The War We Never Fought

The War We Never Fought
Author Peter Hitchens
Country United Kingdom
Subject Drugs, prohibition
Genre Polemics
Published 27 September 2012 Continuum
Pages 304
ISBN 9781441173317
Preceded by The Rage Against God

The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs is the sixth book by the British author and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens, first published in 2012.[1]

The book is intended as a rebuttal of what Hitchens sees as the widespread acceptance of drug use and the weakening of drug prohibition in Britain since the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, when a Conservative government adopted a Labour Party policy to implement the Wootton Report. Hitchens believes that there is de facto decriminalisation of drugs in the UK, especially of cannabis,[2] contrary to claims of drug "prohibition" from "Big Dope" (name he gives to the cannabis legalisation lobby).[3] Hitchens contends that it is only through much harsher and more stringent punishment – for both consumers and dealers of drugs – that any war on drugs can be successful.[4]

Background

Hitchens first announced The War We Never Fought's publication in 2011, and stated that the book would examine "the secret surrender of the British establishment to the cannabis lobby in the late 1960s, and the results of this surrender".[5]

Before the book's publication, Hitchens had often advocated in his writing a society governed by conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty, and he had also frequently and at length voiced opposition to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs (arguing that the legal prohibition of drug use is an essential counterweight to "pro-drug propaganda"[6][7]) and had debated a number of figures who are for such decriminalisation, including Christopher Snowden of the Institute of Economic Affairs,[8] and Howard Marks.[9][10] He has also debated the topic of drugs with the comedian Russell Brand.[11]

Hitchens had claimed attempts to combat drug use by restricting supply and prosecuting drug dealers were futile, unless possession and use were also punished.[12] In April 2012, he gave evidence to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into drugs policy[13] and called for the British government to introduce a more hardline policy on drugs.[14]

The cover image is an obvious take on the album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Critical reception

A month before The War We Never Fought's publication, Ed West in The Daily Telegraph claimed that the book had provoked criticism not only from the Left, but also from the free-market libertarian Right,[15]

In Prospect magazine, Peter Lilley wrote that Hitchens "realises there are only two logically coherent policies: prohibition and legalisation. Decriminalisation, the fashionable option of the intelligentsia, makes no sense, though it is the destination which policy in this country has moved towards for several decades" and "the most refreshing aspect of this book is its recognition that drug taking is fundamentally a moral issue".[16] A largely positive review by William Dove in the International Business Times stated that, "Hitchens makes a convincing case that the anti-drug laws are not unenforceable as legalisers might claim, but unenforced".[17]

In a very critical review in The Observer, Nicholas Lezard stated that the book "should never have been published",[18] while Jonathan Rée in The Guardian dismissed the book as "hysterical" and accused its author of "moral racism".[19]

Chris Mullin, writing in the Mail on Sunday, praised much of the book, describing it as a "magnificent – and well-researched – rant against Establishment 'appeasers', who, he [Hitchens] believes, have opened the door to perdition." Mullin however took issue with the solutions to the problem Hitchens prescribes in the book.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The War We Never Fought". continuumbooks.com. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "Top Politician Admits it - There *is* de facto decriminalisation of Cannabis - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog". hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  3. ↑ "What 'War on Drugs'? What 'Prohibition?' Will the BBC take any notice of its own research? - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog". hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  4. ↑ Hitchens, Peter. "Drug Culture". IAI. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Hitchens, Peter (30 June 2011). "A New Challenge on Drugs". mailonsunday.co.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  6. ↑ "The Cannabis Cult". mailonsunday.co.uk. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Arguments against legalising drugs". mailonsunday.co.uk. 9 November 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "Drugs: The War We Never Fought". Iea.org.uk. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  9. ↑ Hitchens, Peter (27 November 2007). "Free speech is for nasty people, not nice ones". mailonsunday.co.uk. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Aspinall, John (30 October 2012). "Howard Marks vs Peter Hitchens". My Telegraph. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  11. ↑ Quinn, Ben (11 August 2012). "Russell Brand urges move away from methadone clinics to treat addicts". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  12. ↑ Hitchens, Peter (26 September 2011). "What Labour won't do, and ought to do". mailonsunday.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  13. ↑ "HoC Home Affairs Committee – Drugs". parliamentlive.tv. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  14. ↑ "Hitchens urges tough drugs policy". BBC. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  15. ↑ West, Ed (30 August 2012). "Libertarians and conservatives – an odd couple". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  16. ↑ Lilley, Peter (17 October 2012). "Drugs haze". prospectmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  17. ↑ Dove, William (22 October 2012). "The War We Never Fought, by Peter Hitchens: Review". International Business Times. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  18. ↑ Lezard, Nicholas (14 October 2012). "The War We Never Fought by Peter Hitchens – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  19. ↑ Rée, Jonathan (26 October 2012). "The War We Never Fought by Peter Hitchens – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  20. ↑ Mullin, Chris (6 November 2012). "A lonely fighter in a war that has no end". Daily Mail. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
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