Drug Wars: An Oral History from the Trenches

Interviews with the street dealers, rich smugglers, undercover narcotics agents, inner-city hospital doctors, casual users, and the hopelessly addicted bring readers face to face with the reality of the drug crisis.

This oral history adds virtually nothing to the general reader's understanding of addiction and the drug trade. The addicts' stories, each about a page in length, are harrowing, those of law enforcement officers colorful and the greed of the dealers demonstrably great. But while the many details, some grisly, serve to fill in the street scene, the authors provide little exposition, analysis or context for the accounts and no validation of their accuracy. Wells ( 444 Days: The Hostages Remember ) and Triplett ( The Flowering of the Bamboo ) state, "We have tried not to pass judgment or recommend solutions--only to listen and learn, with the hope that hidden truths will emerge." The book is not without interest, but readers may find its intentional inconclusiveness frustrating.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Junkies, dealers, narcs, and other combatants in the war on drugs speak out in this first-rate oral report from Wells (444 Days, 1985) and Triplett. Aiming to get the stories of those ``most intimately engaged on the front lines,'' the authors ``spent the last two years riding with undercover cops, and visiting jails, prisons, crack houses,'' etc. Here, that effort pays off handsomely with some truly riveting--and dismaying--reportage, tightly arranged into eight thematic chapters, each comprised of a brief introduction and several dozen statements, some signed, some anonymous. Even the innocuously titled opener, ``Recreational Users,'' makes your blood run cold as you listen to the woman who speaks of smoking pot for the first time at age nine (``I thought it was the neatest feeling in the world''); the Vietnam vet assigned to guard the White House (``I was stoned the entire time...''); the dealer who says that a crack high ``hits you with the force of religious revelation.'' And that's just for starters: The subsequent chapters (``Border Wars''; ``Dealers''; ``Cops''; ``Addiction''; ``Mean Streets''; ``Prosecution, Prison, and Punishment''; and ``Treatment'') detail moral pain (e.g., of the ravaged crack addict who runs into his mother: ``There was nothing but hurt in her eyes''); despair (e.g., of author Wells, who tells of visiting a shooting gallery and finding a little boy ``so filthy I didn't want to touch him''); and sociopathic violence (e.g., of the dealer who says, ``When a dude messed my money up, I'd cut him with a knife or I'd shoot him...You know, I had bills to pay'')--all so pervasive that you have to agree with the authors that ``the nation's drug enforcement policies have failed, and failed miserably.'' Smooth, smart, and very, very scary. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The past few years have seen a flurry of books dealing with the national drug problem; most only cover one aspect, such as trafficking, prevention, or law enforcement. In this riveting and extremely enlightening book, Wells and Triplett instead cover all areas, and quite comprehensively, weaving a complex and amazing tapestry from their interviews with those directly involved in all areas of the drug war. Dealers, recreational users, addicts, prisoners, and drug agents, among others, tell their stories, such as the addict who lost his job and wife, and said from prison, "crack is all I got left. It's the only thing in the world that can still make me feel good." Their gritty and eloquent words will help readers to see the drug crisis as it affects individuals, not just society in the abstract. A truly outstanding work, very highly recommended for all public and academic collections.
- Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.