TED Conversations

• Jim Contopulos
• Temecula, CA
• United States

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a discussion regarding the global War on Drugs; drug regulation and decriminalization versus incarceration

Forty years ago, the U.S. officially declared a War on Drugs. Now, forty years later, we have overcrowded prisons with non-violent drug offenders; drained taxpayers resources; increased drug usage and death and related drug death; increased potency of drugs and 'designer' drugs availablitly to a younger audience; drained billions of dollars in resources away from genuine recovery models; increased crime on our streets and destabilized countries abroad with no ability to have a legitimatized conversation. It is past time to speak about this tragically failed social policy and it's effects.