The War We Never Fought
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| Author | Peter Hitchens |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Subject | Drugs, prohibition |
| Genre | Polemics |
| Published | 27 September 2012 Continuum |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Rage Against God |
The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs is the sixth book by the British author and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens, first published in 2012.
The book is intended as a rebuttal of what Hitchens sees as the widespread acceptance of drug use and the weakening of drug prohibition in Britain since the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, when a Conservative government adopted a Labour Party policy to implement the Wootton Report. Hitchens believes that there is de facto decriminalisation of drugs in the UK, especially of cannabis, contrary to claims of drug "prohibition" from "Big Dope" (name he gives to the cannabis legalisation lobby). Hitchens contends that it is only through much harsher and more stringent punishment – for both consumers and dealers of drugs – that any war on drugs can be successful.
Hitchens first announced The War We Never Fought's publication in 2011, and stated that the book would examine "the secret surrender of the British establishment to the cannabis lobby in the late 1960s, and the results of this surrender".
Before the book's publication, Hitchens had often advocated in his writing a society governed by conscience and the rule of law, which he sees as the best guarantee of liberty, and he had also frequently and at length voiced opposition to the decriminalisation of recreational drugs (arguing that the legal prohibition of drug use is an essential counterweight to "pro-drug propaganda") and had debated a number of figures who are for such decriminalisation, including Christopher Snowden of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and Howard Marks. He has also debated the topic of drugs with the comedian Russell Brand.
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