[louds sirens]
We have heard the statement that, you know
the young people are the leaders of tomorrow
in our community, our young people, in our reality
are the prisoners of tomorrow.
The law is what's doing the most harm to young people
the law that says they are criminals.
Criminals are people who affect the good order of society.
It is the law itself,
that is at most
risk of affecting the good order of society,
because it's held in disregard...
...it's not respected and it is harming people.
We've suddenly realized...
...it doesn't make economic sense to criminalize
hundreds of thousands of people
at vast costs to achieve nothing other than
some kind of sense of moral superiority.
The amount of money that is wasted
in the justice system and
the correction system
without addressing the underlying causes
of offending I think it's scandalous.
These laws are not based on evidence
they're not based on science
they're based on on power and ignorance
as far as I can see
I can see no other basis for them.
A shocking new number was released today
it deserves our undivided attention
one out of every one hundred Americans
is now behind bars, locked up in prison or in jail.
Penalizing, criminalizing
tens of thousands of people
for possessing a drug which is
less dangerous than a few cans of lager
makes no economic sense at all,
they are just wasting their money.
Why are we spending all this money on the police to
enforce a law which is widely disregarded
and which serves no useful purpose.
The people who are in favour of
decriminalizing cannabis are seen as
left-wing lunatic fringe
in fact the evidence supports their perspective
the research and the evidence
about cannabis and about decriminalising cannabis
supports the perspective that society will
be better off if you do decriminalize it.
A cannabis smoking club is operating right
under the nose of police in auckland
The Daktory has more than a thousand members
who openly flout the law
Yes we break the law everyday
we're not criminals
why should we be hiding?
it's time to come out in the open
we don't ban alcohol because
some people become alcoholics
we provide support services for them
for people that have problems with drugs support services
are not provided by being locked in a prison cell.
Federal officials will continue to apply the law
and DEA agents will review cases
as they have, to determine whether to
revoke the registration of any physician
who recommends or prescribes
so called schedule one substances
They stand behind that cannabis is not a medicine
in the face of all the scientific evidence
that cannabis is medicine.
I've found what works, and by God I'm going to use it.
Preventing people from recieving life-saving medicine
on an alterior motive that they want to profit
from incarcerating people
and that is truly a crime.
I'm not hurting anybody
but they're quite prepared to hurt me.
a lot of the drug laws were
dictated by the Untited  States
The single convention on drugs
which was the fist consolidated
drug prohibition
which was sort of the start
of our modern drug prohibition
and it was driven entirely by america
here
diplomatic power uh... and it's been sustained
by America ever since and attempts to liberalize
change these conventions or
modify them in any way
or ease off on policy
has been expressly stymied by Americans
not coveretly or secretly but expressly.
We have increased the amount of money
for handling the problem of dangerous drugs
seven fold
Since Richard Nixon
started the war on drugs
they've spent $1 trillion,
and they've been going backwards ever since.
We're determined to build a drug-free America...
...and to join with others to combat drugs
around the world.
Let there be no doubt,
this is ultimately a struggle...
...for human freedom.
Fear, Power and Ignorance
