With a new preface

Looking back on the 25-year war on drugs, Michael Massing offers a blistering critique of the politics and narrow-mindedness that have made our national drug policy a failure, and he proposes what must be done--stressing treatment over imprisonment--to begin to rescue addicts from the street and diminish the hold drugs have in this country.

Michael Massing is a contributing editor of the Columbia Journalism Review and a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. Named a MacArthur Fellow in 1992, he has been reporting on the drug world for the last ten years. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, and many other publications.

"Cross a Tom Wolfe novel with a sharp editorial on drug addiction and the result would be Michael Massing's compelling book on America's failed drug war, The Fix. . . Instead of a dry policy recommendation, Massing . . . offers a sweeping story. . . . His conclusion is a list of smart policy steps that range from outreach to more money to more adolescent treatment centers. These ideas are the well-argued outcome of the intensely persuasive journey that is The Fix."—Alyssa Haywood, Boston Globe

"An important and absorbing book. . . . Massing blends narrative with analysis, relating every development in his story to the larger question of how to solve the problem . . . Massing's exemplary, cool-headed book will hopefully restore some sense to this debate."—Timothy Noah, Washington Monthly

"Captivating. . . . The Fix offers astute Washington reporting that captures the sweep of policy, personalities and politics that have driven drug warfare--without smothering the reader with inside-the-Beltway detail."—Roberto Suro, Washington Post Book World

"Michael Massing's excellent survey of U.S. drug policy since the Nixon days. . . . This is not another liberal journalist looking back on Nixon with contrarian sentimentality. Rather, it's a sober look at the facts, which speak for themselves."—Michael Tomasky, Newsday

"Massing brackets his discussion of the politics of the drug war with a detailed and fascinating profile of a drug treatment referral center in Harlem."—Malcolm Gladwell, New York Review of Books

"A balanced and significant analysis of the American drug problem that carries specific, practical recommendations for reform."—David F. Musto, New York Times Book Review

"In contrast to many recent books and articles raging against the drug war, The Fix is balanced. . . . Mr. Massing is right about the importance of treatment, and it is not naive to think that we can do better than we are doing now in the fight against drugs."—Sally Satel, Wall Street Journal

"[A] fascinating and unforgiving account of U.S. drug policy. . . .With The Fix, Massing presents a meticulously researched, fact-filled account of U.S. drug policy since the Nixon years."—Ken Fuson, The Baltimore Sun