Dealing Death and Drugs
The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan
by Beto O'Rourke


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

We're interpreting this book as Beto's campaign book, but it's not. It was written in 2011 and documents Beto's learning process about the drug trade (we think). In 2011, Beto was on the El Paso City Council, having already served as mayor, and was preparing a run for Congress. In other words, Beto wrote this book (with a ghostwriter) to become an expert at an important national issue.

It's a small book (only 111 pages, and in "pocket size" format) but covers all aspects of the drug war – the economics (p. 36 for marijuana and p. 66 for cocaine); the criminal aspects (p. 78); the moral aspects (p. 91); the historical aspects (p. 63); the analogy to alcohol prohibition (p. 73ff); and the prospects for legalization (p. 92). Here's Beto's explanation of marijuana pricing (p. 38):

Bottom line: Beto believes in drug legalization, starting with marijuana and moving on to other drugs. This book, despite its brevity, seems unnecessarily long to say just that. Beto did so because he wanted the "expert" label, on a topic that was relevant to his border district. If you're looking for a book that establishes Beto as a policy expert on one topic, this book fits the bill (and he has no other books on Amazon yet, so this is all you can get, besides "unauthorized biographies"). But if you want a book that talks about Beto's background, or his policy stances in his presidential run, this ain't it.

-- Jesse Gordon, editor-in-chief, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, April 2019

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Crime     Richard Nixon: 1970s: Spike in crime followed initiation of War on Drugs.

Drugs     Beto O`Rourke: 2008 crackdown cost 1,623 lives in Juarez.     Beto O`Rourke: 2008: National debate on ending the prohibition of narcotics.     Beto O`Rourke: Low price of pot means low crime rate.     Beto O`Rourke: Mexico estimates US pot market at $3B; US says $14B.     Beto O`Rourke: War on Drugs expanded from $371M in 1971 to $48,700M today.     Beto O`Rourke: Supply-side enforcement should raise drug prices, but fails.     Beto O`Rourke: Enforcement efforts make illegal drugs profitable & deadly.     Beto O`Rourke: 2009: US arrested 758,000 adult citizens for pot possession.     Beto O`Rourke: Regulating drug market would bring in billions of revenue.     Beto O`Rourke: Legalization closes "gateway" effect of marijuana.     Janet Napolitano: Operation Stonegarden: $75M to break up Mexican drug cartels.     Mike Bloomberg: You bet I smoked pot, and I enjoyed it; but.     Richard Nixon: 1971: start War on Drugs via Special Action Office.     Richard Nixon: Marijuana users experiment with other drugs.     Silvestre Reyes: 2008: Withhold stimulus funds for cities legalizing drugs.     Silvestre Reyes: $1.4B to break up Mexican drug cartels; $75M for "spillover".

Free Trade     Beto O`Rourke: $70B in legal trade passes through El Paso to Mexico.

Principles & Values     Beto O`Rourke: Represents El Paso, world's largest binational community.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Beto O`Rourke Texas Democratic candidate for Governor; U.S. Rep Janet Napolitano Cabinet-2013 Mike Bloomberg New York Mayor of NYC Richard Nixon Silvestre Reyes Democrat U.S. Rep Texas-16