everyone would clearly know there was something wrong with that because no one would believe that white people were not engaging in adultery and fornication. why is it that we're willing to tolerate this law enforcement strategy that makes it decriminalize for people with without power and a violation for everyone else, so what i want to leave you with is the fact that today in america, a human-rights and the war on drugs is an oxymoron. [applause] >> thank you 3 much for your comments. commissioners, we have a chance to ask any questions we may have of the presenters, and this is just a small piece, and we

are talking about the impact of the strategies that have been called the war on drugs. we are going to move to public comments o. >> the impact has affected not just individuals but a community of. our youth are losing their parents.

we are getting ready to open it up to public comment. we will begin the process. we are hoping as people come forward to speak we are not only hearing about the issue of the war on drugs, but if you have strategies and effective solutions to that you will take this time to discuss them. i will call your names garrid. [list of names] is those first folks will line up, about will be really great. this is around the unfinished

agenda, and this is just a way to continue the dialogue around african-americans in sand francisco, so with the first speaker. >> good evening. i am the outreach director of the local chapter. the war on drugs is a failure socially, morally, economically, and legally. the prohibition of politically incorrect substances has ripped families apart. morally, which is probably the

most important argument, we fundamentally have the right to put whatever we want into our own bodies and now you're a good -- into our own bodies. this is what often gets lost in discourse. no government has any right to tell you what you can put into your own body. it belongs to you, not to the states. billions of dollars have been wasted not just in this country but overseas. we have seen virtually no improvement, perhaps a worsening in countries the have prohibition of drugs. legally, when the united states and alcohol prohibition, they had to pass a constitutional amendment first because the constitution gives the federal government no authority to outlaw cannabis, cocaine, or any

other drug, so all the federal drug laws are unconstitutional, a legal, and nolan void, and i urge this commission to strongly send a message. >> thank you, starchild. each public comments person will bee allowed to minutes. -- two- minutes. >> i am an ex attics -- adict. i won the employee of the month

award, and one day i was let go. my job was everything to me. but was the structure i had to learn in the program, because i did a program for 15 months. i am now the proud, law-abiding taxpaying citizen who lost my job. now i am unemployed, and it is devastating, so today i am doing

things to better my future. next month i am going to try to get a certificate of rehabilitation. i am in america, and this is the land of opportunity. people from other countries come here, and they get a chance to make their lives and right, and i want the chance to make my life right. from the mistakes i made in the past. >> i am going to call the next five. [list of names] >> commissioners, first, i would like to thank you for calling this an important hearing on the war on drugs.

san francisco will have to cause a war on the government to get justice. i have recommendations. one of the recommendations is we need a coalition of counties in california. we need a coalition of cities and politicians and people of like minds, and educators to all agree that the state of california needs to take a stand against the federal government, because the federal government is what i want to talk about.

before i came in here, i read about mr. gary webb, who came up dead in 2004 after he wrote the article and the book, the dark alliance. if we are going to put anything in place, you are going to have to go against the federal government. at one point they were talking about the war on homelessness, the war on communists. this is the federal government that is out of control, and i think we have enough sense to understand the recommendations we have got to be willing to cause a war on the war on drugs. it is not enough time. thank you.

>> good evening, commissioners. i am here to first upon the commissioners for this ground- breaking hearing, and by having this hearing, there is international dialogue looking at the way these human rights impact of war on drugs have gone really important health and social consequences. and 2010 the international aid societies and a team of experts have drafted a declaration, and the emblems those

decriminalization has resulted in overwhelmingly negative consequences. with all of the recommendations we have heard tonight, also the highlights in the declaration. it is very consistent with what we have seen and heard on international conferences and dialogues. this year the international aids conference will be held in washington, d.c., so i think if this can be published on time for the international aids conference, it will have a big impact and continue to have an international dialogue, and the

hiv commission i attended, which actually, one of the commissioners is congresswoman barbara lee, she has made a commitment to really take a closer look of some of the policies and how it has impacted this country, so-and whatever comes out of this, i think there is going to be a lot, and i am a little bit surprised we have not heard a lot from the hiv community about medical marijuana dispensaries and how it has been under attack tonight, so maybe with all the public comments we are hearing, we will hear a lot more hope solei -- hopefully.

>> if you would be so kind as to state your name before use the. >> i want to thank you, commissioners for holding this hearing and having the courage to link to the impact it is having on the black community of the city. i am from hunters point, a community that has been devastated by the war on drugs. ronald reagan and taunted the war on drugs beginning in the 1985 as, but in 2010 drug use received an all-time high. i am here to testify that the war on drugs has been a failure. it has amounted to a war on black and brown people. it is mind-boggling to me that a group of people who do not have planes, trains, and botats have

disproportionately borne the brunt of drug activity, targeting those who are not responsible for bringing drugs into this country and who do not manufacture of the guns that come into play as a result of the trade. i am not a conspiracy theorist, but when you take into account the following, the public school situation is a masess. those with drug addictions can not get food stamps. they cannot get financial aid. they are discriminated against in private housing, employment opportunities. they are not allowed to vote. one or two of these might be an isolated incident.

after hearing some of those stepats, i am appalled. let's hope something comes out of this. guerd>> [list of names] >> i am currently from a newspaper and have been thwarted nature of human rights since 1995 -- the coordinator

of human rights since 1995. unfortunately, not much has changed since 1995, when i began this project. there are too many people filling our prisons, making our country the number one incarcerate in the world. too many children being orphaned by their parents, too many lives wasted and shattered by our laws that are in violation of the universal declaration of human rights. i would like to remember some victims tonight like peter williams, a backer of medicinal cannabis in los angeles, who died awaiting trial choking on vomit because he was not able to take his meds when he was

prohibited from using marijuana. where is that right to life? i would like to remind you of the minister roger christie, who was denied bail and religious use of cannabis and sitting in jail tonight denied the sacramental use. i would like to remind of the parents who suffer from discrimination because of using medical marijuana and having the threat of their children being taken away, and let's remember the cases of medical marijuana providers, dispensary owners currently serving 20 years in prison who are denied a defense because we cannot mention medical use in our federal courts. >> i am sorry.

thank you. [applause] >> my name is martin read, and i was sitting here looking at these great walls. i was like, what can i say in this great chamber? what words can i say that have not already been said? it just seems like the reality is we have the disease in america, and that aziz is racism and discrimination. -- that disease is racism and

discrimination, and until we address this issue, the war on drugs is just one of the conditions common and that is an underlying condition, so i commend you on having this hearing, but the human rights commission did a survey of the african-american community and now years ago, and they found all those disparities, the highest rates of hiv, tuberculosis, cancer, and the average grade was see- -- was c-, and these are the children killing each other in the streets today, because we failed them. we failed to educate our children. we should be ashamed of ourselves, but i just want to know what is it going to take for freedom and justice. [applause]

>> thank you again. just a reminder, the first bell is your second warning. i want to a knowledge we are not allowed to engage in dialogue once you do comment, but i want you to know we are listening and making note of what is being said, so thank you for sharing with us. >> my name is vanessa jackson, and i am a mother and apparent. my son's father went to prison because of drug use, and when he got out, he was not able to come back into the facility and be a man in my son's life, so i am just a woman.

i am not a man. i cannot teach my son to be a man, but my son's father continued to stay on drugs because he could not get a job. he could not get resources, so now my son suffers from that, and now my son is 23 years old. why does he have to suffer for his father's sins? every time he is somewhere, someone is always agitating him. someone things because he has of dodi -- a hoodie that he is some killer. i have grandchildren i love. why do i have to take on his sin and take care of his grandkids and pay child support when that is not my fight, but every time you turn around you have a gang in junction. now i work in jails, and i have these young girls who are 22

years old for possession of drugs, and they are there for 20 or 30 years. they cannot make babies. by the time they get out, they cannot produce nothing, so you are stopping our people from making babies and making it smaller and smaller while other races are growing. it does not make sense. i am tired of watching junkie's down the street. i have seen kids get murdered in front of my face. i am tired of taking over the sins of what someone else has done. if someone has done their time, leave them alone. it does not make sense. how can they rehabilitate if you do not let them rehabilitate. if you cut off the head cover the body will surely die.

>> thank you so much. >> thank you for having this meeting, because i am a victim of this drug crime today. it took over 17 years to get off the row, because i was an addict, and every time i stepped up to the plate and wanted to get some information and help with resources, it was not fair for me, and there is no treatment center that really came about until now, and at the same time, my rap sheet is about drugs. i cannot apply for food stamps based on the fact that i had a possession. if i have done the time and the crime and paid the fine, why do i still have to suffer in the world and be judged on everything i do?

i have no idea why, and i am here to try to get some understanding on how do you succeed and turn your life run when you still have the system failing view, and -- telling you, and if i am doing what i'm supposed to be doing, finally, after getting some and stepping into the organization, that is how i am able to balance myself to be able to stand on my 2 feet and fight for my life because i have never had anyone to look at me. i am never going to amount to nothing, but there is not that restores to give me a chance to find myself, and i want to say, the future is our children. if you're not giving us the helping hand to fight this war, we are going to continue to suffer. god bless you. thank you for letting me share.

>> [list of names] >> good evening, commissioners, and members of the san francisco agencies. i am the ceo of brothers for change, and i want to stay on when we talk about the war on drugs, i am surprised you did not have this on your list. these are the parents that have lost a children after children to this war on drugs. young men and women who have died on the streets, they are here every tuesday saying the board of supervisors to do something.

after the ceasefire we have the staying in junction. we had the pace of one to tell them they are doing racial profiling. -- to pay someone to tell them they are doing racial profiling. we keep having the same things. i represent an agency that has african-american men that try to take care of their children after their lives have been changed, 30, 40, 50-year-old man that need employment, that need some skills, if i think the

problem is san francisco keeps dedicating the services. after a ceasefire we have this injunction. we are waiting for someone to come tell them. they have another study. >> i do not have the statistics or anything like that on me today, but as far as i can see, when we talk about the war on drugs, one of the major reasons there is this exodus of black people from san francisco is partly because a lot of our folks are going to this prison in other counties throughout the

state of california. i think that is a major impact on the stability of communities. i think in terms of solutions to some of his common-law in terms of quality of life, i would like to see an expansion of the definition of sanctuaries city, with provisions for economic well-being of the people, so things like a program, things that will make this city a safer place to be economically. if you cannot provide for your family, if there is no employment opportunity commo, if you're talking about a community that experiences generation after generation of lack of job skills, and you cannot provide for yourself, this is not a safe place for people to be, and people will go to where they are going to be able to thrive or at least try to survive. thank you. >> i am going to call some additional names. [list of names]