In 1971, President Richard Nixon announced the Jaffe Plan; an all-out offensive against illegal drugs that he called "The Drug War." By 1973, the annual federal drug war budget was $420 million but crime, including drug arrests, fell nationally for the first time in 17 years.

Today, the Drug War Machine spends over $20 billion annually, more than 440,000 people are serving time for drug crimes, and yet illegal drugs remain plentiful and readily available. Instead of stopping illegal drugs, the American Drug War has become a self-feeding monster.

This book tells how that happened, why the Drug War Machine continues to grow along with the illegal drug trade, and how this problem can be fixed so that the Drug War might some day be won.