*659 the Importance of Being More than Earnest: Why the Case for Drug Legalization Remains Unproven

This latter group includes Professor Steven Duke, who, both in his recent book with Albert Gross [FN3] and in his lead commentary [FN4] here, displays an unremitting commitment to redefining the debate on drugs. He powerfully catalogues how possibly cynical legislators have turned drug-prohibition statutes into dangerous instruments permitting use of the death penalty and other "savage" criminal punishments against politically powerless targets [FN5]-while civil forfeiture statutes threaten unwitting *660 members of the middle class, guilty and innocent alike. [FN6] His approach, far from rigidly academic in character, attempts to assess realistically what occurs in the poorest neighborhoods in this country as a result of the prohibition of heroin, marijuana, and cocaine. [FN7] He argues fervently for greater respect for the "Judgment of Individuals" and "the Right to Choose How to Live One's Life." [FN8]