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There's two new books out that merit your attention. The first is one co-authored by Axel Klein of London, who I met last year at a conference. Along with Marcus Day and Anthony Harriott, Axel has released the volume Caribbean Drugs, "with a stimulating collection of essays by regional and international experts, provides refreshing insights on moving the enormous problem of drug abuse from 'criminalisation' to the challenge of 'harm reduction'."
The book analyzes the links between "illicit drug consumption and the HIV/Aids pandemic" and "overcrowded prisons where significant percentages of inmates are young people and women convicted for using or running marijuana and cocaine."

Other contributions that would also be of much interest to policy advisers and lawmakers, as well as members of the public with a general interest, would include: Howard Gough's "drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation in Jamaica and the Caribbean"; Jennifer Hillebrand's "ethical dilemmas in drugs research"; Philip Nanton's "rethinking privatisation-the state and drugs in the Commonwealth Caribbean"; and Catherine Chestnut's focus on "practising harm reduction in a zero-tolerance society".

Meanwhile, my old pal Barry Crimmins finally released his tome, Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal. While it focuses more on general politics than the War on Some Drugs, it also provides a look inside the head of an amazing and amusing satirist. Even if you don't follow politics, Barry's biting wit is a good read. According to Publisher's Weekly:

He also combines autobioghraphical glimpses of his youth in Skaneateles, N.Y. ("an Indian word that means 'beautiful lake surrounded by fascists'"), and his life in the 1980s managing the Ding Ho, Boston's first real comedy club, with more substantial attacks on George W. Bush's government.

Trust me on this, Crimmins' book will leave you rolling on the floor with laughter while you're crying over the truth in his incisive deconstruction of our government's follies.