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About 12 years ago,

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I gave up my career in banking

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to try to make the world a safer place.

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This involved a journey into[br]national and global advocacy

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and meeting some of the most[br]extraordinary people in the world.

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In the process, I became[br]a civil society diplomat.

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Civil society diplomats do three things:

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They voice the concerns of the people,

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are not pinned down by national interests,

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and influence change[br]through citizen networks,

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not only state ones.

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And if you want to change the world,[br]we need more of them.

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But many people still ask,

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"Can civil society really[br]make a big difference?

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Can citizens influence and shape[br]national and global policy?"

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I never thought I would ask[br]myself these questions,

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but here I am to share some lessons

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about two powerful civil society [br]movements that I've been involved in.

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They are in issues[br]that I'm passionate about:

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gun control and drug policy.

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And these are issues that matter here.

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Latin America is ground zero[br]for both of them.

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For example, Brazil --

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this beautiful country hosting TEDGlobal[br]has the world's ugliest record.

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We are the number one champion[br]in homicidal violence.

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One in every 10 people killed[br]around the world is a Brazilian.

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This translates into over 56,000 people

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dying violently each year.

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Most of them are young, black boys[br]dying by guns.

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Brazil is also one of the world's[br]largest consumers of drugs,

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and the War on Drugs[br]has been especially painful here.

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Around 50 percent of the homicides[br]in the streets in Brazil

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are related to the War on Drugs.

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The same is true for about[br]25 percent of people in jail.

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And it's not just Brazil that is affected[br]by the twin problems of guns and drugs.

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Virtually every country and city across[br]Central and South America is in trouble.

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Latin America has nine percent[br]of the world's population,

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but 25 percent[br]of its global violent deaths.

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These are not problems[br]we can run away from.

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I certainly could not.

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So the first campaign I got involved with[br]started here in 2003

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to change Brazil's gun law

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and to create a program[br]to buy back weapons.

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In just a few years,

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we not only changed national legislation

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that made it much more difficult[br]for civilians to buy a gun,

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but we collected and destroyed[br]almost half a million weapons.

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This was one of the biggest[br]buyback programs in history --

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(Applause) --

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but we also suffered some setbacks.

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We lost a referendum to ban[br]gun sales to civilians in 2005.

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The second initiative was also home-grown,

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but is today a global movement to reform[br]the international drug control regime.

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I am the executive coordinator

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of something called[br]the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

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The commission is a high-level group

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of global leaders brought together[br]to identify more humane

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and effective approaches[br]to the issue of drugs.

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Since we started in 2008,[br]the taboo on drugs is broken.

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Across the Americas, from the US[br]and Mexico to Colombia and Uruguay,

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change is in the air.

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But rather than tell you the whole story[br]about these two movements,

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I just want to share with you[br]four key insights.

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I call them lessons to change the world.

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There are certainly many more,

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but these are the ones[br]that stand out to me.

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So the first lesson is:

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Change and control the narrative.

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It may seem obvious,

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but a key ingredient[br]to civil society diplomacy

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is first changing and then[br]controlling the narrative.

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This is something that veteran[br]politicians understand,

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but that civil society groups[br]generally do not do very well.

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In the case of drug policy,

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our biggest success has been[br]to change the discussion

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away from prosecuting a War on Drugs

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to putting people's health[br]and safety first.

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In a cutting-edge report[br]we just launched in New York,

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we also showed that the groups benefiting[br]most from this $320 billion market

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are criminal gangs and cartels.

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So in order to undermine[br]the power and profit of these groups,

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we need to change the conversation.

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We need to make illegal drugs legal.

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But before I get you too excited,

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I don't mean drugs[br]should be a free-for-all.

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What I'm talking about, and what[br]the Global Commission advocates for

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is creating a highly regulated market,

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where different drugs would have[br]different degrees of regulation.

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As for gun control,[br]we were successful in changing,

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but not so much[br]in controlling, the narrative.

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And this brings me to my next lesson:

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Never underestimate your opponents.

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If you want to succeed[br]in changing the world,

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you need to know who you're up against.

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You need to learn their motivations[br]and points of view.

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In the case of gun control,

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we really underestimated our opponents.

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After a very successful[br]gun-collection program,

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we were elated.

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We had support from[br]80 percent of Brazilians,

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and thought that this could help us[br]win the referendum

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to ban gun sales to civilians.

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But we were dead wrong.

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During a televised 20-day public debate,

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our opponent used[br]our own arguments against us.

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We ended up losing the popular vote.

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It was really terrible.

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The National Rifle Association --[br]yes, the American NRA --

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came to Brazil.

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They inundated our campaign[br]with their propaganda,

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that as you know,

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links the right to own guns[br]to ideas of freedom and democracy.

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They simply threw everything at us.

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They used our national flag,

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our independence anthem.

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They invoked women's rights

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and misused images of Mandela,[br]Tiananmen Square, and even Hitler.

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They won by playing with people's fears.

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In fact, guns were almost completely[br]ignored in their campaign.

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Their focus was on individual rights.

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But I ask you,

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which right is more important,

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the right to life

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or the right to have a gun[br]that takes life away?

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(Applause)

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We thought people would vote[br]in defense of life,

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but in a country with a recent past[br]of military dictatorship,

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the anti-government message[br]of our opponents resonated,

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and we were not prepared to respond.

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Lesson learned.

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We've been more successful[br]in the case of drug policy.

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If you asked most people 10 years ago if[br]an end to the War on Drugs was possible,

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they would have laughed.

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After all, there are huge[br]military police prisons

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and financial establishments[br]benefiting from this war.

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But today, the international drug[br]control regime is starting to crumble.

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Governments and civil societies[br]are experimenting with new approaches.

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The Global Commission on Drug Policy

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really knew its opposition,

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and rather than fighting them,

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our chair -- former Brazilian President[br]Fernando Henrique Cardoso --

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reached out to leaders[br]from across the political spectrum,

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from liberals to conservatives.

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This high level group[br]agreed to honestly discuss

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the merits and flaws of drug policies.

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It was this reasoned, informed[br]and strategic discussion

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that revealed the sad truth[br]about the War on Drugs.

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The War on Drugs has simply failed[br]across every metric.

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Drugs are cheaper[br]and more available than ever,

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and consumption has risen globally.

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But even worse,

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it also generated massive[br]negative unintended consequences.

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It is true that some people[br]have made these arguments before,

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but we've made a difference

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by anticipating the arguments[br]of our opponents

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and by leveraging powerful voices

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that a few years ago[br]would probably have resisted change.

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Third lesson: Use data[br]to drive your argument.

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Guns and drugs are emotive issues,

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and as we've painfully learned[br]in the gun referendum campaign in Brazil,

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sometimes it's impossible[br]to cut through the emotions

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and get to the facts.

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But this doesn't mean[br]that we shouldn't try.

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Until quite recently,

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we simply didn't know[br]how many Brazilians were killed by guns.

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Amazingly, it was a local soap opera[br]called "Mulheres Apaixonadas" --

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or "Women in Love" --

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that kicked off Brazil's[br]national gun control campaign.

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In one highly viewed episode,

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a soap opera lead actress[br]was killed by a stray bullet.

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Brazilian grannies[br]and housewives were outraged,

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and in a case of art imitating life,

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this episode also included footage[br]of a real gun control march

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that we had organized right here,[br]

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outside in Copacabana Beach.

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The televised death and march[br]had a huge impact on public opinion.

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Within weeks, our national congress[br]approved the disarmament bill

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that had been languishing for years.

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We were then able to mobilize data

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to show the successful outcomes[br]of the change in the law

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and gun collection program.

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Here is what I mean:

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We could prove that in just one year,

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we saved more than 5,000 lives.

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(Applause)

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And in the case of drugs,

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in order to undermine this fear[br]and prejudice that surrounds the issue,

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we managed to gather and present data[br]that shows that today's drug policies

0:11:19.678,0:11:23.549
cause much more harm than drug use per se,

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and people are starting to get it.

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My fourth insight is:

0:11:29.818,0:11:34.044
Don't be afraid to bring[br]together odd bedfellows.

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What we've learned in Brazil --

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and this doesn't only[br]apply to my country --

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is the importance of bringing diverse[br]and eclectic folks together.

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If you want to change the world,

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it helps to have a good cross-section[br]of society on your side.

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In both the case of guns and drugs,

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we brought together[br]a wonderful mix of people.

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We mobilized the elite[br]and got huge support from the media.

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We gathered the victims,[br]human rights champions, cultural icons.

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We also assembled[br]the professional classes --

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doctors, lawyers, academia and more.

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What I've learned over the last years

0:12:12.437,0:12:18.337
is that you need coalitions of the willing[br]and of the unwilling to make change.

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In the case of drugs,

0:12:20.204,0:12:23.791
we needed libertarians,[br]anti-prohibitionists, legalizers,

0:12:23.791,0:12:26.136
and liberal politicians.

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They may not agree on everything;

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in fact, they disagree[br]on almost everything.

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But the legitimacy of the campaign[br]is based on their diverse points of view.

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Over a decade ago,

0:12:41.762,0:12:46.220
I had a comfortable future[br]working for an investment bank.

0:12:46.220,0:12:50.492
I was as far removed from the world[br]of civil society diplomacy

0:12:50.492,0:12:52.768
as you can imagine.

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But I took a chance.

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I changed course,

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and on the way, I helped [br]to create social movements

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that I believe have made [br]some parts of the world safer.

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Each and every one of us[br]has the power to change the world.

0:13:10.178,0:13:14.790
No matter what the issue,[br]and no matter how hard the fight,

0:13:14.790,0:13:19.504
civil society is central[br]to the blueprint for change.

0:13:19.504,0:13:21.815
Thank you.

0:13:21.815,0:13:25.832
(Applause)