the daring in a black market created by drug prohibition laws. In "Down by the River," Charles Bowden investigates and records for history a collage of bizarre events at the frontlines of a war that can never be won. Available through your local book store.


Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State - By Richard Lawrence Miller. Historian Richard Lawrence Miller analyzes America's drug war with a 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.

The Prison Book Program - We are a grassroots organization that exists for one purpose - to send free books to prisoners. We've been doing it since 1972. For more info, contact:

Prison Book Program, c/o Lucy Parsons Bookstore
1306 Hancock Street, Suite 100, Quincy, MA 02169
617-423-3298 (no collect calls)
info@prisonbookprogram.org - www.prisonbookprogram.org

Also Visit The Drug Policy Alliance Bookstore

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