"Yet Again, Sir, You Do Not Answer My Question"

I'm just reposting this YouTube clip that Pete ran at Drug WarRant (and which originates from Drug Reporter, the drug policy website of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union), because it needs as much exposure as possible. The thing I really love about it is the style of Frederick Polak, who questions Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. Polak speaks in a way that is simple, clear and civilized -- but also quite persistent, refusing to accept Costa's non-answer and pushing for a meaningful response to a basic empirical question. The result, in my opinion, is a real credit to the common sense perspective of Polak and a powerful critique of Costa's credibility.

Costa, of course, was also recently quoted as saying that of the attendees at last year's drug policy reform conference in New Orleans there were "1200 participants, 1000 lunatics, 200 good people to talk to. The other ones obviously on drugs."