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Drug Policy Alliance
Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that advocates for drug policy reform, based in New York, and an advisor to the Global Commission on Drug Policy
PROFILE
Ethan Nadelmann
Guest
FROM Ethan Nadelmann
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Lawmakers Want to Legalize Marijuana on Federal Level Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York joined New Jersey’s Cory Booker and Kentucky’s Rand Paul to propose a bill, today, that would end the federal prohibition on medical marijuana. If passed, people in the 23 states and the District of Columbia where medical pot is legal, would no longer have to fear federal prosecution. Pot businesses would also be able to use the banking system, and research institutions that get federal funds could study the effects of pot. We discuss the bill’s chances and what it would do.
To the Point
Is Obama 'Evolving' on Recreational Marijuana Use? Federal law prohibits the use of marijuana, even as medicine. In his first term, President Obama suggested that states might legalize it without federal interference but, then, the Justice Department cracked down in California and elsewhere. Last month, voters in Colorado and Washington State legalized all uses of marijuana. The President's made no secret that he, himself, used marijuana as a young man. Last night in an interview for ABC's 20/20, Barbara Walters asked if he thinks marijuana should be legalized. Ethan Nadelmann is Director of the Drug Policy Alliance , a New York group advocating reform.
Which Way, L.A.?
Is the War on Drugs a Failure? Is It Time to Legalize? The global "War on Drugs" began 50 years ago at the United Nations. Richard Nixon made it US policy 10 years later. Since then it has "failed to cut drug usage, but has filled our jails, cost millions in taxpayer dollars, fuelled organized crime and caused thousands of deaths." That's according to the Global Commission on Drug Policy , which includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, three former South American presidents, former Secretary of State George Shultz, ex-Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, and British entrepreneur Richard Branson. We look at possible new strategies and their political viability in Washington.
To the Point
Illegal Drugs: Public Health and Public Safety The global "War on Drugs" began in 50 years ago at the United Nations. Richard Nixon made it US policy 10 years later. Since then it has "failed to cut drug usage, but has filled our jails, cost millions in taxpayer dollars, fuelled organized crime and caused thousands of deaths." That's according to the Global Commission on Drug Policy , which includes former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, three former South American presidents, former Secretary of State George Shultz, ex-Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, and British entrepreneur Richard Branson. The Obama Administration says legalization would not take the money away from violent drug cartels and that drug use might increase more than ever. In any case, the panel has focused global attention on a crisis that's not going away. Does the political will exist to make any changes in strategy?
To the Point
US to Fund Colombia-Style Counter-Narcotics Program in Mexico Contract shootings, mass executions—even videotaped beheadings—are the latest tactics of Mexico's drug cartels. The formerly safe northern city of Monterrey has been terrorized by rival gangsters with backgrounds in the military and law-enforcement. The violence is spreading north into Texas and Arizona, which has US officials calling it a "national security issue." President Bush has been working with Mexico's President Felipe Calderón on what is informally called "Plan Mexico," a reference to " Plan Colombia " of the 1990's. Mexicans resist the comparison and fear that US dollars could lead to a repeat of past interventions from north of the border. Can Mexico control corruption? Can the US control demand? Can the so-called "war on drugs" succeed against a $25 billion industry?
Recommended
Left, Right & Center
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.