The documentary is out: Breaking the Taboo. Directed by Cosmo Feilding Mellen and Fernando Grostein Andrade, it stars Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Morgan Freeman, leaders of Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland, Colombia, and an additional cast of dozens (including me):
My favorite parts? Other than the guy who appears before Bill Clinton at 17:15, it would be the former President of Brazil, Fernando Cardoso, who says, “When I was in office in Brazil of course I was aware of the situation of drugs. But I was convinced that true repression to be possible to stop the production of drugs. But I was wrong at the time.” And then there’s Jorge Casteneda,Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000-2003): “The war has created the situation. The situation did not create the war.”
Rarely has the history of the drug war and the logic of ending the war on drugs been explained so well (or entertainingly).
[Update: Here’s Richard Branson’s take. And the Netflix link]