"The best book I ever read on the Drug War." -- Celerino Castillo III, lead DEA agent in Guatemala and El Salvador, 1985-90, who developed much of the Contra cocaine evidence; author of Powderburns

"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. His scathing review of today's unjust confiscation and sentencing statutes is balanced by encouraging and badly-needed statistics about the successes of alternatives, such as the Dutch decriminalization program." Peter Dale Scott, English Department, University of California, Berkeley, author of Cocaine Politics, Deep Politics, Crime & Cover-Up, Coming To Jakarta, etc.

"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: Elemental Journey Through the Labyrinth of Sexuality; 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

"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 - nought 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.

"Dan Russell is a paradigm shifter of the first order.... Anyone who wants to understand the real issues raised by drugs and the drug war cannot afford to bypass this seminal work." Michael C. Ruppert, former LAPD narcotics investigator; anti-CIA activist; coauthor of Confronting Collapse and Crossing the Rubicon