Ethan Nadelmann examines the failure of the war on drugs

Here's a provocative TED Talk, published today, by Ethan Nadelmann, former professor at Princeton University and founding executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, "the largest and most influential organization promoting drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights." Mr. Nadelmann contends that the drug laws have more to do with the sublimation and control of disenfranchised groups of our society than the control of drug use and sale, contending, among other things, that if middle-aged white men were the primary consumers of smokeable cocaine and teenage black men were the primary consumers of Viagra, you would be able to get smokeable cocaine from your pharmacist with a prescription from your doctor and Viagra would get you a 5-10 year prison sentence.  

The groundwork of this presentation was laid here, at a debate between Mr. Nadelmann and Peter Bensinger, President & CEO, Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, at the "Rethinking the War on Drugs" symposium at Northwestern Law School on Feb. 20, 2014.