"[Tom Wainwright] brings a fine and balanced analytical mind to some very good research. By looking at the drug trade as a business, Wainwright is able to reveal much about why it wreaks such havoc in Central and South America. Wainwright show[s] how drug violence is not so much senseless but the devastating result of economic calculations taken to their brutal extreme. [His] conclusion is titled 'Why Economists Make the Best Police Officers.' It is one of the pithiest and most persuasive arguments for drug law reform I have ever read."--Misha Glenny, New York Times Sunday Book Review
"A cracking read... both an extended black joke and a hard-headed analysis of the economics of getting high."--Reuters
"A lively and engaging book, informed by both dogged reporting and gleanings from academic research..."--Wall Street Journal
"An economics book for the Breaking Bad generation"--Times (London)
"Readers interested in the intersection of crime, economics, entrepreneurship, and law enforcement will find this work fascinating."--Library Journal
"Tom Wainwright has powerfully argued in favor of legalizing drugs. He says that the policies aimed at stifling the drug trade seem to be misdirected and have failed... a controversial but well-argued book... a must-read for everyone interested in solving the drug issue. Wainwright makes a lot of sense at a time when the world seems helpless against drug traffickers."--Washington Book Review
"Tom Wainwright of the Economist brings a fine and balanced analytical mind to some very good research"--Minneapolis Star Tribune