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词条 The War We Never Fought
释义

  1. Background

  2. Critical reception

  3. See also

  4. References

  5. External links

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}{{Infobox book
| name = The War We Never Fought
| author = Peter Hitchens
| image = The War We Never Fought- The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs.jpg
| country = United Kingdom
| subject = Drugs, prohibition
| genre = Polemics
| published = 27 September 2012 (Continuum)
| pages = 304
| isbn = 9781441173317
| preceded_by = The Rage Against God
}}{{Italic title|force=true}}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 Foughts 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 Snowdon 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 said 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

  • Drug liberalization

References

1. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=162211&SubjectId=1023 |title=The War We Never Fought|publisher=continuumbooks.com |accessdate=4 September 2012}}
2. ^{{Cite web|url=http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/04/top-politician-admits-it-there-is-de-facto-decriminalisation-of-cannabis.html|title=Top Politician Admits it - There *is* de facto decriminalisation of Cannabis - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog|website=hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk|access-date=2016-05-26}}
3. ^{{Cite web|url=http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2016/04/what-war-on-drugs-what-prohibition-will-the-bbc-take-any-notice-of-its-own-research-.html|title=What 'War on Drugs'? What 'Prohibition?' Will the BBC take any notice of its own research? - Mail Online - Peter Hitchens blog|website=hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk|access-date=2016-05-26}}
4. ^{{cite web|last=Hitchens|first=Peter|title=Drug Culture|url=http://iai.tv/video/drug-culture|publisher=IAI|accessdate=3 January 2014}}
5. ^{{cite web|url=http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2011/06/a-new-challenge-on-drugs.html |first=Peter|last=Hitchens|title=A New Challenge on Drugs|publisher=mailonsunday.co.uk |date=30 June 2011 |accessdate=4 September 2012}}
6. ^{{cite web|url=http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2012/01/the-cannabis-cult.html |title=The Cannabis Cult|publisher=mailonsunday.co.uk |date=30 January 2012 |accessdate=28 April 2012}}
7. ^{{cite web|url=http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2009/11/arguments-against-legalising-drugs.html |title=Arguments against legalising drugs|publisher=mailonsunday.co.uk |date=9 November 2009 |accessdate=28 April 2012}}
8. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.iea.org.uk/events/drugs-the-war-we-never-fought |title=Drugs: The War We Never Fought |publisher=Iea.org.uk |date=16 May 2012 |accessdate=5 September 2012}}
9. ^{{cite web|url=http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2007/11/free-speech-is.html |title=Free speech is for nasty people, not nice ones |publisher=mailonsunday.co.uk |author=Hitchens, Peter|date=27 November 2007 |accessdate=11 September 2012}}
10. ^{{cite web|url=http://my.telegraph.co.uk/jaydeeay/asp/28/howard-marks-vs-peter-hitchens/ |title=Howard Marks vs Peter Hitchens |work=My Telegraph |author=Aspinall, John|date=30 October 2012 |accessdate=2 November 2012}}
11. ^{{cite web|author=Quinn, Ben |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/aug/11/russell-brand-urges-less-methadone-clinics |title=Russell Brand urges move away from methadone clinics to treat addicts |work=The Guardian |date=11 August 2012 |accessdate=4 September 2012}}
12. ^{{cite web|author=Hitchens, Peter |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2042046/What-Labour-won-t-ought-do.html |title=What Labour won't do, and ought to do|publisher= mailonsunday.co.uk |date=26 September 2011 |accessdate=28 April 2012}}
13. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=10674&st=12:07:25 |title=HoC Home Affairs Committee – Drugs |publisher=parliamentlive.tv |date=24 April 2012 |accessdate=28 April 2012}}
14. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17829394 |title=Hitchens urges tough drugs policy |publisher=BBC |date=24 April 2012 |accessdate=28 April 2012}}
15. ^{{cite web|last=West |first=Ed |url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100178587/libertarians-and-conservatives-an-odd-couple/ |title=Libertarians and conservatives – an odd couple |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=30 August 2012 |accessdate=5 September 2012}}
16. ^{{cite web|last=Lilley |first=Peter |url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/drugs-legalisation-peter-hitchens-peter-lilley/ |title=Drugs haze |publisher=prospectmagazine.co.uk |date= 17 October 2012|accessdate=24 October 2012}}
17. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/396862/20121022/war-never-fought-peter-hitchens-review.htm |title=The War We Never Fought, by Peter Hitchens: Review|work=International Business Times|first=William|last=Dove |date=22 October 2012 |accessdate=24 October 2012}}
18. ^{{cite web|author=Lezard, Nicholas|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/14/narcomania-review-war-never-fought?INTCMP=SRCH |title= The War We Never Fought by Peter Hitchens – review|work=The Guardian |date=14 October 2012|accessdate=24 October 2012}}
19. ^{{cite web|author=Rée, Jonathan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/26/war-never-fought-peter-hitchens-review |title=The War We Never Fought by Peter Hitchens – review |work=The Guardian |date=26 October 2012 |accessdate=6 November 2012}}
20. ^{{cite web|author=Mullin, Chris |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2228652/A-lonely-fighter-war-end.html |title=A lonely fighter in a war that has no end|work=Daily Mail |date= 6 November 2012|accessdate=6 November 2012}}

External links

  • Extract from The War We Never Fought provided by Hitchens on his weblog a month before the book's publication
  • [https://vimeo.com/42600505 Drugs: The War We Never Fought] Institute of Economic Affairs Debate, 16 May 2012. (video)
  • [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/21/peter-hitchens-addiction-drugs-war Article] in The Guardian newspaper in which Hitchens discusses the book with journalist Decca Aitkenhead
{{Peter Hitchens}}{{Cannabis in the United Kingdom}}{{DEFAULTSORT:War We Never Fought}}

7 : 2012 non-fiction books|Books by Peter Hitchens|Cannabis in the United Kingdom|Drug control law in the United Kingdom|Non-fiction books about drugs|2012 in cannabis|Cannabis prohibition
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