This was a warm and thought-provoking interview deftly led by Veronica Faisant. I have a few comments about legalizing narcotics (opiates, amphetamines etc.). Having worked for years with drug abusers and witnessing first-hand how drugs have devestated their lives, as well as the lives of their families and communities, I believe that it would be unwise to legalize illicit drugs. Drugs instititute a criminalizing process on the individual(s) who abuse them, inspiring them to act in ways that would otherwise be unimaginable to them.

Nevertheless, the prison system needs to be totally revamped--it must be transformed or uprooted. It is totally unacceptable to abandon human beings to untolerable, if not torturous (e.g. solitary confinement), conditions. Rather, each individual must be considered a Universe and treated with the respect they so deserve from childhood. Monies need to be diverted away from our military--with our corporate-controlled Government maintaining that it has the license to murder--and towards children, the underserved, the environment, and our communities. We need to take back our country, and not confuse "democracy" with "capitalism". Evo Morales has said, "we need to choose between capitalism, and mother earth"--will Americans make the right choice?