TEDGlobal 2014
Ethan Nadelmann: Why we need to end the War on Drugs
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Is the War on Drugs doing more harm than good? In a bold talk, drug policy reformist Ethan Nadelmann makes an impassioned plea to end the "backward, heartless, disastrous" movement to stamp out the drug trade. He gives two big reasons we should focus on intelligent regulation instead.
Ethan Nadelmann - Drug policy reformer
Ethan Nadelmann has ushered the once-marginal issue of drug legalization onto the center stage of US political debate. Full bio
Ethan Nadelmann has ushered the once-marginal issue of drug legalization onto the center stage of US political debate. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
What has the War on Drugs
done to the world?
done to the world?
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Look at the murder and mayhem in Mexico,
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Central America, so many
other parts of the planet,
other parts of the planet,
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the global black market estimated
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at 300 billion dollars a year,
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prisons packed in the
United States and elsewhere,
United States and elsewhere,
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police and military drawn
into an unwinnable war
into an unwinnable war
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that violates basic rights,
and ordinary citizens
and ordinary citizens
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just hope they don't get
caught in the crossfire,
caught in the crossfire,
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and meanwhile, more people using
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more drugs than ever.
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It's my country's history
with alcohol prohibition
with alcohol prohibition
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and Al Capone, times 50.
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Which is why it's
particularly galling to me
particularly galling to me
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as an American that we've
been the driving force
been the driving force
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behind this global drug war.
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Ask why so many countries criminalize
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drugs they'd never heard of,
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why the U.N. drug treaties emphasize
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criminalization over health,
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even why most of the money worldwide
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for dealing with drug abuse goes not
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to helping agencies but those that punish,
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and you'll find the good old U.S. of A.
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Why did we do this?
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Some people, especially in Latin America,
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think it's not really about drugs.
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It's just a subterfuge for advancing
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the realpolitik interests of the U.S.
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But by and large, that's not it.
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We don't want gangsters and guerrillas
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funded with illegal drug money
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terrorizing and taking over other nations.
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No, the fact is, America really is crazy
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when it comes to drugs.
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I mean, don't forget, we're
the ones who thought
the ones who thought
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that we could prohibit alcohol.
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So think about our global drug war
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not as any sort of rational policy,
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but as the international projection
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of a domestic psychosis.
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(Applause)
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But here's the good news.
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Now it's the Russians leading
the Drug War and not us.
the Drug War and not us.
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Most politicians in my country
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want to roll back the Drug War now,
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put fewer people behind bars, not more,
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and I'm proud to say as an American
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that we now lead the world
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in reforming marijuana policies.
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It's now legal for medical purposes
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in almost half our 50 states,
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millions of people can
purchase their marijuana,
purchase their marijuana,
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their medicine, in government-
licensed dispensaries,
licensed dispensaries,
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and over half my fellow
citizens now say it's time
citizens now say it's time
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to legally regulate and tax marijuana
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more or less like alcohol.
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That's what Colorado and
Washington are doing,
Washington are doing,
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and Uruguay, and others
are sure to follow.
are sure to follow.
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So that's what I do:
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work to end the Drug War.
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I think it all started growing up
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in a fairly religious, moral family,
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eldest son of a rabbi,
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going off to university where I
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smoked some marijuana
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and I liked it. (Laughter)
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And I liked drinking too, but it was obvious
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that alcohol was really the
more dangerous of the two,
more dangerous of the two,
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but my friends and I could get busted
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for smoking a joint.
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Now, that hypocrisy kept bugging me,
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so I wrote my Ph.D dissertation
on international drug control.
on international drug control.
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I talked my way into the State Department.
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I got a security clearance.
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I interviewed hundreds of DEA
and other law enforcement agents
and other law enforcement agents
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all around Europe and the Americas,
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and I'd ask them,
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"What do you think the answer is?"
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Well, in Latin America, they'd say to me,
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"You can't really cut off the supply.
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The answer lies back in the U.S.,
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in cutting off the demand."
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So then I go back home and I talk to people
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involved in anti-drug efforts there, and they'd say,
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"You know, Ethan, you can't
really cut off the demand.
really cut off the demand.
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The answer lies over there.
You've got to cut off the supply."
You've got to cut off the supply."
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Then I'd go and talk
to the guys in customs
to the guys in customs
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trying to stop drugs at the borders,
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and they'd say, "You're
not going to stop it here.
not going to stop it here.
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The answer lies over there,
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in cutting off supply and demand."
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And it hit me:
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Everybody involved in this
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thought the answer lay in that area
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about which they knew the least.
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So that's when I started
reading everything I could
reading everything I could
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about psychoactive drugs:
the history, the science,
the history, the science,
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the politics, all of it,
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and the more one read,
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the more it hit you how a thoughtful,
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enlightened, intelligent
approach took you over here,
approach took you over here,
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whereas the politics and laws of my country
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were taking you over here.
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And that disparity struck me as this incredible
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intellectual and moral puzzle.
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There's probably never been
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a drug-free society.
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Virtually every society
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has ingested psychoactive substances
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to deal with pain, increase
our energy, socialize,
our energy, socialize,
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even commune with God.
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Our desire to alter our consciousness
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may be as fundamental as our desires
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for food, companionship and sex.
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So our true challenge
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is to learn how to live with drugs
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so they cause the least possible harm
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and in some cases the
greatest possible benefit.
greatest possible benefit.
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I'll tell you something else I learned,
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that the reason some drugs
are legal and others not
are legal and others not
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has almost nothing to do
with science or health
with science or health
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or the relative risk of drugs,
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and almost everything to do with who uses
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and who is perceived
to use particular drugs.
to use particular drugs.
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In the late 19th century,
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when most of the drugs that
are now illegal were legal,
are now illegal were legal,
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the principal consumers
of opiates in my country
of opiates in my country
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and others were middle-aged white women,
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using them to alleviate aches and pains
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when few other analgesics were available.
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And nobody thought about
criminalizing it back then
criminalizing it back then
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because nobody wanted to
put Grandma behind bars.
put Grandma behind bars.
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But when hundreds of thousands of Chinese
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started showing up in my country,
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working hard on the railroads and the mines
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and then kicking back in the evening
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just like they had in the old country
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with a few puffs on that opium pipe,
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that's when you saw the
first drug prohibition laws
first drug prohibition laws
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in California and Nevada,
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driven by racist fears of Chinese
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transforming white women
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into opium-addicted sex slaves.
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The first cocaine prohibition
laws, similarly prompted
laws, similarly prompted
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by racist fears of black men
sniffing that white powder
sniffing that white powder
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and forgetting their proper place
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in Southern society.
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And the first marijuana prohibition laws,
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all about fears of Mexican migrants
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in the West and the Southwest.
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And what was true in my country,
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is true in so many others as well,
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with both the origins of these laws
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and their implementation.
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Put it this way,
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and I exaggerate only slightly:
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If the principal smokers of cocaine
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were affluent older white men
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and the principal consumers of Viagra
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were poor young black men,
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then smokable cocaine would be easy to
get with a prescription from your doctor
get with a prescription from your doctor
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and selling Viagra would get you
five to 10 years behind bars.
five to 10 years behind bars.
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(Applause)
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I used to be a professor teaching about this.
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Now I'm an activist, a human rights activist,
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and what drives me is my shame
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at living in an otherwise great nation
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that has less than five percent
of the world's population
of the world's population
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but almost 25 percent of the
world's incarcerated population.
world's incarcerated population.
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It's the people I meet
who have lost someone
who have lost someone
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they love to drug-related
violence or prison
violence or prison
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or overdose or AIDS
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because our drug policies emphasize
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criminalization over health.
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It's good people who have lost their jobs,
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their homes, their freedom,
even their children
even their children
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to the state, not because they hurt anyone
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but solely because they chose to use one drug
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instead of another.
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So is legalization the answer?
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On that, I'm torn:
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three days a week I think yes,
three days a week I think no,
three days a week I think no,
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and on Sundays I'm agnostic.
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But since today is Tuesday,
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let me just say that legally
regulating and taxing
regulating and taxing
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most of the drugs that
are now criminalized
are now criminalized
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would radically reduce
the crime, violence,
the crime, violence,
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corruption and black markets,
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and the problems of adulterated
and unregulated drugs,
and unregulated drugs,
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and improve public safety,
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and allow taxpayer resources to be developed
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to more useful purposes.
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I mean, look, the markets
in marijuana, cocaine,
in marijuana, cocaine,
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heroin and methamphetamine
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are global commodities markets
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just like the global markets
in alcohol, tobacco,
in alcohol, tobacco,
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coffee, sugar, and so many other things.
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Where there is a demand,
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there will be a supply.
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Knock out one source and another
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inevitably emerges.
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People tend to think of prohibition
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as the ultimate form of regulation
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when in fact it represents
the abdication of regulation
the abdication of regulation
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with criminals filling the void.
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Which is why putting criminal laws and police
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front and center in trying to control
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a dynamic global commodities market
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is a recipe for disaster.
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And what we really need to do
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is to bring the underground drug markets
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as much as possible aboveground
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and regulate them as
intelligently as we can
intelligently as we can
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to minimize both the harms of drugs
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and the harms of prohibitionist policies.
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Now, with marijuana, that obviously means
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legally regulating and
taxing it like alcohol.
taxing it like alcohol.
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The benefits of doing so are
enormous, the risks minimal.
enormous, the risks minimal.
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Will more people use marijuana?
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Maybe, but it's not
going to be young people,
going to be young people,
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because it's not going to
be legalized for them,
be legalized for them,
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and quite frankly, they already have
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the best access to marijuana.
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I think it's going to be older people.
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It's going to be people in their 40s and 60s
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and 80s who find they prefer a little marijuana
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to that drink in the evening or the sleeping pill
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or that it helps with
their arthritis or diabetes
their arthritis or diabetes
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or maybe helps spice up a
long-term marriage. (Laughter)
long-term marriage. (Laughter)
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And that just might be a
net public health benefit.
net public health benefit.
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As for the other drugs,
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look at Portugal, where
nobody goes to jail
nobody goes to jail
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for possessing drugs,
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and the government's made
a serious commitment
a serious commitment
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to treating addiction as a health issue.
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Look at Switzerland,
Germany, the Netherlands,
Germany, the Netherlands,
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Denmark, England, where people who have
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been addicted to heroin for many years
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and repeatedly tried to quit and failed
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can get pharmaceutical
heroin and helping services
heroin and helping services
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in medical clinics, and
the results are in:
the results are in:
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Illegal drug abuse and disease
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and overdoses and crime
and arrests all go down,
and arrests all go down,
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health and well-being improve,
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taxpayers benefit,
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and many drug users even
put their addictions behind them.
put their addictions behind them.
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Look at New Zealand, which
recently enacted a law
recently enacted a law
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allowing certain recreational
drugs to be sold legally
drugs to be sold legally
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provided their safety had been established.
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Look here in Brazil, and some other countries,
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where a remarkable psychoactive substance,
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ayahuasca, can be legally
bought and consumed
bought and consumed
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provided it's done so
within a religious context.
within a religious context.
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Look in Bolivia and Peru,
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where all sorts of products
made from the coca leaf,
made from the coca leaf,
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the source of cocaine,
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are sold legally over the counter
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with no apparent harm to people's public health.
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I mean, don't forget, Coca-Cola
had cocaine in it until 1900,
had cocaine in it until 1900,
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and so far as we know was no more addictive
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than Coca-Cola is today.
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Conversely, think about cigarettes:
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Nothing can both hook you
and kill you like cigarettes.
and kill you like cigarettes.
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When researchers ask heroin addicts
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what's the toughest drug to
quit, most say cigarettes.
quit, most say cigarettes.
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Yet in my country and many others,
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half of all the people who
were ever addicted
were ever addicted
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to cigarettes have quit
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without anyone being
arrested or put in jail
arrested or put in jail
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or sent to a "treatment program"
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by a prosecutor or a judge.
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What did it were higher taxes
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and time and place
restrictions on sale and use
restrictions on sale and use
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and effective anti-smoking campaigns.
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Now, could we reduce smoking even more
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by making it totally illegal? Probably.
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But just imagine the drug war nightmare
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that would result.
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So the challenges we face today
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are twofold.
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The first is the policy challenge
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of designing and implementing alternatives
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to ineffective prohibitionist policies,
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even as we need to get
better at regulating
better at regulating
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and living with the drugs
that are now legal.
that are now legal.
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But the second challenge is tougher,
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because it's about us.
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The obstacles to reform
lie not just out there
lie not just out there
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in the power of the
prison industrial complex
prison industrial complex
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or other vested interests
that want to keep things
that want to keep things
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the way they are,
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but within each and every one of us.
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It's our fears and our lack of knowledge
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and imagination that stands
in the way of real reform.
in the way of real reform.
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And ultimately, I think that
boils down to the kids,
boils down to the kids,
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and to every parent's desire
to put our baby in a bubble,
to put our baby in a bubble,
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13:43
and the fear that somehow
drugs will pierce that bubble
drugs will pierce that bubble
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and put our young ones at risk.
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In fact, sometimes it
seems like the entire
seems like the entire
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War on Drugs gets justified
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13:52
as one great big child protection act,
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which any young person
can tell you it's not.
can tell you it's not.
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So here's what I say to teenagers.
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First, don't do drugs.
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Second, don't do drugs.
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Third, if you do do drugs,
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there's some things I want you to know,
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because my bottom line as your parent is,
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come home safely at the end of the night
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and grow up and lead a
healthy and good adulthood.
healthy and good adulthood.
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That's my drug education
mantra: Safety first.
mantra: Safety first.
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So this is what I've dedicated my life to,
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to building an organization and a movement
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of people who believe we
need to turn our backs
need to turn our backs
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on the failed prohibitions of the past
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and embrace new drug
policies grounded in science,
policies grounded in science,
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compassion, health and human rights,
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where people who come from
across the political spectrum
across the political spectrum
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and every other spectrum as well,
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14:55
where people who love our drugs,
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people who hate drugs,
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and people who don't give
a damn about drugs,
a damn about drugs,
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but every one of us believes
that this War on Drugs,
that this War on Drugs,
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this backward, heartless,
disastrous War on Drugs,
disastrous War on Drugs,
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has got to end.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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Thank you. Thank you.
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Chris Anderson: Ethan,
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congrats — quite the reaction.
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That was a powerful talk.
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Not quite a complete standing O, though,
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and I'm guessing that some people here
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and maybe a few watching online,
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maybe someone knows a teenager or a friend
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or whatever who got sick,
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maybe died from some drug overdose.
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I'm sure you've had these
people approach you before.
people approach you before.
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What do you say to them?
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Ethan Nadelmann: Chris, the most
amazing thing that's happened of late
amazing thing that's happened of late
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is that I've met a growing number of people
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who have actually
lost a sibling or a child
lost a sibling or a child
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to a drug overdose,
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and 10 years ago, those
people just wanted to say,
people just wanted to say,
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16:09
let's line up all the drug
dealers and shoot them
dealers and shoot them
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16:11
and that will solve it.
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16:12
And what they've come to understand
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is that the Drug War did
nothing to protect their kids.
nothing to protect their kids.
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If anything, it made it more likely
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that those kids were put at risk.
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And so they're now becoming part of this
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drug policy reform movement.
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There's other people who have kids,
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one's addicted to alcohol, the other
one's addicted to cocaine or heroin,
one's addicted to cocaine or heroin,
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and they ask themselves the question:
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Why does this kid get to
take one step at a time
take one step at a time
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and try to get better
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and that one's got to deal with jail
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and police and criminals all the time?
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So everybody's understanding,
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the Drug War's not protecting anybody.
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CA: Certainly in the U.S.,
you've got political gridlock
you've got political gridlock
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on most issues.
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Is there any realistic chance of anything
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actually shifting on this
issue in the next five years?
issue in the next five years?
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EN: I'd say it's quite remarkable.
I'm getting all these calls
I'm getting all these calls
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from journalists now who are saying to me,
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"Ethan, it seems like the only two issues
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16:56
advancing politically in America right now
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are marijuana law reform and gay marriage.
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What are you doing right?"
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And then you're looking at
bipartisanship breaking out
bipartisanship breaking out
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with, actually, Republicans in the Congress
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and state legislatures
allowing bills to be enacted
allowing bills to be enacted
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with majority Democratic support,
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17:13
so we've gone from being sort of the third rail,
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the most fearful issue of American politics,
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to becoming one of the most successful.
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CA: Ethan, thank you so much for coming to TEDGlobal.
EN: Chris, thanks so much.
EN: Chris, thanks so much.
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CA: Thank you.
EN: Thank you. (Applause)
EN: Thank you. (Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ethan Nadelmann - Drug policy reformerEthan Nadelmann has ushered the once-marginal issue of drug legalization onto the center stage of US political debate.
Why you should listen
Once derided as the province of spaced-out collegiate activists, the fight to reform marijuana and other drug laws is becoming increasingly mainstream in the US -- thanks in large part to the Drug Policy Alliance and its founder, Ethan Nadelmann.
Nadelmann believes that America (and the world) is losing the war on drugs, with disastrous implications for marginalized communities, exploding prison populations, and law enforcement in general. His arguments have converted politicians and policy-makers on both sides of the aisle. And the debate is shifting, with US states such as Colorado legalizing marjuana for recreational use, and countries such as Uruguay taking similar steps.
More profile about the speakerNadelmann believes that America (and the world) is losing the war on drugs, with disastrous implications for marginalized communities, exploding prison populations, and law enforcement in general. His arguments have converted politicians and policy-makers on both sides of the aisle. And the debate is shifting, with US states such as Colorado legalizing marjuana for recreational use, and countries such as Uruguay taking similar steps.
Ethan Nadelmann | Speaker | TED.com