Prohibitionists vs. Antiprohibitionists in Dallas
A couple months ago I taped a drug policy debate for The McCuistion Program, a public affairs show on KERA, the Dallas PBS affiliate. The debate is now available online, in two segments consisting of three 10-minute parts each. The first segment pitted Rusty White of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and me against David Jordan, a former State Department anti-narcotics official, and Phil Jordan (no relation), former director of the Drug Enforcement Administration's El Paso Intelligence Center. In the second segment, the antiprohibitionists were joined by Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance (who participated by phone), while the other side was whittled down to Phil Jordan. It was not exactly a fair fight, although I think the producers would have included another drug warrior if they'd been able to find one who was willing to participate. Having been stuck in similarly lopsided discussions myself, I sympathized with Jordan, who, like other drug warriors I've debated, came across as more reasonable off camera than on. Click on the picture to watch the debate.