Persistent Panics: the wars on drugs, crime, terrorism and war

Drugs, crime, terrorism and war are all serious problems. What should be done about them? How about declaring war on them? Yet the war approach hasn't fixed any of these problems but instead seems to have made things worse. The wars on drugs, crime, terrorism and war can be understood as persistent panics. They each share features with what are called moral panics, as well as features of long-lived public scientific controversies. Despite being dysfunctional and damaging, the wars continue....