Breaking the Taboo Page #3

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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 "

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, 9,5% of young

adults cosume soft drugs

once a month, which is less than...

Italy

France

The UK

The Dutch government can support

approximately 90%

of all help-seeking addicts with

detoxification programs. "

"Geneva, Switzerland"

"Ruth Dreifuss

President of Switzerland "

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 50% in 10 years. "

"The overdose mortality rate for

injectors has declined

by over 50% in the last decade. "

"Family doctors now prescribe about

"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 56%

between 1980 and 2006."

In my generation,

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