Century of Lies Transcript
5/08/2011

The failure of drug war is glaringly obvious to judges, cops, wardens, prosecutors and millions more, now calling for decriminalization, legalization, the end of prohibition. Let us investigate the Century of Lies.
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Dean Becker: Hello my friends, this is Dean Becker once again reporting from Denver. Different conference this time; it’s the Drug Policy Alliance Partners Meeting. A limited , invitation-only gathering of drug reformers from around North America working on many diverse aspects of this drug war; including over-incarceration, bigotry, treatment, and many other services. We’ll talk about those during the show.

Dorsey Nunn: My Name is Dorsey Nunn. I’m currently the Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. And I’m the first of my kind.

I’m a formerly incarcerated felon, who’s now the head of –the Executive Director of a public interest law office. In that office I got a project called “All of us or none,” and that project is tasked with movement development.

So what we are trying to do is develop a movement that fights for the full restoration – the civil human rights of formerly incarcerated people. Everybody that’s in that organization are formerly incarcerated and convicted people. So what we do is start pushing out and challenging the notions that we shouldn’t have access to rights and we shouldn’t have access to this society in a real, comprehensive way.

So when people are holding up purple fingers about people voting in distant lands, we’re asking how come democracy don’t apply at home? When we’re tasked with looking at the unemployment issues in America, how come we still concede to structural forms of discrimination, having been convicted of a felony?

Those structural - that structural discrimination appears not only in employment, it appears in housing, it appears in student – on student-aid loans, it appears on insurance for health, it appears in so many places that people will just blow by it and not act like they notice it.

So what I fight for is that. I fight for the reduction of prisons; and I’m also a cofounder of critical resistance. So when you came out with the theory of prison-industrial complex, one of the things that I helped participate in was putting that language into the common-speak.

Dean Becker: Yeah. And you know, Dorsey, we’re here in Denver at the Drug Policy Alliance’s Partners Conference, I guess you call it. And, you know, there’s so many folks here that deal with the various components of this drug war, the prison-industrial complex—like you do—and restoration of rights, and I think just restoration of dignity in general, if you follow me. Your thoughts there; I mean, it’s time for America to wake up there and redirect its whole attitude towards prisoners, right?
Dorsey Nunn: Not only towards prisoners. It’s like I’ve been in recovery for 20 years. I haven’t had a drink, hit a joint, snort no cocaine in 20 years. But people think that’s what backs me into the question of drug policy. They think it’s my recovery to substances.

My – what backs me into this conversation is my recovery from slavery. Because I feel like my body belongs to me. Fundamentally that’s what I feel. So I feel like I should not be punished if I let – while I’m on a dying bed, not to continue with life, and ask somebody to pull the plug. I figure like I should have that right. In the event that I put something in my body, I don’t think the government should have the ability to punish me as a result of that stuff. In the event that I should go gay and I’m kissing a six-foot man, you know, I should have that right too.

And it is that concept that I own me that makes me think about where your rights begin, because you own you. You know, so without that as being a fundamental—without that being a fundamental question for me. And addressing that fundamental issue brings me in contact with the Drug Policy Alliance, and allows me to see the rights of every other human being is that fundamental notion that I own me, and I’m assuming that you own you.

I’m assuming that everybody in prison owns themselves and are being punished for stuff that they put in their own bodies. And people are making a profit off of this. So it wasn’t only dope dealers that turned money on drugs, it is the prison-industrial complex. It’s not only a dope dealer that turned money on drugs, it is the police department. It’s not only dope dealers that made money, it was the defense attorneys, it was the district attorneys, it was the judge because we done built a apparatus where everybody get paid, but they only punish a handful of people when we got millions and millions of folks depending upon people being punished.

Dean Becker: You know Dorsey, I’ve been to—I don’t know—four or five of these drug policy conferences, minor and major. And I’m really pleased to see that more minorities are attending, speaking up as you do, and I wanna present a situation to you.

I live in Houston. I’ve been invited by Texas Southern University—our black university there in town—to speak last month about incarceration. Blacks and Latinos. This next month, or this month, we’re gonna be talking about prisons and post-traumatic stress disorder. And I hesitate to say this, but I’ve got to say it; and that is that so few of the students there at Texas Southern attended that first conference, and I wanna encourage them to come to this next one because, well you tell them why they should be there.

Dorsey Nunn: Well, because it’s a sleeping giant. In a lot of black neighborhoods could be formally incarcerated people and drug addicts. You know, I hate to say that, there’s a lot of us running around. You know, at this point if you go into a college and you at Texas University; you should ask yourself, do you know somebody like me? You know? I mean not like me now, but do you know somebody like I used to be?

Dean Becker: Yeah.

Dorsey Nunn: You know? Because I think that it’s almost impossible to be a black person in this country and not be impacted. When they think about the rate of incarceration per hundred thousand, they may be chasing a lot of other people but they got a particular passion for the way that they chase us.

You know, we’re probably four times more likely to go to prison than a Latino. We’re 10 times more likely to go to prison than a white person. And when those numbers are looked at in regards to women, it even gets further off the hook.

So if they figure like they need to care about they’re community, then they need to look at this question clear-eyed and actually consider this question. What happens if we have something that’s particular and peculiar to us that we’re not addressing?

I assume that if we own in the Southern part of this country and we look at that border, they may be chasing a whole bunch of other people. But when they say ICE, we know they’re chasing immigrants; and if we get real particular about it, we know they’re chasing Latinos. We don’t look up at the Canada border and say, “ICE has a problem.” We look at the southern border and say, “We got a problem.”

We will even evaluate it whether or not—did they justifiably kill somebody? You know, they can kill me and the only thing that they got to mention is that I’ve been to prison before. And it seems to reduce the standard of proof that it was justifiable or not. So, like, if I get shot, they’re going to say, “Oh, well you know he was an ex-felon…”

Dean Becker: “…and we thought he had drugs.”

Dorsey Nunn: You know, “And we thought he had drugs, we thought he had a gun, we thought he had—you know, he’s an ex-felon.” And somehow, there’s almost a, “well, you know, we lynched him, but he was black.”

[Laughter]
Dean Becker: Dorsey, please share your web site with my listeners.

Dorsey Nunn: My website is—two of them: Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, they can google there and find our web site. Or they can google, “All of Us or None” and find our web site.

Dean Becker: Dorsey Nunn, thank you very much.

Dorsey Nunn: Alright, you’re welcome.
[Music]
Dean Becker: What gives the drug war life? Is it the cartels? Maybe it’s the Baptists, the bankers, the gangs or the cops. Who’s in charge of it? Which politicians, peasant farmers, big pharma? Is it the street corner vendor? Is it you? Is it me?

It is fear that gives the drug war life.
Dean Becker: Hi folks. Week in, week out you hear me talking about Law Enforcement Against Prohibition – my band of brothers, the organization I’m so proud to be a part of – and I’m here with our Executive Director, Mr. Neill Franklin; a man with decades of experience in waging and now fighting against this drug war. Hey Neill.

Neill Franklin: Hey, thanks for having me.

Dean Becker: Neill, we’re here at the Drug Policy Alliance Partners Meeting; and what have you learned from this? What do you think we can glean from this meeting?

Neill Franklin: I tell you what really strikes me as truly important about this gathering is the collectiveness, the being able to form partnerships out of this meeting. Bringing all these people together from so many different areas, so many different aspects of this whole war on drugs catastrophe that we have.

And they’re all working basically towards the same goals but with—they have their own individual goals but ultimately towards the end of –of dealing with ending the war on drugs. But we have harm reduction, we have treatment, we have law enforcement of course, that’s us. We have—we’re learning about raising funds. We have those who are formerly incarcerated. We have women, we have moms. I mean it’s just a collective of folks who realize their significant role in coming together.

Now where that’s important is the networking; when we leave here, the interaction that we had. For LEAP, here’s where it’s important for LEAP: we now know just how many people—how many other organizations need our support. So as they go back home and they do their work, and they start talking to policy-makers—and they start trying to make things happen in their communities—they know that they can call on us; for us to get one of our dynamic speakers there to talk about this from a law enforcement perspective.

Because we always know –I mean it can pretty much be guaranteed that those in law enforcement who are in the hierarchy, in those places who receive benefits – those dynasties out there – we know that they will be pushing back, every step along the way as we strive to end the war on drugs.

And so from this meeting, from this gathering, we now know and have names and faces and phone numbers of those folks who we can partner with to help them move their agendas. To help them end some of the atrocities that are taking place in their communities. And I think it’s really, really a good thing. The only way that we’re gonna end the war on drugs is collectively. We’re not gonna do it in our own little individual corners, our own little individual silos, we all have to come together on this. This is a good beginning, and I really see success coming from this gathering.

Dean Becker: You know Neill, there are dozens of organizations represented here at this DPA Partners meeting. But there are hundreds—if not thousands—of other reformers, organizations out there that are not in attendance. And they can still call upon us for our assistance as well. You wanna point ‘em in that direction?

Neill Franklin: There are literally – for those that are listening to this right now – if you haven’t become a part of the entire group for moving this effort forward, I suggest that you reach out. You can give us a call, and we can connect you to the Drug Policy Alliance, and hopefully you can come on board and join the collective here in moving this issue forward. It’s gonna take everyone to do this, at every level, at every level.

Dean Becker: Alright. My boss, Mr. Neill Franklin. Our website: LEAP.CC. Check us out; use us to help end this madness.
[Music]
Dean Becker: Pulling the plug on the prison industrial complex. Drugtruth dot net.
Dean Becker: I’m here with a State Representative out of Washington, Mr. Roger Goodman. Roger, I hear so many voices from so many areas calling for that need for change. It’s amazing, isn’t it?

Roger Goodman: Yeah. You know, I think we’re about to enter a difficult period in drug policy reform. You remember what Gandhi said, right? “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then they lose.” Well, they’ve stopped laughing, and they’re starting to fight. And so we’ve seen—even on the federal level—some retrenchment on medical marijuana. So we’ve got a tough period ahead.

People are gonna get angry and we’re gonna be able to tap into that sentiment to further reform. But the drug war is still alive – I don’t want to say alive and well—but it’s alive and kicking, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.

Dean Becker: Well those people in positions of power at the—what was that, the levers of the control – are not gonna give up easily. They’ve created their fiefdoms, their power structures, and despite the truth, they’re gonna wage this war forever if we don’t stand up to them, right?
Roger Goodman: Oh yeah. We have the continuous cascade of cash into law enforcement agencies all across the country. So there’s an incentive to perpetuate the drug war. And then, of course, the criminal enterprises around the world don’t want to see an end to it either.

But you know, there’s overwhelming public sentiment that it’s not working. I guess the—what people are hungering for is: what’s the alternative? People still think that the—any alternative to the status quo is gonna be worse. Which I know it’s not, but that’s the work we have to do; is to communicate to people that this drug war is a tragic failure and we have to move on. And we have to be kind of specific about what we’re going to do instead.

Dean Becker: Yeah. Even your home state of Washington, the U.S. Attorneys are trying to thwart the efforts of your legislature, right?

Roger Goodman: Oh, well there’s a lot of politics here. We’ve got federal versus state, and then we’ve got the parties fighting with one another. I think we need leadership.
In the state legislature, I have encouraged the governor not to veto this medical marijuana bill; which she just did. It’s attracted national attention. And now we’re seeking advice from the Attorneys General across the country. You know, can states do this? What about state’s rights?

Dean Becker: What are you going to take back to your home state? What have you learned here that can be advantageous in the struggles you’re waging?

Roger Goodman: I have learned a lot here from the reformers around the country—a very diverse group of people who want to end the drug war. For me the three priorities are – in no particular priority, but they’re all extremely important.

One is end marijuana prohibition. No doubt about it; we’ve gotta keep pushing on that. The public, I think, is really at the tipping point. So I’m gonna be working across the country with other legislator—legislative colleagues that I know. As well as my grass-tops organizing work – I work with bar associations, and other professional groups. So we’ll work in key states to further marijuana reform.

The second thing is on the ground: street-level practices. You know, we don’t have to be arresting people; and law enforcement and social services and housing can be trained actually to respond differently to high-needs people on the street, or to drug users on the street. And not arrest them – refer them to services and so forth. And we’re doing that in Seattle now, and I wanna showcase that to the country and try to replicate that.

The third thing is on a state level – sort of state-by-state: let’s stop locking people up. Let’s stop locking people up! It’s unbelievable how many people we have locked up in cages; let’s take that money and put it into healthcare. And so it’s called “Justice Reinvestment.” We take money from the justice system, and instead of putting it into needless incarceration, put it into healthcare for the same people who have gotten into trouble with the law. So I’m working on this Justice Reinvestment Strategy in certain key states where reform like that is possible.

Dean Becker: Well, once again as I mentioned he’s a state rep. But you’re trying to pick up a bigger mantle, carry it forward. You’re running for U.S Congress right?

Roger Goodman: I am running for Congress, and I am—I’m more and more inspired to do this because I’m frustrated on the state level about what we can’t get done. We need to dismantle the drug war and it is a federal—it’s a national—it’s a global drug war, right?

And so I want to step it up to the highest level now; go to the United States Congress. And my campaign is looking really good right now from the Seattle suburbs, the district that I represent. We need to get rid of the war on drugs, and it can only be done on the federal level. So I’m excited to get there.

Dean Becker: Your web site for the re-election—for that the election campaign.
Roger Goodman: Please, if anyone is interested in supporting me on Facebook, or if you want to make small contributions, go to goodmanforcongress.com.

Dean Becker: Well, that’s all we‘ve got from the DPA Partners meeting; but we’ll have many more interviews in the coming months with all the contacts I developed while in Denver.
Terry Nelson: This is Terry Nelson speaking on behalf of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Information from the foreign policy in focus shows that even if eradication is successful in wiping out coca in South America, production is almost certain to expand in other parts of the world.

Coca has been cultivated in India, Indonesia and Taiwan; as well as Hawaii and Florida. And it could easily be grown in sub-Saharan Africa.

Second, the enormous gap between coca prices in the Andean countries and black-market cocaine prices in the United States means that significant fluctuation in the selling price of coca leaves in South America affect U.S. Cocaine prices only temporarily.

A Rand Corporation study projects that even if eradication programs were to succeed in cutting coca production by 50%, the price of cocaine on U.S. Streets – after rising 150% -- would return to baselines within 2 or 3 years.

The researchers found source country efforts—including eradication—to be the most costly drug control strategy; 23-times as expensive as drug treatment programs.

Further, there’s little evidence that adjusting the price of cocaine significantly affects consumption. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the retail price of cocaine dropped from $158 a gram in 1990 to between $60 - $80 in 2001. The fact that the number of cocaine users in the United States has remained stable at about 1.5 million over the past decade, suggests that price is not a crucial variable in predicting overall consumption.

So even if you cut the supply, its only affects the rise—is to raise the price, which in turn provides a higher profit for the dealers with less exposure. A no-win situation.

And for cannabis, the slight drop in border crossings is more than made up for by the increase in the domestic cultivation of cannabis. Despite 50 years of prohibition against cannabis in the United States, recent figures confirm that cannabis is ranked among corn, wheat and soybeans as one of the four main cash crops grown in terms of dollar-volume of sales.

The result that anyone should be able to see is that tougher controls at the border, or at the source is counter-productive, and will not reduce drug usage in the long term. Simply put, prohibition cannot work.

Education and treatment are the way to try and fix this mess. We can educate our way out of our drug problem, but we will never arrest our way out. Stay safe. This is Terry Nelson of www.leap.cc, signing off.

Dean Becker: You know the gathering in Denver for the Drug Policy Alliance Partners meeting was very exciting, because there were more and more minorities being represented. More and more minorities working to end the madness of drug war. And here in Houston, the home town of the Drug Truth Network—the gulag-filling station of planet earth—the good folks at the Texas Southern University have decided it’s time to speak up and do something about this as well.
Florence Coaxum: My name is Florence Coaxum and I’m in private practice. I’m a psychotherapist; I have a LCSW, and a JD and also a CHT.
Dean Becker: Now Florence, you’re affiliated with the Texas Southern University and you guys are scheduling a conference coming up later this month. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about that?

Florence Coaxum: Yes, we’re scheduling through the Continuing Education Department at TSU, a seminar on post-traumatic stress and the criminal justice system. And it’s scheduled for the 13th and 14th of May.

Dean Becker: Yes, ma’am. And now a lot of folks are aware of the post-traumatic stress suffered by those involved in our various wars around this planet, but let’s talk a moment about the post-traumatic stress that one often endures within the criminal justice system.

Florence Coaxum: Right, the focus right now has been on the military, post-traumatic stress in the military. But there is a clear indication that there is post-traumatic stress in the prison system for those who are behind bars.

And when I started doing my research, what I found is that many folks who have gone behind bars, who are behind bars at the time, have experienced post-traumatic stress all their lives; from the very young age all the way up until the time that they end up in prison. When they end up in prison, it really just exacerbates what they’ve already experienced. To me, most of them really deserve the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress.

Dean Becker: Yeah, it’s often overlooked; the abuses that can be inflicted either by the prisoners or the guards because it’s behind closed doors—so to speak—the truth of that matter, so often—so infrequently is exposed, right?

Florence Coaxum: Exactly. Well, there’s a prison sub-culture behind bars; one that the average person is not really aware of. And that prison sub-culture—especially in the men’s prison—is based upon violence, rape and other types of abuses, verbal, etc.

And most of them—there’s what they call a survivor’s stare associated with post-traumatic stress. And that survivor’s stare—many of those who are incarcerated, exhibit that. And it’s a kind of a blank stare out into the atmosphere and it’s based on kind of not being focused, not being in the present. And it’s very evident within the prison system.

Dean Becker: Now, Florence, it’s been my observation that yeah, it’s often an avoidance of eye-to-eye contact with others because that often is –an invitation to an altercation. Your response.
Florence Coaxum: Not maintaining eye-to-eye contact is kind of a behavioral protocol behind prison doors, or behind prison bars.

But what I’m talking about in terms of the survivor’s stare, is a clear indication of someone who’s not in the present; someone who is having difficulty focusing and someone who does not—who’s having problems dealing with memories. Memory of trauma. And it’s indicated throughout post-traumatic stress symptoms. So that’s basically what I’m talking about.
Dean Becker: Now, Florence, once again this is a two-day seminar. Texas Southern University; it’s going to be on May 13th and 14th. You wanna provide contact or other information for those who may wish to attend?

Florence Coaxum: Okay, my phone number is 713-732-6191. The Continuing Education Department is 713-313-7489. For those who are going to attend, we will have a booth or a table outside. And we are charging; but for those who can’t afford the total amount, we will offer a scholarship.

We want as many people to attend as possible. We think we are going to be offering some information that will be important for many people who are interested in this topic.

Dean Becker: Okay, Florence I want to let folks know that it will have many great speakers, including: Dr. Byron Price; Katheryn Griffin, she’s a recovery counselor; James McGowen, 20 years experience working with offenders and so forth. This is a topic—

Florence Coaxum: And Ray Hill. Let’s not forget Ray Hill.

Dean Becker: Do not forget Ray Hill, my mentor at KPFT. And this is a topic which we must address.

Florence Coaxum: Absolutely.

Dean Becker: And Katherine, I look forward to this panel and we will be reporting more on this for the Drug Truth Network. Thank you so much.

Florence Coaxum: I would appreciate it, thank you.

Dean Becker: I should note that besides my mentor, Ray Hill from the Mothership of the Drug Truth Network, we’ll also hear from Mr. Carl Vailey of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas, as well as Yours Truly. I’ve been invited back; I consider it quite an honor.

I’m hoping you will attend, and I’m hoping you will help to end the madness of this drug war. Here to help close the show is one of the organizers of the Drug Policy Alliance’s Partners Meeting.
Asha Bandele: This is Asha Bandele, I manage the grants program at the Drug Policy Alliance.
We’re just wrapping up an incredible meeting of all of our partners and allies around the nation, discussing all the ways the drug war impacts different communities and what we’re gonna do to resolve that.

And we want to invite everybody out there to please attend our conference. It’s gonna be in downtown Los Angeles, November 2nd – 5th at the Westin Bonaventure. We hope to see you there; it’s the best way to meet people, the best way to understand how all of these issues impact and destabilize so many of our lives. The web site is www.reformconference.org.

Dean Becker: There is absolutely no legitimacy to this drug war and nowhere was that more evident than at the Drug Policy Alliance Partners Meeting. Here, a la Cesar Chavez, is the closing moment of that gathering.
[Clapping and cheering ]
Dean Becker: Prohibido istac evilesco!