0:00:00.761,0:00:04.975
What has the War on Drugs [br]done to the world?

0:00:04.975,0:00:07.152
Look at the murder and mayhem in Mexico,

0:00:07.152,0:00:10.999
Central America, so many [br]other parts of the planet,

0:00:10.999,0:00:12.799
the global black market estimated

0:00:12.799,0:00:15.375
at 300 billion dollars a year,

0:00:15.375,0:00:18.817
prisons packed in the [br]United States and elsewhere,

0:00:18.817,0:00:21.495
police and military drawn [br]into an unwinnable war

0:00:21.495,0:00:24.757
that violates basic rights, [br]and ordinary citizens

0:00:24.757,0:00:27.738
just hope they don't get [br]caught in the crossfire,

0:00:27.738,0:00:30.100
and meanwhile, more people using

0:00:30.100,0:00:32.361
more drugs than ever.

0:00:32.361,0:00:34.656
It's my country's history [br]with alcohol prohibition

0:00:34.656,0:00:37.783
and Al Capone, times 50.

0:00:37.783,0:00:41.336
Which is why it's [br]particularly galling to me

0:00:41.336,0:00:44.465
as an American that we've [br]been the driving force

0:00:44.465,0:00:46.501
behind this global drug war.

0:00:46.501,0:00:48.503
Ask why so many countries criminalize

0:00:48.503,0:00:50.292
drugs they'd never heard of,

0:00:50.292,0:00:53.318
why the U.N. drug treaties emphasize

0:00:53.318,0:00:55.540
criminalization over health,

0:00:55.540,0:00:57.884
even why most of the money worldwide

0:00:57.884,0:00:59.549
for dealing with drug abuse goes not

0:00:59.549,0:01:02.320
to helping agencies but those that punish,

0:01:02.320,0:01:05.639
and you'll find the good old U.S. of A.

0:01:05.639,0:01:07.817
Why did we do this?

0:01:07.817,0:01:11.113
Some people, especially in Latin America,

0:01:11.113,0:01:12.846
think it's not really about drugs.

0:01:12.846,0:01:15.009
It's just a subterfuge for advancing

0:01:15.009,0:01:18.167
the realpolitik interests of the U.S.

0:01:18.167,0:01:21.530
But by and large, that's not it.

0:01:21.530,0:01:24.443
We don't want gangsters and guerrillas

0:01:24.443,0:01:26.513
funded with illegal drug money

0:01:26.513,0:01:29.629
terrorizing and taking over other nations.

0:01:29.629,0:01:34.200
No, the fact is, America really is crazy

0:01:34.200,0:01:36.040
when it comes to drugs.

0:01:36.040,0:01:38.200
I mean, don't forget, we're [br]the ones who thought

0:01:38.200,0:01:39.866
that we could prohibit alcohol.

0:01:39.866,0:01:42.149
So think about our global drug war

0:01:42.149,0:01:44.885
not as any sort of rational policy,

0:01:44.885,0:01:47.627
but as the international projection

0:01:47.627,0:01:51.114
of a domestic psychosis.

0:01:51.114,0:01:54.160
(Applause)

0:01:54.160,0:01:55.827
But here's the good news.

0:01:55.827,0:01:59.120
Now it's the Russians leading[br]the Drug War and not us.

0:01:59.120,0:02:00.700
Most politicians in my country

0:02:00.700,0:02:02.021
want to roll back the Drug War now,

0:02:02.021,0:02:04.833
put fewer people behind bars, not more,

0:02:04.833,0:02:07.342
and I'm proud to say as an American

0:02:07.342,0:02:08.926
that we now lead the world

0:02:08.926,0:02:11.166
in reforming marijuana policies.

0:02:11.166,0:02:13.112
It's now legal for medical purposes

0:02:13.112,0:02:14.912
in almost half our 50 states,

0:02:14.912,0:02:17.274
millions of people can [br]purchase their marijuana,

0:02:17.274,0:02:20.190
their medicine, in government-[br]licensed dispensaries,

0:02:20.190,0:02:23.270
and over half my fellow [br]citizens now say it's time

0:02:23.270,0:02:25.643
to legally regulate and tax marijuana

0:02:25.643,0:02:27.320
more or less like alcohol.

0:02:27.320,0:02:29.287
That's what Colorado and [br]Washington are doing,

0:02:29.287,0:02:33.673
and Uruguay, and others [br]are sure to follow.

0:02:33.673,0:02:36.161
So that's what I do:

0:02:36.161,0:02:39.967
work to end the Drug War.

0:02:39.967,0:02:42.626
I think it all started growing up

0:02:42.626,0:02:45.205
in a fairly religious, moral family,

0:02:45.205,0:02:47.241
eldest son of a rabbi,

0:02:47.241,0:02:49.412
going off to university where I

0:02:49.412,0:02:52.762
smoked some marijuana

0:02:52.762,0:02:54.980
and I liked it. (Laughter)

0:02:54.980,0:02:57.455
And I liked drinking too, but it was obvious

0:02:57.455,0:02:59.930
that alcohol was really the[br]more dangerous of the two,

0:02:59.930,0:03:01.617
but my friends and I could get busted

0:03:01.617,0:03:03.190
for smoking a joint.

0:03:03.190,0:03:05.749
Now, that hypocrisy kept bugging me,

0:03:05.749,0:03:08.690
so I wrote my Ph.D dissertation[br]on international drug control.

0:03:08.690,0:03:11.180
I talked my way into the State Department.

0:03:11.180,0:03:12.409
I got a security clearance.

0:03:12.409,0:03:15.373
I interviewed hundreds of DEA[br]and other law enforcement agents

0:03:15.373,0:03:17.530
all around Europe and the Americas,

0:03:17.530,0:03:18.761
and I'd ask them,

0:03:18.761,0:03:21.385
"What do you think the answer is?"

0:03:21.385,0:03:24.165
Well, in Latin America, they'd say to me,

0:03:24.165,0:03:26.980
"You can't really cut off the supply.

0:03:26.980,0:03:28.534
The answer lies back in the U.S.,

0:03:28.534,0:03:30.337
in cutting off the demand."

0:03:30.337,0:03:32.853
So then I go back home and I talk to people

0:03:32.853,0:03:35.453
involved in anti-drug efforts there, and they'd say,

0:03:35.453,0:03:38.681
"You know, Ethan, you can't [br]really cut off the demand.

0:03:38.681,0:03:41.628
The answer lies over there.[br]You've got to cut off the supply."

0:03:41.628,0:03:44.238
Then I'd go and talk [br]to the guys in customs

0:03:44.238,0:03:46.600
trying to stop drugs at the borders,

0:03:46.600,0:03:49.817
and they'd say, "You're [br]not going to stop it here.

0:03:49.817,0:03:51.786
The answer lies over there,

0:03:51.786,0:03:54.778
in cutting off supply and demand."

0:03:54.778,0:03:56.408
And it hit me:

0:03:56.408,0:03:58.693
Everybody involved in this

0:03:58.693,0:04:01.133
thought the answer lay in that area

0:04:01.133,0:04:04.141
about which they knew the least.

0:04:04.141,0:04:06.645
So that's when I started [br]reading everything I could

0:04:06.645,0:04:09.525
about psychoactive drugs: [br]the history, the science,

0:04:09.525,0:04:11.630
the politics, all of it,

0:04:11.630,0:04:13.946
and the more one read,

0:04:13.946,0:04:16.488
the more it hit you how a thoughtful,

0:04:16.488,0:04:19.852
enlightened, intelligent [br]approach took you over here,

0:04:19.852,0:04:22.360
whereas the politics and laws of my country

0:04:22.360,0:04:24.396
were taking you over here.

0:04:24.396,0:04:28.187
And that disparity struck me as this incredible

0:04:28.187,0:04:32.354
intellectual and moral puzzle.

0:04:34.385,0:04:36.411
There's probably never been

0:04:36.411,0:04:39.020
a drug-free society.

0:04:39.020,0:04:40.770
Virtually every society

0:04:40.770,0:04:43.171
has ingested psychoactive substances

0:04:43.171,0:04:46.786
to deal with pain, increase [br]our energy, socialize,

0:04:46.786,0:04:48.819
even commune with God.

0:04:48.819,0:04:51.507
Our desire to alter our consciousness

0:04:51.507,0:04:53.937
may be as fundamental as our desires

0:04:53.937,0:04:57.854
for food, companionship and sex.

0:04:57.854,0:04:59.991
So our true challenge

0:04:59.991,0:05:02.871
is to learn how to live with drugs

0:05:02.871,0:05:05.627
so they cause the least possible harm

0:05:05.627,0:05:09.840
and in some cases the [br]greatest possible benefit.

0:05:09.840,0:05:11.910
I'll tell you something else I learned,

0:05:11.910,0:05:14.998
that the reason some drugs [br]are legal and others not

0:05:14.998,0:05:17.956
has almost nothing to do [br]with science or health

0:05:17.956,0:05:19.789
or the relative risk of drugs,

0:05:19.789,0:05:22.185
and almost everything to do with who uses

0:05:22.185,0:05:25.313
and who is perceived [br]to use particular drugs.

0:05:25.313,0:05:27.383
In the late 19th century,

0:05:27.383,0:05:30.723
when most of the drugs that[br]are now illegal were legal,

0:05:30.723,0:05:33.435
the principal consumers [br]of opiates in my country

0:05:33.435,0:05:37.239
and others were middle-aged white women,

0:05:37.239,0:05:39.598
using them to alleviate aches and pains

0:05:39.598,0:05:42.320
when few other analgesics were available.

0:05:42.320,0:05:44.481
And nobody thought about [br]criminalizing it back then

0:05:44.481,0:05:47.478
because nobody wanted to [br]put Grandma behind bars.

0:05:47.478,0:05:49.936
But when hundreds of thousands of Chinese

0:05:49.936,0:05:51.725
started showing up in my country,

0:05:51.725,0:05:54.323
working hard on the railroads and the mines

0:05:54.323,0:05:55.802
and then kicking back in the evening

0:05:55.802,0:05:57.506
just like they had in the old country

0:05:57.506,0:06:00.163
with a few puffs on that opium pipe,

0:06:00.163,0:06:02.480
that's when you saw the [br]first drug prohibition laws

0:06:02.480,0:06:04.280
in California and Nevada,

0:06:04.280,0:06:06.158
driven by racist fears of Chinese

0:06:06.158,0:06:07.994
transforming white women

0:06:07.994,0:06:11.378
into opium-addicted sex slaves.

0:06:11.378,0:06:14.213
The first cocaine prohibition [br]laws, similarly prompted

0:06:14.213,0:06:17.980
by racist fears of black men [br]sniffing that white powder

0:06:17.980,0:06:19.859
and forgetting their proper place

0:06:19.859,0:06:21.813
in Southern society.

0:06:21.813,0:06:23.796
And the first marijuana prohibition laws,

0:06:23.796,0:06:25.869
all about fears of Mexican migrants

0:06:25.869,0:06:29.645
in the West and the Southwest.

0:06:29.645,0:06:32.379
And what was true in my country,

0:06:32.379,0:06:34.876
is true in so many others as well,

0:06:34.876,0:06:37.120
with both the origins of these laws

0:06:37.120,0:06:40.543
and their implementation.

0:06:40.543,0:06:42.160
Put it this way,

0:06:42.160,0:06:44.841
and I exaggerate only slightly:

0:06:44.841,0:06:47.923
If the principal smokers of cocaine

0:06:47.923,0:06:49.917
were affluent older white men

0:06:49.917,0:06:52.906
and the principal consumers of Viagra

0:06:52.906,0:06:54.800
were poor young black men,

0:06:54.800,0:06:57.912
then smokable cocaine would be easy to[br]get with a prescription from your doctor

0:06:57.912,0:07:01.197
and selling Viagra would get you [br]five to 10 years behind bars.

0:07:01.197,0:07:04.981
(Applause)

0:07:04.981,0:07:08.835
I used to be a professor teaching about this.

0:07:08.835,0:07:12.490
Now I'm an activist, a human rights activist,

0:07:12.490,0:07:15.251
and what drives me is my shame

0:07:15.251,0:07:17.429
at living in an otherwise great nation

0:07:17.429,0:07:20.212
that has less than five percent[br]of the world's population

0:07:20.212,0:07:23.840
but almost 25 percent of the[br]world's incarcerated population.

0:07:23.840,0:07:26.241
It's the people I meet [br]who have lost someone

0:07:26.241,0:07:28.795
they love to drug-related [br]violence or prison

0:07:28.795,0:07:30.257
or overdose or AIDS

0:07:30.257,0:07:32.237
because our drug policies emphasize

0:07:32.237,0:07:34.261
criminalization over health.

0:07:34.261,0:07:37.490
It's good people who have lost their jobs,

0:07:37.490,0:07:41.120
their homes, their freedom, [br]even their children

0:07:41.120,0:07:44.588
to the state, not because they hurt anyone

0:07:44.588,0:07:47.813
but solely because they chose to use one drug

0:07:47.813,0:07:50.827
instead of another.

0:07:50.827,0:07:55.176
So is legalization the answer?

0:07:55.176,0:07:57.213
On that, I'm torn:

0:07:57.213,0:08:00.396
three days a week I think yes,[br]three days a week I think no,

0:08:00.396,0:08:02.616
and on Sundays I'm agnostic.

0:08:02.616,0:08:05.142
But since today is Tuesday,

0:08:05.142,0:08:09.844
let me just say that legally [br]regulating and taxing

0:08:09.844,0:08:12.262
most of the drugs that [br]are now criminalized

0:08:12.262,0:08:14.636
would radically reduce [br]the crime, violence,

0:08:14.636,0:08:16.368
corruption and black markets,

0:08:16.368,0:08:19.405
and the problems of adulterated[br]and unregulated drugs,

0:08:19.405,0:08:21.352
and improve public safety,

0:08:21.352,0:08:23.556
and allow taxpayer resources to be developed

0:08:23.556,0:08:25.772
to more useful purposes.

0:08:25.772,0:08:29.552
I mean, look, the markets [br]in marijuana, cocaine,

0:08:29.552,0:08:31.565
heroin and methamphetamine

0:08:31.565,0:08:34.130
are global commodities markets

0:08:34.130,0:08:37.325
just like the global markets [br]in alcohol, tobacco,

0:08:37.325,0:08:40.205
coffee, sugar, and so many other things.

0:08:40.205,0:08:42.601
Where there is a demand,

0:08:42.601,0:08:45.124
there will be a supply.

0:08:45.124,0:08:47.280
Knock out one source and another

0:08:47.280,0:08:48.990
inevitably emerges.

0:08:48.990,0:08:51.370
People tend to think of prohibition

0:08:51.370,0:08:53.868
as the ultimate form of regulation

0:08:53.868,0:08:57.887
when in fact it represents [br]the abdication of regulation

0:08:57.887,0:09:01.904
with criminals filling the void.

0:09:01.904,0:09:04.164
Which is why putting criminal laws and police

0:09:04.164,0:09:07.382
front and center in trying to control

0:09:07.382,0:09:10.486
a dynamic global commodities market

0:09:10.486,0:09:13.355
is a recipe for disaster.

0:09:13.355,0:09:15.526
And what we really need to do

0:09:15.526,0:09:17.900
is to bring the underground drug markets

0:09:17.900,0:09:20.813
as much as possible aboveground

0:09:20.813,0:09:24.885
and regulate them as [br]intelligently as we can

0:09:24.885,0:09:27.674
to minimize both the harms of drugs

0:09:27.674,0:09:31.162
and the harms of prohibitionist policies.

0:09:31.162,0:09:34.727
Now, with marijuana, that obviously means

0:09:34.727,0:09:37.393
legally regulating and [br]taxing it like alcohol.

0:09:37.393,0:09:40.723
The benefits of doing so are[br]enormous, the risks minimal.

0:09:40.723,0:09:43.434
Will more people use marijuana?

0:09:43.434,0:09:47.405
Maybe, but it's not [br]going to be young people,

0:09:47.405,0:09:49.407
because it's not going to [br]be legalized for them,

0:09:49.407,0:09:51.218
and quite frankly, they already have

0:09:51.218,0:09:53.254
the best access to marijuana.

0:09:53.254,0:09:55.403
I think it's going to be older people.

0:09:55.403,0:09:57.562
It's going to be people in their 40s and 60s

0:09:57.562,0:10:01.208
and 80s who find they prefer a little marijuana

0:10:01.208,0:10:04.498
to that drink in the evening or the sleeping pill

0:10:04.498,0:10:08.138
or that it helps with [br]their arthritis or diabetes

0:10:08.138,0:10:13.330
or maybe helps spice up a [br]long-term marriage. (Laughter)

0:10:13.330,0:10:16.484
And that just might be a [br]net public health benefit.

0:10:16.484,0:10:18.846
As for the other drugs,

0:10:18.846,0:10:21.467
look at Portugal, where [br]nobody goes to jail

0:10:21.467,0:10:23.230
for possessing drugs,

0:10:23.230,0:10:24.600
and the government's made [br]a serious commitment

0:10:24.600,0:10:26.810
to treating addiction as a health issue.

0:10:26.810,0:10:28.711
Look at Switzerland, [br]Germany, the Netherlands,

0:10:28.711,0:10:30.657
Denmark, England, where people who have

0:10:30.657,0:10:32.558
been addicted to heroin for many years

0:10:32.558,0:10:34.864
and repeatedly tried to quit and failed

0:10:34.864,0:10:37.722
can get pharmaceutical [br]heroin and helping services

0:10:37.722,0:10:41.163
in medical clinics, and [br]the results are in:

0:10:41.163,0:10:44.227
Illegal drug abuse and disease

0:10:44.227,0:10:48.374
and overdoses and crime [br]and arrests all go down,

0:10:48.374,0:10:50.523
health and well-being improve,

0:10:50.523,0:10:52.255
taxpayers benefit,

0:10:52.255,0:10:56.405
and many drug users even[br]put their addictions behind them.

0:10:56.405,0:10:59.207
Look at New Zealand, which [br]recently enacted a law

0:10:59.207,0:11:02.142
allowing certain recreational [br]drugs to be sold legally

0:11:02.142,0:11:04.843
provided their safety had been established.

0:11:04.843,0:11:07.542
Look here in Brazil, and some other countries,

0:11:07.542,0:11:10.605
where a remarkable psychoactive substance,

0:11:10.605,0:11:13.830
ayahuasca, can be legally [br]bought and consumed

0:11:13.830,0:11:16.958
provided it's done so [br]within a religious context.

0:11:16.958,0:11:18.960
Look in Bolivia and Peru,

0:11:18.960,0:11:21.749
where all sorts of products [br]made from the coca leaf,

0:11:21.749,0:11:23.650
the source of cocaine,

0:11:23.650,0:11:25.270
are sold legally over the counter

0:11:25.270,0:11:28.403
with no apparent harm to people's public health.

0:11:28.403,0:11:32.439
I mean, don't forget, Coca-Cola[br]had cocaine in it until 1900,

0:11:32.439,0:11:34.407
and so far as we know was no more addictive

0:11:34.407,0:11:38.460
than Coca-Cola is today.

0:11:38.460,0:11:41.537
Conversely, think about cigarettes:

0:11:41.537,0:11:46.523
Nothing can both hook you [br]and kill you like cigarettes.

0:11:46.523,0:11:49.587
When researchers ask heroin addicts

0:11:49.587,0:11:52.793
what's the toughest drug to [br]quit, most say cigarettes.

0:11:52.793,0:11:55.167
Yet in my country and many others,

0:11:55.167,0:11:57.709
half of all the people who [br]were ever addicted

0:11:57.709,0:11:59.644
to cigarettes have quit

0:11:59.644,0:12:02.652
without anyone being [br]arrested or put in jail

0:12:02.652,0:12:04.908
or sent to a "treatment program"

0:12:04.908,0:12:06.641
by a prosecutor or a judge.

0:12:06.641,0:12:09.937
What did it were higher taxes

0:12:09.937,0:12:13.480
and time and place [br]restrictions on sale and use

0:12:13.480,0:12:16.552
and effective anti-smoking campaigns.

0:12:16.552,0:12:20.492
Now, could we reduce smoking even more

0:12:20.492,0:12:24.831
by making it totally illegal? Probably.

0:12:24.831,0:12:28.442
But just imagine the drug war nightmare

0:12:28.442,0:12:31.480
that would result.

0:12:31.480,0:12:33.763
So the challenges we face today

0:12:33.763,0:12:35.630
are twofold.

0:12:35.630,0:12:38.645
The first is the policy challenge

0:12:38.645,0:12:42.323
of designing and implementing alternatives

0:12:42.323,0:12:44.741
to ineffective prohibitionist policies,

0:12:44.741,0:12:48.161
even as we need to get [br]better at regulating

0:12:48.161,0:12:51.830
and living with the drugs [br]that are now legal.

0:12:51.830,0:12:55.191
But the second challenge is tougher,

0:12:55.191,0:12:58.802
because it's about us.

0:12:58.802,0:13:02.290
The obstacles to reform [br]lie not just out there

0:13:02.290,0:13:04.450
in the power of the [br]prison industrial complex

0:13:04.450,0:13:06.654
or other vested interests [br]that want to keep things

0:13:06.654,0:13:08.080
the way they are,

0:13:08.080,0:13:11.920
but within each and every one of us.

0:13:11.920,0:13:15.970
It's our fears and our lack of knowledge

0:13:15.970,0:13:22.670
and imagination that stands [br]in the way of real reform.

0:13:22.670,0:13:27.240
And ultimately, I think that [br]boils down to the kids,

0:13:27.240,0:13:30.985
and to every parent's desire[br]to put our baby in a bubble,

0:13:30.985,0:13:34.315
and the fear that somehow[br]drugs will pierce that bubble

0:13:34.315,0:13:36.244
and put our young ones at risk.

0:13:36.244,0:13:38.314
In fact, sometimes it [br]seems like the entire

0:13:38.314,0:13:40.290
War on Drugs gets justified

0:13:40.290,0:13:44.216
as one great big child protection act,

0:13:44.216,0:13:47.823
which any young person [br]can tell you it's not.

0:13:47.823,0:13:51.929
So here's what I say to teenagers.

0:13:51.929,0:13:55.615
First, don't do drugs.

0:13:55.615,0:13:59.405
Second, don't do drugs.

0:13:59.405,0:14:02.825
Third, if you do do drugs,

0:14:02.825,0:14:05.367
there's some things I want you to know,

0:14:05.367,0:14:09.410
because my bottom line as your parent is,

0:14:09.410,0:14:12.391
come home safely at the end of the night

0:14:12.391,0:14:15.924
and grow up and lead a [br]healthy and good adulthood.

0:14:15.924,0:14:21.537
That's my drug education [br]mantra: Safety first.

0:14:21.537,0:14:25.193
So this is what I've dedicated my life to,

0:14:25.193,0:14:27.701
to building an organization and a movement

0:14:27.701,0:14:30.561
of people who believe we [br]need to turn our backs

0:14:30.561,0:14:32.606
on the failed prohibitions of the past

0:14:32.606,0:14:35.305
and embrace new drug [br]policies grounded in science,

0:14:35.305,0:14:38.246
compassion, health and human rights,

0:14:38.246,0:14:40.884
where people who come from[br]across the political spectrum

0:14:40.884,0:14:42.865
and every other spectrum as well,

0:14:42.865,0:14:44.599
where people who love our drugs,

0:14:44.599,0:14:45.938
people who hate drugs,

0:14:45.938,0:14:48.250
and people who don't give [br]a damn about drugs,

0:14:48.250,0:14:51.684
but every one of us believes [br]that this War on Drugs,

0:14:51.684,0:14:55.931
this backward, heartless, [br]disastrous War on Drugs,

0:14:55.931,0:14:59.030
has got to end.

0:14:59.030,0:15:00.873
Thank you.

0:15:00.873,0:15:05.880
(Applause)

0:15:15.042,0:15:17.722
Thank you. Thank you.

0:15:17.722,0:15:19.943
Chris Anderson: Ethan,

0:15:19.943,0:15:23.182
congrats — quite the reaction.

0:15:23.182,0:15:25.926
That was a powerful talk.

0:15:25.926,0:15:29.234
Not quite a complete standing O, though,

0:15:29.234,0:15:30.921
and I'm guessing that some people here

0:15:30.921,0:15:33.187
and maybe a few watching online,

0:15:33.187,0:15:37.287
maybe someone knows a teenager or a friend

0:15:37.287,0:15:39.504
or whatever who got sick,

0:15:39.504,0:15:42.500
maybe died from some drug overdose.

0:15:42.500,0:15:44.386
I'm sure you've had these[br]people approach you before.

0:15:44.386,0:15:46.557
What do you say to them?

0:15:46.557,0:15:48.739
Ethan Nadelmann: Chris, the most[br]amazing thing that's happened of late

0:15:48.739,0:15:50.980
is that I've met a growing number of people

0:15:50.980,0:15:53.558
who have actually [br]lost a sibling or a child

0:15:53.558,0:15:55.184
to a drug overdose,

0:15:55.184,0:15:57.160
and 10 years ago, those [br]people just wanted to say,

0:15:57.160,0:15:59.140
let's line up all the drug [br]dealers and shoot them

0:15:59.140,0:16:00.481
and that will solve it.

0:16:00.481,0:16:01.776
And what they've come to understand

0:16:01.776,0:16:04.659
is that the Drug War did [br]nothing to protect their kids.

0:16:04.659,0:16:06.108
If anything, it made it more likely

0:16:06.108,0:16:08.210
that those kids were put at risk.

0:16:08.210,0:16:09.820
And so they're now becoming part of this

0:16:09.820,0:16:11.695
drug policy reform movement.

0:16:11.695,0:16:13.385
There's other people who have kids,

0:16:13.385,0:16:16.850
one's addicted to alcohol, the other[br]one's addicted to cocaine or heroin,

0:16:16.850,0:16:18.278
and they ask themselves the question:

0:16:18.278,0:16:20.595
Why does this kid get to [br]take one step at a time

0:16:20.595,0:16:21.889
and try to get better

0:16:21.889,0:16:23.453
and that one's got to deal with jail

0:16:23.453,0:16:25.478
and police and criminals all the time?

0:16:25.478,0:16:26.948
So everybody's understanding,

0:16:26.948,0:16:29.673
the Drug War's not protecting anybody.

0:16:29.673,0:16:31.754
CA: Certainly in the U.S., [br]you've got political gridlock

0:16:31.754,0:16:33.149
on most issues.

0:16:33.149,0:16:34.881
Is there any realistic chance of anything

0:16:34.881,0:16:38.227
actually shifting on this [br]issue in the next five years?

0:16:38.227,0:16:40.245
EN: I'd say it's quite remarkable. [br]I'm getting all these calls

0:16:40.245,0:16:42.126
from journalists now who are saying to me,

0:16:42.126,0:16:44.130
"Ethan, it seems like the only two issues

0:16:44.130,0:16:46.423
advancing politically in America right now

0:16:46.423,0:16:49.314
are marijuana law reform and gay marriage.

0:16:49.314,0:16:50.891
What are you doing right?"

0:16:50.891,0:16:53.479
And then you're looking at [br]bipartisanship breaking out

0:16:53.479,0:16:55.771
with, actually, Republicans in the Congress

0:16:55.771,0:16:58.840
and state legislatures [br]allowing bills to be enacted

0:16:58.840,0:17:00.804
with majority Democratic support,

0:17:00.804,0:17:03.320
so we've gone from being sort of the third rail,

0:17:03.320,0:17:05.411
the most fearful issue of American politics,

0:17:05.411,0:17:08.161
to becoming one of the most successful.

0:17:08.161,0:17:10.344
CA: Ethan, thank you so much for coming to TEDGlobal.[br]EN: Chris, thanks so much.

0:17:10.344,0:17:13.264
CA: Thank you.[br]EN: Thank you. (Applause)