On Thursday, I told you about a debate that was scheduled on C-Span. It ended up getting pushed back due to coverage of a Thanksgiving Dinner, so I missed it when it aired, but the full audio is available at Drug Sense (RealAudio file) and I finally got a chance to listen to it. I planned to just give a report, but it was really quite interesting, so I ended up transcribing large sections of it for you.
The event: The Debate of the 21st Century on “The Future of American Drug Policy” (held in New York City in October).
The participants: Republican Activist William Bennett and Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel vs. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke (moderated by drug war cheerleader Joseph Califano).
Each participant started with 6 minutes to make their presentation, followed by 2 minutes of rebuttal and then questions from the audience. Today, I’ll just give you the first section (the 6-minute presentations).
What to look for: