if only we could get Oprah to sing the gospel of drug policy reform.

Well, all I have to say is.... ABOUT TIME!  This is exactly the kind of spirit we need, this is the kind of leadership we must have if we are EVER going to convince those who are on the fence, and even some of those on the other side of the fence, that criminalizing drug use is severelt damaging our once-great country.  And as bad as it is for all of us, it is indeed a policy disproportionately directed at black and hispanics communities!We need a great orator, we need someone with passion, we need someone with the conviction of being in the right speaking out for us.  Not just so some of us can enjoy cannabis recreationally once in a while... not just for the mercy of the sick and dying to have access to medical MJ... but for the real reason the Drug War should be abandoned, FOR THE FREEDOMS ENTITLED TO US BY THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS.  It is OUR bodies, the government does not own us!We have become soooo narrow-minded in this country that we became OK with our government strecthing the truth, outright LYING to it's people about cannabis and other illegal drugs.  I think we have all known for quite some time about the innocuousness of marijuana.  Yet we all allowed, even ENDORSED our government to lie to us about the effects pot has on us.  It started in 1937 with passing of the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act and the untruthful testimony presented by Harry Anslinger and his group of corrupt cronies.  After many years of Reefer Madness, it became common knowledge that the testimony of these "experts" was fabricated, and summarily rebutted.  The Prohibitionists then invented brand-new "facts" to support Prohibition, such as the "gateway" theory, the vile stereotypes of pot ruining your life, creating lazy, unintelligent people (see "Stoners in the Mist").  They then tried to IMPLY pot causes cancer, because of the many similar known carcinogens in vegetative smoke.  Unfortunately for the Prohibitionists, those studies came back NEGATIVE.  In fact, it has been shown that marijuana smoke actually DECREASES your chance of getting cancer.  They continue the charade, year after year, inventing some new "reason" pot should be kept illegal, and why people must continue going to jail.That's right, pot may actually be an anti-cancer agent!  Several studies have shown this, including one commissioned to "prove" marijauna is carcogenic (Dr. Donald Tashkin's study, for example).  You would think any government that really gives two shits about it's people would make a grand announcement... MARIJUANA IS POSSIBLY AN ANTI-CANCER AGENT!  If any other substance had been recently discovered that had these proprties, we would all be dancing in the streets.  But that didn't happen, did it?  Nope, they buried that little nugget of truth then started playing games with statistics, while avoiding any true cause and effects, they started touting that smoking pot causes schizophrenia.  Wow, what a stretch.  If you look at the data, you will find while there is a small increase in your chances of getting schizophrenia, the chances are still EXCEEDINGLY SMALL.  Even better, their study did NOT take into account that perhaps mentally unstable people, that is, people that were at risk for schizophrenia ANYWAY, may gravitate to marijuana because it provides comfort for emotionally and mentally troubled people.  In other words, they did not test for cause-and-effect, because they were afraid teh answer would not benefit their agenda!Does the government really care about whether you get sick from smoking pot?  If you look at the long laundry list of legally available substances, from tobacco products, alchoholic beverages, insecticides and other poisons, to guns and firearms, it is clear that there are MANY things that are dangerous to people, yet perfectly legal, and perhaps regulated.  So they really don't give a shit about your health.  But they are eager to use the *possiblity* of health issues as an excuse to keep the charade going, and to keep sending people to jail..  The real reason is money.  There are too many big players making too much money.  Name it, and it's corrupt.  All their damn hands are in teh cookie jar.  Corrupt politicins taking money from companies who have interestests in keeping marijuana and hemp off the market (the legal industry - courts and lawyers, the petroleum companies, lumber companies, pharmecutical companies, the private prison industry, ALL law enforcement agencies, local state AND federal, etc.) . They have been succesful over many years either by convincing (i.e. bribing) officials to lie about marijuana, then run on "tough on crime" platforms, wearing their little capes like miniature Supermen coming to save the day... they make laws and treaties with other countries, creating and almost (I said ALMOST!) intractable web of agreements that tries to prevent us from EVER escaping from these viles laws.  It really just all comes down to money and control of the American population, and by extension, the world's population.We have to get up and fight!  This guy's speech is the first time I've seen fire and brimstone, forged from the indignity of the violation of our rights, applied to a speech denouncing the War on America (oops, I meant the War on Drugs).To Ethan Nadelmann... BRAVO!   BRAVO!

This is awesome and epic,inspiring and true. Hopefully The war monger/ prohibitionists are physically removed from power over any person place or thing everywhere immediately. Everyone is sick and tired of being ruled over by fraudulent leaders who wont stop terrorizing and murdering people while saying its legal or justified.

I am glad to see to there were some positive reactions from the crowd. Being one of the few blacks in America who fully supports re-legalization is difficult sometimes. For the last decade I have been trying to get the NAACP to take an official position on the drug war and they never do. Given that support for it in much of the black community remains high, I could view their ambivalence in a positive light but I do not. Sadly it is far more acceptable in our community to be a non-prohibition related murderer than a dealer. It is very difficult to get people who deal with turf wars and open air markets on a daily basis to think in a calm and rational way because it's simply not feasible.

The National African-American Drug Policy Coalition (NAADPC), is trying to move in the right direction, but with a focus primarily on harm reduction and not on systemic legal issues, they are rather misguided. This is especially troubling given that the Coalition is led by the National Bar Association.

I have to say that Mr. Nadelman's other media work has not overly impressed me. However, this speech could not have been better. It was truly a great speech and I can only hope that the NAACP, whose constituency would potentially be most helped by ending the drug war, jumps on the drug policy reform bandwagon.

I must say, I am very impressed by Mr. Nadelman's speech.