Narrated by Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman, the movie was premiered in London and New York City
“Breaking the Taboo” follows The Global Commission on Drug Policy on a mission to break the political taboo over the War on Drugs and exposes what it calls the biggest failure of global policy in the last 40 years. Narrated by Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman, “Breaking the Taboo” is produced by Sam Branson’s Sundog Pictures (UK) and Brazilian Spray Filmes and was directed by Cosmo Feilding Mellen and Fernando Grostein Andrade.
The film sets out facts and figures on a war that is failing on all fronts, calling for its audience to demand an honest debate amongst politicians and to take on a subject that for many decades has been generally viewed as “political suicide”. To encourage as much public participation as possible in this crucial debate, the distribution of “Breaking the Taboo” is partnering with YouTube to host a completely free of charge worldwide premiere. The film is available on a dedicated page.
“Breaking the Taboo” looks in detail at the devastation that the “War on Drugs” has wreaked not only on the populations of Columbia, Mexico, Brazil and Afghanistan but also on citizens living in the continental US. Yet politicians around the world carry on regardless, not daring to speak out on the war’s obvious failure. The film was 2 years in the making, spanning four continents and featuring candid interviews with not only soldiers, lawyers, former drug czars and experts on global drug policy but many global Presidents including: Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, America; Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia (current); Ruth Dreifuss, Switzerland; Cesar Gaviria, Columbia; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazil.
Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who attended the premiere in NYC, said: “After four years of work, starting with the Latin American Comission on Drugs and Democracy, and more recently with the Global Commission, I can say that the debate has been opened and that we have progressed on discussions on alternatives to the war on drugs. The movie Breaking the Taboo comes at a very important moment to outreach and inform as many people as possible and engage them on this movement toward more humane and efficient drug policies”.
The film ends highlighting a variety of alternate approaches to the current War on Drugs: visiting countries such as Switzerland, Portugal and Holland – and features the historic moment, at the 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, when it was announced that investigating alternative drug policies would become part of the official regional agenda.
As part of this public outreach, the movie producers have partnered with academic think tank the Beckley Foundation (UK) and online movement Avaaz to run a campaign website and petition calling for a global change on drug policy to end the vicious cycle of criminalization of drug users, punishment and funding of criminal organizations. The petition will be presented to the United Nations. “Breaking the Taboo” has also garnered the support of Oscar winning actress Kate Winslet, Sir Richard Branson, Gael Garcia Bernal and Morgan Freeman, and other celebrities will be joining the campaign. Virals can be viewed and the campaign followed on: #BreakTheTaboo