""Richard Nixon President of the United States (1969-1974)"" ""In the 1970s, the US declared war on drugs." "Drug consumption was defined as a crime punishable by jail."" ""Ronald Reagan President of the United States (1981-1989)"" ""But has a drug free world ever existed?"" ""40,000,000 B.C. The Drunken Monkey Hypothesis"" "BREAKING THE TABOO DVDRip" " MP3" " NandOlocal" ""2700 B.C. China" " Cannabis"" ""1300 B. C Assyria" " Cannabis" ""1000 B.C. Egypt" " Opium"" ""500 B.C. Greece" " Wine"" ""1492 Columbus brings cannabis seeds to the Americas"" ""1600 Arabis" " Hashish"" ""1800 China" " Opium War"" ""1885 Freud" " Morphine"" ""1914- 1918 World War I" " Medicinal Cocaine"" ""1920 US Alcohol Prohibition"" ""1965 Vietnam War"" ""1960s Counterculture"" ""1971 Richard Nixon declares War on Drugs"" ""1960s Bob Marley"" ""1970s Eric Clapton"" ""Synthetic Drugs"" "The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy met today in Rio de Janeiro to discuss new ways to fight drug trafficking and narcotics consumption." ""2008 The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy"" "It is not easy to talk about drugs." "But we must since democracy is at stake." "Drugs lead to violence, undermine the rule of law and contribute to illegal repression." "They also facilitate corruption." "All this erodes credibility of the institutions." "Any questions?" "Would the legalization of marijuana reduce the power of traffickers?" "Bolivia is leading a campaign to take out the coca leaf from this list of drugs, bad drugs." "So what is your opinion on this issue?" "Since repression has not worked, do you think the right approach is decriminalization and liberalization?" "What legal changes do you think should be made?" "Is the state prepared to treat addicts instead of putting them in jail?" "Won't we be making life easier for the traffickers?" "Rational people change their minds when confronted with new evidence." ""Fernando Henrique Cardoso, sociologist President of Brazil (1995- 2003)"" "Back then, I was not aware of the seriousness of the issue." "People ask me why I didn't do anything as President." "I did not have the right information." "I was not directly involved." "The general consensus was that police repression was the solution." "The repressive policy was a failure." "I did not see this." "I was wrong." "There are risks involved." "One could ask why am I meddling with the drug issue when I should be at home looking after my great-grandchildren?" "I remember a favela in the outskirts of São Paulo." "A lady approached me and asked:" ""Is it true that you are going to put marijuana in children's snacks?"" "So I understand how risky this issue is." "Getting it wrong could be devastating." "Early on this debate I read in a local newspaper that the active ingredient of marijuana was not THC but FHC." "They were mocking me." ""Favela Vigario Geral (slum), Rio de Janeiro"" ""Afroreggae Waly Salomao Cultural Center"" "When I turned 13, my only option was drug trafficking." "You end up believing that this is the right option." ""Vitor Onofre Afroreggae coordinator"" "The only path." "It's the only reality you face each day." "Guns, drugs and violence." ""Favela Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro"" "Sixty years ago, our guns were.22 and.32 caliber." "Forty years ago, .38 specials, pistols and 12 gauges arrived." ""Former drug trafficker"" "Then came assault rifles, machine guns and AK-47s." "So there is a link between the introduction of new weapons" " and shifts in trafficking?" " Yes." "Every time a new gun showed up, there was a new trafficker behind it." "And did this increase the power of the drug market?" "No." "But it increased crime." " Crime?" "Killing?" " More bloodshed." ""Firearms seized by Rio's police - 2009"" "We have around 150,000 firearms here." ""Allan Turnowski Former Civil Police Director"" "War weapons seized in Rio." "This one was made in Switzerland." " This one's global." " It is the AK-47." "Born in Russia and spread worldwide." ""Carlos Oliveira Former Deputy Director of the Civil Police"" "Guns made in countries such as Austria or Germany..." ""In 2011, Carlos Oliveira was arrested for diverting weapons seized from drug traffickers." "He was released a few months later." "An investigation was opened up to review the Federal Police's poor record in combating arms trafficking." "Carlos claims to have been a victim of a political witchhunt." "To date, this case has not been decided on."" "I was surprised by the way we got to the favela." "We arrived in a strange way:" "By helicopter." "The chopper has to dodge because the traffickers may shoot at it." "I live in a community where rival factions are at war." "One night I went to a party with my girlfriend." "That was when it happened." "I was hit by a stray bullet." "I woke up at the hospital, and realized what had happened." "So I ended up like this." "I was 18 or 19 years old." "When the police raid a favela, traffickers shoot at residents to force the police to stop and help the injured." ""Stray bullet victim - 19 years old"" "Innocent people always pay the highest price." "I had nothing to do with trafficking and then this happened." "It makes me angry." ""Cracolandia" " Sao Paulo, Brazil"" "The crack situation in Brazil is the best example of the failed war on drugs." "Crack arrived to Brazil during the 1990s." "It came from the US, where it's long been used." "We had no educational campaigns." "Kids started using crack believing that it was like any other drug you smoke, like marijuana or cigarettes, just a little stronger." "But it's a hugely addictive drug." "So what is the situation today?" "We waged war on crack and what happened?" "It spread nationwide, becoming an epidemic." ""Brazilian Anti-Drug Commercial"" "Drug trafficking finances violence." "And you fund the trade." "If you are going to buy drugs, remember the cost." ""Denis R. Marijuana User" " Sao Paulo, Brazil"" "It's not my fault if I finance trafficking." "Because the only way I can smoke a joint is by getting some weed from the traffickers at the favela, and they are usually armed." "If I'm caught by the cops, they'll beat me up." "Once I was picking up marijuana and two police cars showed up." "I heard gunshots." "I don't feel safe, but in my case, there's no alternative." "So I'd rather take the risk then end up empty-handed." "My mother is terrified that I'm in contact with traffickers." "She thinks I'm going to super dangerous places where everyone's armed." "But the truth is that all drug users are also dealers." "Users buy drugs from someone, then consume them." "He gives some to his friends." "Since drugs are criminalized, it's a crime to have drugs on you." "Why would ten people go uphill to buy drugs, when only one can go buy some for everyone?" "And the kid understands that if he sells it for a bit more, his stash is free." ""Washington D.C., USA"" "We have to look at what is happening in the US because of its power to influence repressive drug policies across Latin America and the world." "And also because of its crucial role in the UN." "UN Conventions require all countries to enforce total drug prohibition without considering alternatives." ""Bill Clinton President of the United States (1993- 2001)"" ""Georgetown High School"" "Where should I sit?" ""Ranking of drugs according to harm The Lancet Medical Journal (UK)"" ""1." "Heroine; 2." "Cocaine; 5." "Alcohol;" "9." "Tobacco; 11." "Cannabis"" ""Ethan Nadelmann Director, Drug Policy Alliance"" ""Jimmy Carter President of the United States (1977- 1980)"" ""Mexico City"" ""Ernesto Zedillo President of Mexico (1994- 2000)"" "Organized crime would not have had the power it has in Mexico and other countries without the huge amounts of funds from illegal trafficking." "Part of this money is used to buy guns, most of which are legally purchased in the US and handed over to the Mexican cartels." "Once the drugs cross the US border, we lose track of who buys" ""Carlos Fuentes Mexican novelist"" "and consumes them or who profits from the trade or how banks launder the money." "We haven't a clue." "All the blame is directed to the supply side and never on the demand." "Mexico is currently sending its citizens into exile." ""Gael Garcia Bernal Mexican actor"" "People are being brought up amidst violence and insecurity, and this is all related to drug trafficking, in one way or another." "There's news of decapitations on a daily basis:" "It has somehow become what you expect to see every day." "This is not a problem that we, Mexicans, can solve by ourselves." "We need to urge the US and other big consumer countries to assume their responsibility for this issue." "Crime is not new." ""Moises Naim Expert on Global Criminal Networks"" "But it is amplified by globalization, the criminalization of politics, the politicization of criminals and drug trafficking." "One of my key conclusions is the link between the criminalization of politics and the politicization of criminals." "More and more politicians are involved in criminal activities, and vice versa." "Criminals have more money and power." "They are taking over politics and becoming politicians." ""Pablo Escobar Colombian Drug Lord and Coogressman - 1980s"" "We are the new force in Congress!" "We are the peoples' hope to fulfill their dreams!" "It's not the drug cartels alone that are generating violence." ""Cesar Gaviria President of Colombia (1990-1994)"" "When I ran for President, they murdered three other candidates." "Later, an organization linked to narcotraffic kidnapped my brother." "He was kept chained underground for three months without being able to move or change his clothes." "He was traumatized and shoked by this experience." "A few years ago, the FARC, currently Colombia's largest cartel, killed my sister during a failed kidnapping attempt for the purpose of political extortion." "Every Colombian family has been victimized by the guerrillas and narcotraffickers." "Guerrillas are increasingly fed by drugs." "Once narcotraffickers create mafia networks, these networks expand into kidnapping and extortion." "The wave of kidnappings in Mexico and Brazil is a consequence of these narcotrafficking networks." ""Plan Colombia Cashing In on the Drug War Failure"" ""Colombia's Caldono region"" ""Indigenous tribal ritual"" ""Coca leaves"" ""The cocaine manufacturing progress includes:" "Gasoline... and sulfuric acid... mixed with ammonia..." "Cocaine paste"" ""Jose Hurtado Indigenous Leader"" "Cocaine can cause physical and psychological damage." "It can be fatal." "But for us the chewing of coca leaf is an ancestral custom." "It is sacred." ""Extermination of illicit crops"" "Colombia is the only country in the world to use aerial fumigation on drug crops." "This destroys food and plantations." "This is very traumatic to Colombian society." "In the beginning of Plan Colombia, coca was grown in eight states." "Today, it's grown in 24 or 28 states." "It tripled." ""Pioya, Colombia"" "Coca plantations shifted from unpopulated to populated areas." "Drug crops are smaller and sometimes hidden in food plantations." "They are hard to find." ""Cornfield Hidden FARC poppy plantation"" "It is almost impossible to eliminate coca cultivation and cocaine use." "Worse, with the internet anybody can learn how to produce drugs at home." ""Dutch Police Training Center"" ""Andre Elissen" " Director of the Dutch Police Training Center"" "Drug production cannot be ended through force." "Why?" "Because the market is so profitable that someone will always be prepared to take the risk." "People will only stop taking risks when demand drops." ""Sao Paulo, Brazil"" ""Carandiru Prison" " Sao Paulo, Brazil"" "But what has been done to reduce consumption?" "Drug users are sent to jail." "Does it solve the problem?" "How many prisons will be needed to hold all the users?" "Curbing drug use in prisons is next to impossible." "Is this the case all over the world?" "It is." "There isn't a prison in the world that is drug free." ""Sing Sing Correctional Facility Maximum security prison, New York, US"" ""Anthony Papa" " Sentenced 15 years to life for a low-level, non-violent drug offense"" "This week I was treating a 23-year-old mother of three." "She said: "I'm here because of cocaine and if don't stop doing it," "I'll end up with massive debts." "I want to stop." "For the love of God, please help me, doctor."" "And I stare at her like an idiot, deeply frustrated." "Because there is nothing to offer." "What am I going to say to her?" "I say: "Try to distance yourself."" ""How can I stay away if my cellmate uses it?"" ""Robert Former drug addict"" "What will happen to the occasional user who is locked up with criminals and traffickers?" "They leave prison much worse off than when they arrived." ""Bangu Prison" " Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"" "I'm in a maximum security prison." "I was arrested for robbing a bank and an armored car." ""Macgyver Convicted for bank robbery"" "What happens to a drug addict after he gets locked-up?" "He specializes." "Because in prison he'll meet me, that guy, the other guy..." "See those girls?" "They had their first child at 14 or 15." "They dropped out of school with no education." "They aren't qualified for the labor market." "They come here and leave with a criminal record." " They're stigmatized." " Nobody will hire them." "They're branded." ""Prison inmates"" "I was caught in an alley buying drugs." "The police arrested me." "I started doing drugs at 16, because of my ex-husband." "I thought he'd like me more, if I did drugs." "So I use them." "I've serious health issues because of crack." "I don't smoke cigarettes or marijuana." "And if you want to work as a trafficker?" "Then you get a job straight away." "A dealer might even be waiting outside the prison gates ready to recruit you." "In women's prisons, the hardest thing to see are the women caught smuggling drugs into prison." "What happens to them?" "They're usually tricked by a husband or boyfriend in jail." "Who says they need the drugs to pay off debt or they'll be killed." "Others do it for the money." "They wrap the cocaine in a plastic bag and put it in their vagina." "While being searched at the prison entrance, a suspicious officer may ask them to squat and cough." "They find the drugs and she goes straight to the police office." "From there they go to a state penitentiary." "They may be sentenced to 4 years in jail." "She goes to prison for a visit and never goes home." "She leaves her 9-year-old to care for three younger siblings." "She doesn't go home and what happens to those kids?" "A cousin takes one, the neighbour another, some go into state custody." "What kind of future will they have?" "Because this is just a small drop of the drug-trafficking ocean." "By taking away their mother, a family is destroyed and future criminals are created." ""Neil Franklin Former Maryland Police Officer"" ""George H. W. Bush President of the United State (1989- 1993)"" "This policy of drug prohibition and repression panders to certain interest groups." "In the US, some prisons are privately run." "The firearms retail market and the bureaucracy specialized in repression, they all sustain the war on drugs." "Too many efforts are devoted to repression, while organized crime goes unpunished." ""Baltimore, USA Approximately 1 hour from the White House"" ""Counterculture - 1960s and 1970s"" "Nixon's election in 1968 unleashed a reaction against the libertarian movement that had spread across the US, especially in California." "That movement was led by young people, especially through rock'n'roll." "In the 1960s and 1970s, drugs were also a political statement." ""Paulo Coelho Novelist"" "My generation did drugs for more than simple pleasure." "Conservatives saw this and said:" ""My God, the world is upside down"." "They lumped everything together" " skin color, gender, sexual orientation and branded all of it as "bad"." "In politics, you do not always make rational decisions." "The choices you make have a strong emotional and symbolic content." ""What symbolizes the fragmentation of society?"" ""I'm going to attack that symbol." "So, let's declare war on drugs."" "The end game is clear:" ""Zero drugs"." "Get rid of drug use." "Exterminate drug plantations." "Achieve a drug-free world." "This is a moralistic perspective." "A worldview based on order and authority implying those who rule are good and whatever deviates from the norm is bad." "There was no scientific analysis about the risk and harm of any particular drug." "Prohibition was a political and ideological decision." "I had dinner on Capitol Hill with US congressmen who are willing to rethink the war on drugs." "The atmosphere was positive." "Some of them want to explore new approaches." ""Jim Kolbe Former Republican Congressman"" ""Amsterdam, the Netherlands January 2010"" "In the Netherlands, they decided to break the link connecting one drug to another through the drug dealers." "The same dealer who sells marijuana also tries to sell cocaine." "He does all he can to encourage consumers to move from one drug to another." "How did the Dutch deal with the problem?" "They authorized the sale of marijuana at "coffee shops"." ""Paul Wilheim Owner of the Dampkring Coffee Shop"" ""Seizure of marijuana plants in Amsterdam"" ""William Kramer Police Officer"" ""Bob Keizer Former Frug Policy Coordinator"" ""Medical marijuana laboratory"" ""Freerk Bruinin Legal cannabis drug facility"" ""Medical marijuana quality inspection by the government"" ""Kathrin Honer Medical Marijuana Laboratory Pharmacologist"" ""Rijksmuseum"" "This is rational Holland, the Holland of capitalism." "Look at this!" "Italian Renaissance painting was sacred and devoted to religion." "But in Holland no - art was about everyday life." "The Netherlands was profoundly shaped by this idea." "And later, by the Protestant Revolution." "This combination of the market and Protestant Revolution led to what the Dutch call "pragmatism"." "This legacy is visible in their drug policies." ""Bredero College"" ""Sebastian Van Leenen.'" "Every individual has a profound sense of their own identity." "Each person has the right to decide and to choose." ""I am the center of the world." "I am rational"." ""If you tell me that drugs are harmful, I will avoid them"." ""But the decision is mine."" ""User room"" "This is the idea behind harm reduction:" "When a person is so dependent that he can't stop taking drugs you have at least to provide a safe, clean place where he will not use an infected needle, where he will not overdose." "The goal is to reduce the harm caused by drugs." ""Cedric Charvet Coordinator Drug Consumption Room De Regenbook Groep" " Amsterdam"" "It's a terrible sight!" "But it's clear that this is a sick person, not a criminal." "This is what the Dutch are doing:" "They are taking care of the sick and reducing harm." "There are other cases in which drugs are supplied by the government." "One may ask:" ""Why are they doing this?"" "Because this brings the user closer to the health care system, paving the way for treatment and recovery." "Instead of being dependent on the dealer who will keep pushing more drugs to maximize profit, he will meet a doctor whose goal is to heal rather than exploit him." ""In the Netherlands, 9,5º/º of young adults (aged 15-34) cosume soft drugs once a month, which is less than..." "Italy (20,9º/º)" "France (16,7º/º)" "The UK (13,8º/º)" "The Dutch government can support approximately 90º/º of all help-seeking addicts with detoxification programs."" ""Geneva, Switzerland"" ""Ruth Dreifuss President of Switzerland (1999)"" "The police turned a blind eye." "The idea was to restrict addicts to a specific part of town where they could be monitored." "That was the theory." "In practice, the Swiss created a haven for traffickers, addicts and people living with HIV-AIDS." "This structure helped me to safeguard my health while still using drugs." "Of course consuming harmful products will damage your health." ""Jean Claude Etienne Former heroin user"" "But if the drug is taken in an unsafe way you'll experience serious side-effects." "I managed to avoid these problems thanks to the existence of this clinic." "It has enabled me to try to rebuild my life in the least destructive way possible." "It's now been two years since I stopped using drugs." ""Switzerland" " The number of drug injectors with HIV-AIDS has been reduced by over 50º/º in 10 years."" ""The overdose mortality rate for injectors has declined by over 50º/º in the last decade."" ""Family doctors now prescribe about 60º/º of opiate substitution treatments."" ""Nice, France"" ""Gro Brundtland Former Prime Minister of Norway and Director General of the World Health Organization"" "For a woman to smoke at that time was an act of freedom." "You might even see a child smoking." "Smoking was presented as something pleasurable and liberating." "In culture and when living in society, stigmas are not related to the object itself but to the meaning ascribed to it." ""Because of tobacco prevention campaings, the number of cigarettes smoked per person in the US dropped 56º/º between 1980 and 2006."" "In my generation, the anti-drug campaigns claimed that drugs destroyed the human being." "But once you try drugs you say:" ""Dude!" "I feel great!"" "Once that happens, young people question everything they've ever heard." "They realize that there is a lot of hypocrisy in these campaigns that are usually run by people who've never tried drugs." "They have a moralistic and conservative message and think they'll actually influence people." "They won't." ""TV Anti-Drug Campaign"" "All drugs may be harmful." "Heroin, cocaine and crack can have devastating effects." "But in some cases, it depends." "Take alcohol, for example." "If you drink at a party and drive a car you may kill or be killed." "If you wake up every morning and smoke marijuana you may experience serious psychological damage." "I think the best way I can contribute here is to speak about my own experience." "I tried every drug available in my time..." "Except heroin." "Cocaine had no effect on me." "I kept trying more and more." "And then it finally made me high." "Once I had just finished a great night out in New York." "I was looking down on 8th street with my beautiful girlfriend asleep, naked." "It was early morning and I couldn't sleep." "I had no desire to make love." "I said to myself:" ""I'm quitting"." "I'm quitting because this drug will trap me." "It will hook and destroy me." The devil's drug." "It's hard to talk openly about drugs and this is part of the problem." "I've taken drugs." "And this sounds weird." "It sounds as if I'm admitting to a crime." "How terrible." "I used to keep a few marijuana plants in my garden." "When I say, "I've done drugs"," "I feel like a Presidential candidate making a confession." "Young people do drugs because they're forbidden." "It's a way of saying "I am not conforming to society."" "It is a part of their rebellion." "But this window of youth is critical." "That is why you have to be truthful in your approach." "You can't lie to kids and tell them that drugs kill." "Because after smoking a joint and getting high, he'll think we lied." "Instead, he'll turn to his friend who will tell him that crack is even better." "This leads to two problems:" "First, as the pleasure goes down you have to increase the dosage." "And what does this dependency result in?" "That you spend the rest of your life looking for drugs." "The greatest danger of drug is that they destroy the most important thing in life:" "The power to decide." "The most precious thing in life is the power to choose." "Do you want this or do you want that?" "It is important to be upfront and honest about drugs." "This is what should be said:" ""Drugs are really great, but be careful, for you'll no longer be able to make decisions for yourself." "This is all you need to say." ""Gregory Lannes Entrepreneur"" ""New York, USA"" ""Howard Josepher" " Founder of the Exponents Rehabilitation Clinic"" ""Lisbon, Portugal"" "Portugal decriminalized the use of all drugs." "By avoiding the criminal system and eliminating the risks of users going to prison, they made it easier for addicts to seek treatment in hospitals." "The result was very positive." ""Joao Goulao President of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drugs Addiction"" "In Portugal, decriminalization does not mean depenalization." "There is still a clear disapproval towards drug consumption." "But the stigma attached to dealing with the problem through criminal law was eliminated." ""Toxicological Board Hearing of a user receiving treatment"" "This afternoon in Lisbon was a remarkable experience." "We witnessed a group hearing for a person caught with heroin." "I was a hard heroin user and the police found heroin on me." "I was placed in the Taipas clinic and started treatment." "I've been 100º/º clean for five months." "The records of this hearing are confidential." "The majority of drug dependents want to get rid of their addiction." "Without the risk of incarceration, it's easier to seek treatment." "This alternative allows people to come to grips with their problem." ""Taipas Clinic"" " This is a treatment clinic?" " This is the therapy facility." " What is the cost of the treatment?" " It's free." " Entirely for free?" " Yes, free of charge." ""Dr. Miguel Vasconcelos Clinic coordinator"" " I believe it is cheaper to treat people..." " Than sending them to jail." ""Manoel Pizarro Portugal's Health Minister"" "I think that by decriminalizing drugs we enabled drug dependents to come forward and seek medical help." "Society began to talk much more openly about a very serious issue affecting several families, but which has always been taboo." "That is the key point." "Ten years later, what do we see?" "Our youth consume fewer illegal drugs." ""Portugal Since Decriminalization:"" ""HIV-AIDS rates among all users have gone down"" ""Teenage drug use has gone down"" ""And marijuana consumption rates are amongst the lowest in the European Union."" ""Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"" "Mr. President, is legalization a possible solution for the drug issue?" "As was the case of tobacco and alcohol?" "Is decriminalization the same thing as legalization?" "It is not." ""Decriminalize To abolish the imposition of criminal penalties in relation to certain acts and behaviors"" "People tend to confuse both terms." "They mean different things." "Nobody can seriously talk of liberalizing the use of drugs." "Society needs rules, limits." "To legalize is to give legal access to." "To decriminalize means that those who use drugs won't go to jail." "But they can be punished." "In Portugal, there are penalties but people are not criminally prosecuted." "They are not sent to prison." "A law may or may not be complied with." "For a sociologist like me, the key issue is not that the law exists but that it is complied with." "This requires a change in people's mindsets." "I must be honest:" "I'm not sure what is the best option here." "But I'm convinced that the road we're currently on is the wrong one." "So what steps should we take?" "Mr President, our country is not ready for legalization." ""Whashington Rimas Conflict mediator for Afroreggae"" "I think our country needs more education, social and cultural development." ""Swiss Teenagers"" "It may be easier to find drugs if they're legalized." "But it'll not be as cool to smoke a reefer if it's legal." "As soon as we have a more avant-garde attitude towards drug use, when we finally see it's worth changing the rules for one type of drug," "I think it definitely has to be for marijuana." "Pot causes less addiction." "We should try to regulate it and learn from trial and error." "We especially need to learn how to convince children that they shouldn't use drugs at all." "Marijuana accounts for 80º/º of drug use today." "It's as harmful as, or perhaps even less harmful than alcohol." "It makes sense to regulate the use of marijuana." "Regulation enables society to set limits and conditions." "In so doing, the police will be free to focus on the true enemy:" "Organized crime." ""Miguel Silva Convicted of Kidnapping"" "If you legalize drugs, criminals will turn to other activities... such as kidnapping, extortion, and murder." "The European experience reveals that we need to move away from the absolute prohibition or full liberalization dichotomy." "There is a middle ground between these two choices." "There are many possibilities that have not been tested because of the prohibition on thinking and experimentation." "We're dealing with a complex problem." "It is a process that has many cultural dimensions." "There are values and emotions involved." "Any solution has to take into consideration the emotions and values at stake." "We have to look for more humane and efficient policies." "What kind of civilization do we want to build?" ""Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"" "What do you think about the UN Report which condemns Latin American leaders who call for the decriminalization of drugs?" "The UN is committed to the war on drugs." "They call for war and we are calling for peace." "Those who are commited to war reject those who are calling for peace." "What we are saying is:" ""It is time to end this war"." "Let's pull people away from drugs." "A policy of peace is not a policy of surrender." "I'm not saying "you can do anything you want"." "I'm in favor of a policy of persuasion, of negotiation, of trial and error." "Based on the belief that human beings can act rationally." "Given alternatives and information, people can make the right choice." "These guys here were all criminals." "I'm totally focused on these individuals." "If I want to reduce violence, I must think of this guy." "Because he is the protagonist." ""Jose Junior" " Founder and executive coordinator of Afroreggae"" "Out of every ten traffickers I meet, seven want to leave crime." "There is no point in discriminalization without providing treatment." "Almost every drug user wants to stop." "If they were able to, the problem would end." "It's hard to give up on a drug you're addicted to." "This is a disease, and you cannot put a sick person in jail." "One day we're going to look back at all this and say:" ""I can't believe that in the past, drug users used to be thrown in jail!"" "A drug-free world is a utopy." "It has never existed in history." "What you can and must do is reduce the harm that drugs cause to people and their societies." ""Anthony Papa Author of '15 to life"'" ""Even though the US has invested USD 1 trillion in the War on Drugs, it's easy to buy drugs in any city on the planet." "But the way the world is dealing with the issue is changing..."" "Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic have decriminalized drug possession for personal use."" ""In 14 European nations, drug addicts are treated as patients, not as criminals."" ""China has adopted large-scale methadone maintence treatment."" ""In 16 American states, the use of medical marijuana has been legalized."" ""46º/º of the California voters supported marijuana legalization (Proposition 19)."" ""In 2010, the number of people arrested in the United States for drug-related offenses decreased for the first time in 30 years."" ""Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay have taken steps towards decriminalizing drug possession for personal use."" ""Despite its recent progress, Brazil's drug policy is far from being humane."" ""Drug consumption is still a crime, though felons are no longer sentenced to jail."" ""Because the law doesn't specify the quantity of drugs that differs a user from a dealer, many users end up in jail."" ""From 2006 to 2008, 66º/º of the people arrested for drug dealing were first-time offenders and 86º/º were not carrying any weapons."" ""The health care system doesn't have the necessary structure to treat most of the drug users."" ""All across Brazil, youth are still dying and killing in the name of an endless war."" ""In 1971, the United States of America declared war on drugs."" ""Forty years later, it's time for the world to declare peace.""