"Dan Russell's book is on par with Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States. This historical account needs to be in every educational institution, beginning with high school, to tell the other side of the story of our loss of earth-based ecstasy. This book brilliantly shows how our healing relationship with plant allies came to be replaced with the prevailing political agenda of drug propaganda. I recommend this great book, which I personally couldn't put down as it engages like a historical / political novel, for all schools of free thinkers. It is the central text in our homeschool for my teenagers this year!" Jeannine Parvati Baker, author of Hygieia: A Woman's Herbal; Conscious Conception; Prenatal Yoga & Natural Birth

"Wow! I have learned so much and enjoyed this read tremendously. Your book was a watershed event for me. It helped me 'see the world whole' and understand the drug business and the war on drugs in an important new way. We are all pressed for time, but reading your book was the ultimate time saver for me. There is nothing more powerful than understanding the chaos when you are in it....Your book is a monumental achievement....for goodness sakes this needs to get out asap. Excellent is excellent!" Catherine Austin Fitts, Federal Housing Commissioner, 1989-90; President, Solari, Inc.; www.solari.com

"An important, strenuously argued contribution to the case against our nation's scandalous narcotics policies and laws. Particularly valuable are the the encyclopaedic historical and anthropological perspectives which the author brings to bear on our cultural crisis." Peter Dale Scott, English Department, University of California, Berkeley, author of Cocaine Politics; Deep Politics; Crime & Cover-Up; Coming To Jakarta; American War Machine; etc.

"Dan Russell goes to the heart of the so-called 'drug-problem', really a 'prohibition-problem' extra-curricular drug- and gun-running by numerous governments, with that of the United States at the head of the list, its cynical and duplicitous 'war on drugs' notwithstanding - naught but a racist war on the poor and disenfranchised, both nationally and internationally, and withal a 'war on the drug competition'; nor ought we to forget who invented modern money laundering shell-games, nor who profits the most from them. I urge you to read Dan Russell's shocking exposé - may it serve as a much-needed wake-up call!" Jonathan Ott, author/co-author of Pharmacophilia Or The Natural Paradises; Pharmacotheon; Persephone's Quest: The Road To Eleusis; Hallucinogenic Plants of North America; The Age of Entheogens; etc.

"Russell provides a vibrant, detailed history of drug use and drug policy. This book should be studied by anyone working to develop a policy that works. It is obvious that we are currently repeating mistakes we have made in the past - hopefully this book will be widely read and more sensible approaches can be pursued. Russell's review of history shows that drug prohibition enforced by a war on drugs will not only fail, it will make health, crime and other drug-related policies worse." Kevin Zeese, Esq., President, Common Sense For Drug Policy

"A very impressive piece of work! You have given the reader a detailed description of prohibition and criminalization, and a chronicle of the early U.S. legal issues and bureaucratic decisions. Your anecdotes are enjoyable, your breadth is magnificent, and the data are well-supported... This is a hard-hitting account that will disturb many of its readers, but may also expand their perspective by offering alternative options to what has become a no-win situation." Stanley Krippner, PH.D., co-author of The Mythic Path; co-editor of Broken Images, Broken Selves

See "Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda" for the birth of the drug war in the enslavement process of the ancient world.
About the Author: Dan Russell went to undergraduate school at the University of Buffalo and CCNY, graduating with a BA from CCNY in 1970. He ran an online business for many years. His scholarly writing was done independently on his country homestead in the Adirondacks.