. 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] >> my name is david. i went to jail 14 times for being under the influence of of narcotics. i never sold i never sold drugs. i never committed a felony nor was i convicted of a felony. every time in court, the only treatment i got was being treated like a criminal. having a disease is not a crime. i ended up in a doorway. i ended up by san francisco living in a doorway. i had two choices, get busy living or dying. because i sought help, treatment, i learned that i had post-traumatic stress disorder

and brain damage from being tortured and molested as a child. i don't tell you this to elicit your pity or to continue being a victim. i don't tell you this to make excuses. i tell you this because i learned what was going on. drugs alcohol are but the symptoms of a much deeper problem. because i had a chance to find out what to do, i am a contributing member of a society. i am not creating collateral damage and draining precious resources from society. did i learn this sitting in a prison cell? did i learn this in a court room? no, i did not. rather than adding more beds, building bigger prisons and jails, give people a chance to find out what is beneath the drugs and alcohol so they can be moms, dads, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives.

[applause] >> i am a recovering addict. i had 12 years and i lost to those around december of 2010. i worked in my community. they broke in my house, my kids are devastated, i was devastated. i started drinking, i continued drinking because so much stuff was going on. there were killings. during my relapse, i started hanging in the tenderloin. i was told i could not go back to my house. these are companies that y'all are bringing out here and trying to make people leave their homes. i was arrested by my daughter

under a citizens arrest because my daughter did not know what to do. she did not know that i was going to stop, that was new year's morning. she and i had a misunderstanding. the police came and. they wrote the things that my daughter said. that i was on alcohol and stuff and they sent it to the housing development. they are trying to evict me. one of my oldest daughters had a stay away order. they are try to honor that order. that is unfair. when i found out when i was in the tenderloin, there were young men dying and they said they cannot do nothing because they were standing on the streets. this was not all right for those young men to stand on that corner and do what they were

doing. now, it is the same thing, black on black crime, a crime against black people. these are young black man getting killed every other day. the city attorneys said they could not do nothing about it. >> thank you. >> i sit on the advisory board of the drug users union. opportunities on one side of the door and responsibility is on the other side. sadly, i believe that a number of people that are here, i look at this as a way to express some of the issues that are presently right outside of city hall.

some of that, i need you to make me think that you are being sincere. i know with the drug users union, how many times we even get a laugh that or not even taken seriously on the issues we are addressing. these are actual issues. anyone can be a dope fiend, a drug user. anything can be a habit, whether it is the internet or cigarettes. we need to be responsible and provide opportunity at the same time. you are hearing someone to time. there is no opportunity. then, there are still in opportunities when they are responsible. it is illegal for me to walk on the sidewalk or visit my family. when i go to certain places, it is invisible. how much time do we have to talk about how does it feel to

always distinguish ourselves and then have a major dose of anxiety? how does it feel to see someone and you don't know if they're going to kill you? how do you explain that? how illegal is that? how much do you get paid to live like that? that is what i would like to know. how many of you have dealt with flash grenades and different things behind them? human rights. the black panther party did the free breakfast program. that was considered illegal. how can it be legal to feed children? they grow up cut for it because there is no other program. when they do something to you, all of a sudden they're criminals. >> thank you. [applause]