Breaking the Taboo Page #2

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role in the UN.

UN Conventions require all countries

to enforce total drug prohibition

without considering alternatives.

"Bill Clinton

President of the United States "

"Georgetown High School"

Where should I sit?

"Ranking of drugs according to harm

The Lancet Medical Journal "

"1. Heroine; 2. Cocaine; 5. Alcohol;

"Ethan Nadelmann

Director, Drug Policy Alliance"

"Jimmy Carter

President of the United States "

"Mexico City"

"Ernesto Zedillo

President of Mexico "

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 "

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

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