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Colbert Gets "Doped Up" to Interview Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance

Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet at 7:20 AM on March 15, 2008.

Nadelmann: "There has never been a drug free society in human history."

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In the clip to your right, Colbert (claiming to be doped up on cold medicine) conducts a hilarious interview with drug legalization advocate Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance. Colbert does his usual, ignorant pompous conservative bit, but Nadelmann does get the opportunity to eloquently and accurately slam the War on Drugs:

The drug war's built on a myth that was can create a drug free society. But there has never been a drug free society in human history.

Nice Nadelmann. Say what you will about Colbert's style, but he certainly provides a forum for voices you almost never get to hear in mainstream media. Check out the video to your right for more.

Tagged as: marijuana, drugs, nadelmann, colbert

Adam Howard is the editor of PEEK.

Return to Video » Post Tools: EMAIL PRINT 19 COMMENTS PERMALINK

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I have been saying: [Report this comment] Posted by: paula.c on Mar 15, 2008 8:07 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] LEGALIZE DRUGS! Look at all the money the country can save on this unsuccessful "War on Drugs", and all the money the drug lords, drug pushers, poppy field owners (Taliban)and other criminals will lose. Maybe marijuana would help our beknighted President talk straight. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: I have been saying: Posted by: rinthy » RE: I have been saying: Posted by: willymack » RE: I have been saying: Posted by: 1984NOW!!! The War on Drugs is a War on the People [Report this comment] Posted by: 2dogarage on Mar 15, 2008 9:26 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] The government and pharmaceutical companies should stop bogarting the profits from medicinal drugs that mother nature offers freely to humans. The injustices of their repressive and controlling policies simply make the existence of mood-altering drugs more necessary in this modern world. Just say no to the drug czars that are killing people with their "legal" lethal chemical cocktails and laws that put citizens in prison for practicing their inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. p.s. Colbert's smokin'! [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » Colbert Smoking the doobie? Posted by: Prairie Waif *Criminalizing VICE effectively destroys* REPRESENTATIVE government** [Report this comment] Posted by: BlueBerry PickN on Mar 15, 2008 10:14 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] . . Think about it... The Thieves of Virtue: legislating morality undermines representative government. really, VICE is contextual: * gender * ethnicity * age * race... all pay a part in morals. but *VICE, should never be criminalized, especially in a nation where PRIVACY has been abolished.* Who is PERFECT ENOUGH to represent THE PEOPLE or a populist reform when thre is neither privacy nor the Will to preserve privacy in society? *Who stands for the People* when Money & Power exert corrosive controls to extend their oppression & corruption?** You've been had Nobody is immune to vice as VICE is about how ONE PERSON privately & personally determines how to enjoy their own body... ...& THAT is how Money & Power will kill representative government for The Peoples who seek JUSTICE, Freedom & Human Rights. ~~~ Spread Love... BlueBerry Pick'n can be found @ ThisCanadian ~~~ "We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid. ~~~ "Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced" [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] "When I ask my doctor for viagra.... [Report this comment] Posted by: DreamFast on Mar 15, 2008 10:23 AM Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] ...he says which of your friends is this for, because I could chip a tooth on that thing". *************** ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!!!! I'm still laughing! [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] MaryAnn busted for pot?????????? [Report this comment] Posted by: joeunix on Mar 15, 2008 12:34 PM Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] MaryAnn, I never knew thee. Want to burn one? [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: MaryAnn busted and Ginger was the only cool spice girl Posted by: batteredup » Yup, couldn't have said it better myself Posted by: joeunix If he is so smart and well educated, [Report this comment] Posted by: Lauren on Mar 15, 2008 3:18 PM Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] then why did he look stupid and say, "I never thought about it" when I asked him why the DPA never addressed the issue of religion in marijuana prohibition (since it is a constitutional slam dunk). I had already been writing to them for months, he had even jacked my Rosa Parks reference in an email for a column concept. I was really steamed. I think he is a total ass who is very fat and happy keeping the drug war going on forever. But then I don't get respect for my religion ANYWHERE when jewish or christian people are making money stopping me. I can't tell you how many times he has thrown potheads under the bus defending things like crank. Yeah, crank is the word for Ethan Nadelmann, a real scum sucker. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: IF he was smart, he would listen to me. Posted by: Lauren "Chip a tooth on that thing" [Report this comment] Posted by: happyhermit on Mar 15, 2008 9:43 PM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] one of the greatest lines ever. and that was one of his greatest interviews ever. broke a rib. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Less Government and More Liberty [Report this comment] Posted by: left_libertarian on Mar 15, 2008 9:54 PM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] F#ck the government. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] The reggae thing was funny. [Report this comment] Posted by: kepstein7777 on Mar 16, 2008 3:13 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] That dude was kinda' stuffy with his stack of PHDs and superior attitude. He could have rolled with it a little more and still got his point across. No matter, I suppose. Colbert can work with anything. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Drug Reporting: Did Colbert's approach differ from the mainstream media's? [Report this comment] Posted by: EricSterling on Mar 17, 2008 9:02 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] What is striking in this interview is that Colbert's comic non sequiturs, exaggerations, faulty premises, and misquotations are only exaggerations of the style and content too much of the "serious" reporting of the mainstream media. The headline of most mainstream coverage of criticism or reform of current drug policy is a drug-use pun. The accompanying photograph could be from Woodstock (ca. 1969). Often the hysteria crowds out the facts. In this March 12, 2008 story from British Columbia about a new drug menace, "Foxy Methoxy," the newspaper does not even name the actual drug! http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html ?id=9b533257-206e-46ab-92ee-324c947d4f47&k=68498 [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] The phony war on drugs [Report this comment] Posted by: willymack on Mar 17, 2008 12:41 PM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Is a smokescreen (get it, smokescreen?) to cover up or divert attention from illegal activities far more dangerous and IMMORAL than the highest stoner. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Drug war scam on you and me. [Report this comment] Posted by: nightgaunt on Mar 17, 2008 1:27 PM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] They make their money from taxpayers,stealing the 'illegal' gain of suspected drugrunners and steal all they have so for them it is win/win! Plus it functions as a wedge of power to violate our Bill of Rights. Unlike the war on alcahol there is no Constitutional Amendment for this war that has been going on since 1914! They use the Commerce clause as their rational. Ask a 2nd Amendment advocate why they support the Drug War because it is why we have federal laws against many types of gun ownership! [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]