mr. coulson. [applause] >> well, thank you.t's nice to be in colorado instead of tucson where it's very hot. i come from 28 years of experience on the streets of a number of places around the world and in the united states. and much that dr. nadelmann has said i agree. we can spin numbers all day long to say what we want to say. but what i'm here for is i'm kind of in a different mode. i was asked to give you a presentation on what the border looks like. and this is not a good picture. it's not a good picture at all right now. and so i want to show you what it is and talk to you. those are my views. i just can't understand why you would want to add another thing to the mix. i just can't do it. when was the last time we had a national dialog, a real national dialog on drug abuse? it was -- next slide and i have to work with the booth up there so please be patient. it was when we had a drug agent killed in mexico. next. and lastly, the attorney general mentioned it, nancy reagan, just say no. made jokes about it. it was on saturd

mr. coulson wrote about in his commentary today. and that is, it is sort of an accepted that the war on drugs which has been going on for -- in the range of 40 years now has been a failure. and the question is -- and it was an interesting question that you raised in your commentary, has it failed because we haven't yet done enough? >> yes. we haven't committed as a society to changing, one, drug use, substance abuse from a law enforcement issue to a public health issue. that is a big issue. that issue is about investing in giving the message hardening, making our children resilient to drug use, to providing those who fall into the addiction cycle a place to go. for those who are incarcerated and looking for treatment, an avenue of treatment. if someone wants help, they need to have help. that's what in terms of a drug war we haven't had a comprehensive -- and i know president nixon coined that phrase. i know as a drug enforcement agent, i could never understand the term "drug war" 'cause we never really went to war against drugs. we