DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann gave a stirring TED talk in October in Rio de Janeiro, before Oregon, Alaska and Washington, DC legalized marijuana.
Nadelmann began by asking, "What has the War on Drugs done for the world?" and concluded dramatically: "This is what I've dedicated my life to - to building an organization and a movement of people who believe we need to turn our backs not the failed prohibitions of the past and embrace new drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights. Where people who come across from the political spectrum, and every other spectrum as well, where people who love our drugs, people who hate drugs and people don't give a damn about drugs, but everyone of us believes that this War on Drugs, this backward, heartless, disastrous War on Drugs has got… to… end."
