When you’ve spent your life in the middle of a war, it must be easy to think the rest of the world is in it too. This certainly seems true for the narcotics agents and journalists living in and combating the underworld of drugs, where death and violence and addiction demean the value of human life. Yves Lavigne’s Death Dealers sounds an apocalyptic warning of the dire consequences we face if we don’t win the war on drugs.

Death Dealers,/I> is an updated look at the underworld profiled in Lavigne’s 1991 title Good Guy, Bad Guy. This time, Lavigne invited two warriors in the battle against drugs to write forewords: one is a retired member of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency who writes that drug dealers and gangs “are the modern incarnation of the vandals, murderers, and barbarians of yore,” and the other is a director of European Cities Against Drugs who outlines just how misguided current efforts to combat drugs really are. This sets the stage for a journey into the trenches.

Lavigne takes us through the history of the drug trade, starting just before Prohibition in 1920. He describes how worldwide gangs have become involved in the trade and their impact on North America, outlining in incredible detail the way gangs work, how drugs are manufactured, and how the business works. Finally, Lavigne looks at strategies to win the war, including legalizing drugs – a solution that the author does not endorse.

Lavigne’s writing is alarmist at times (“drug traffickers threaten the freedom and security of North Americans”), but it has a street-smart tone that brings alive a world that most readers will never have contact with. The author outlines the huge impact drugs have on our government and our economy, and how misguided (or just plain uncaring) most of the officials on the front lines really are.

By bringing us straight into the underworld, Lavigne is attempting to make us all responsible for the war on drugs. “Who is guilty of letting drug trafficking thrive? Drug users, the complacent, and those who would legalize drugs rather than support the fight against them.” Now that we know the truth, Lavigne seems to be saying, we should do something about it. If we don’t, we can’t say he didn’t warn us.