useful. people come here from other parts of the country that are gay, lesbian, transgendered, bisexual, immigrants, people who are stigmatized yet. you have a lot of potential for it this sort of abuse. i will say something really quickly. i went to san francisco, i have been here for about 20 years. i was unfamiliar with what ultimately became one of my favorite drugs, speed. no one told me that one could become speed psychotic. so, i had a lot of things happen to me. i ended up in the emergency

room. . fast forward 10 years, thanks to peer groups like the speed project, things like that. i realized what was going on. i had a real help emergency, which is something that happened to me. something in my i was going on. i went, there is something in my eye. then, they could tell, they looked at me like it, ok. i sat there for hours and hours. i left, fine. there was something in the emergency room, i did not take it personally. sunday night, i was riding my bicycle. suddenly, i had a depth of field, everything was flat.

so, what happened is that i went back there and, that was a problem. they looked at my eye, hey, there is no right now there. -- there is no retina there. they did not take me seriously because of the record. i was in the psych ward once.

bernanke. >> thank you. -- thank you. >> the final statement from the scheduled speakers deals with reclaiming rights and the civil rights movement of tomorrow starting today. our presenter is debra small, the founder and director of break the chains. -- our presenter is deborah small. >> i want to go back to where we started this evening with conflict that president huffman made and talking about what the war on drugs is and how we got to this place. i feel like it is particularly important that we're having this conversation in san francisco because san francisco was one of the first cities to pass a law restricting drug use back in

the late 1800's. not surprisingly, as was noted by alice in her talk, that first drug law was specifically directed at opium use and it had its bases in discrimination. it was specifically designed to target the chinese community for their drug consumption and completely ignored similar drug consumption by europeans here. in that way, that that law here in san francisco was based and built in discrimination, so have all of our drug policies in the u.s. parent is not an accident that we have chosen to target cocaine as opposed to ritalin, opiates as opposed to other products that we have targeted. all of the laws that we have passed initially were linked to monogamy is. the first anti canada's law was directed towards mexicans and an

effort to control their behavior. the first loss against cocaine were specifically directed towards african-americans. the passage of these laws, you hear the same arguments being made, that these people are economic competition, that their morality is suspect, and that we're going to use these laws as a way of addressing behavior we don't like. it is not an accident that fast forward a hundred years, that a majority of the people targeted for the enforcement of these laws continue to be people from our minority community, people that are marginalized, people that we want to have control over. i also want to draw on the parallels and history that was laid out in the book, which is one of the reasons we're having this conversation. i think it was important for her to make the connection between the history of slavery, that black people began in this

country that was then followed up by 100 or so years of segregation. i don't think that it is an accident that it was at the time that the people of color had this segregation that the war on drugs was launched to do the same thing that segregation had done before which was to allow people to be economically exploited and politically and socially marginalized. regardless of how you feel about the war on drugs, about how you feel about drugs, i think that it is really important for us to look at what the impact of what the drug war has been after 100 years in our country despite the fact that we know that they are used equally among every socially economic group and it does not matter, you will find the prisons filled with people of color, even in states like maine and vermont, where they don't have that many people of color. they still seem to find them and lock them up and did you have to

begin to wonder whether or not the war on drugs is actually about drugs or is it about social marginalization and control. if you look at the fact that no matter where you go in the country, the majority of the people that were in jail for drugs are poor people. then you have to wonder about it. if we had similar laws for adultery and fornication and we said that we were going to lock people up and give them mandatory sentences and yet the only people ended up behind bars for that were people of color, 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.