 Well, there are two awards left and now is the moment where we have to hope for things to go right Because one of the awards needs to be received by Skype So I'm gonna ask Stephanie my colleague to come up here and try to set this up This award is the the the major award. We give the Richard Dennis award So Stephanie's gonna get about a moment here You can have one minute to chat and then I will be back up here in about one minute This is a thank you to all of you For all the work you have been doing continue to do because you're gonna end this insanity Called the war on drugs. There is no such thing as you know I write music and my song says there is no war on drugs. There is a war on us You're taking All the work you have done you serve a very special award to each and every one that has participated in this incredibly inspiring Conference as are everyone that I have attended since the early 90s when we were DP F and I was awarded by you with a Robert Randall award and I thank you all for being you and Either action it up or enjoy it or whatever. I'm so sorry. I can't take it back to New York with me Thank you so much LV. Thank you so much for all your work and leadership Okay, I think we have success here. I Think we have success. I don't think we're gonna have please but I need everybody to quiet down right now Please if anybody's talking next to you ask them to be quiet right now Thank you This is the Richard Dennis award before there was George Soros there was Richard Dennis the first Philanthropists to step up in the late 1980s and say I am going to put my money In fact, I'm going to put millions of dollars behind ending the drug war this guy helped launch drug policy foundation He was pivotal to making putting this issue, you know really out there in a time when it was the height of the drug war And we named this award after Richard Dennis the global Commission on drug policy Right, which grew out of the Latin American Commission on drug policy created by presidents Cardoso former presidents Cardoso, Brazil Gaviria of Colombia is a deal of Mexico a few years ago and then expanded to include George Schultz and Paul Volcker Richard Branson The former president of Switzerland Ruth Dreyfus the former the actually the current prime minister at the time of Greece George Papandreou Kofi Annan joined this a remarkable group of people and the report that they put out two years ago That basically called for what we call for a DPA and ending the drug war for legalizing marijuana for harm reduction with The other drugs for changing the whole way we do this for breaking the taboo on Consideration of all alternatives and they're continuing to commitment They didn't just put out a report the members of this commission have individually continued to lobby to speak publicly to call current presidents and others And this is expanded now to include the former president of Portugal President Sarpio the former president of Chile logos the former president of Poland and a host of others one reason drug policy is changing in the world Is not just because of the remarkable work of people at the level of civil society But also because of those bold leaders and former leaders who are able and willing to commit time in their lives To make a difference. So first First I'm going to see Richard Branson. Are you on the line? I Am can you hear me? I can And Richard I think is calling I think he's in Kenya so Richard just for a minute or two Please say a few words. Thank you so much for being on Well, thank you very much. I'm actually sitting in the mara and we just saw seven lines chasing a water buffalo from from from my the deck of my tent so a Very different at very different place from where you are at the moment But you must come one day Anyway, no just to say that you know, thank you very much on behalf of the Global Drug Commission for the award and present president Kaderso formed the Commission two years ago to do a sort of fact-based studying on the war and drugs and then on office over the last two years it became very clear to the Commission that the war and drugs was an abject failure and that they needed to be a new approach and we've studied What's gone on in other other countries like Portugal where you know for the last 12 years Not one person has been put in prison for any kind of drugs and it's worked and and and people are you know people are You know nobody's gone to prison and even with something like heroin they've managed to reduce the amount of heroin addicts by 70% and and And the amount of you know spreading of HIV and hepatitis C is has reduced dramatically so Anyway, just want to say keep up keep up the good work. We'd also like to congratulate and thank the DPA for all the great work that you do and Would look forward to continuing to work together in the years to come. So thanks very much Thanks so much Richard Now I think Is George Papandreo on the line Yes, I am. Well, yeah, I'll tell you George, I'll tell you when when on this commission there were a lot of former presidents on there There was one guy who was still in office a sitting prime minister Dealing with all the politics of being a sitting prime minister and said I'm still gonna join the commission And that was George Papandreo. So George, please share a few minutes with us. Okay Well, thank you. Thank you Ethan and even during this major crisis in Greece I felt that this was an opportunity to change our policy. I Personally as a young kid volunteered at a church in Toronto to work with kids using drugs I realized that they were not the problem that the organized crime was when I became minister and of youth Later on in the 80s. I Realized prohibition would not work because we were even having Drug drug trafficking inside the jails. So I felt that it was only helping organize crime and and and Getting getting kids into into and many people into a lot of trouble So the work that our global commission has been doing. Thank you very much for your support on the DPA We've got some impressive people from Kofi Annan to Torval Stoltenberg to as you said president Gavaria and and president Cardozo and Some traumatic shifts in drug policy around the world from Portugal to Uruguay and also states in the US such as in Colorado. Congratulations Well, when I was Prime Minister, I proposed a radical law on drugs and I I tabled a draft in the Parliament in 2011 for full decriminalization of drug use and removing cannabis from the criminal justice system and Dealing with with two certain types of of PNF penalties for drug drug traffickers, but also the right treatment for drug addicts which completely changed the whole logic Towards harm reduction Undercutting crime and of course pandemics rather than chasing people this draft, of course as passed in the water down version after I left, but so there is still a Room to be to change here in Greece, but we keep to keep the work going and Thank you very much DPA for all the support you've been giving and I'll be by your side And then we will be by your side in working on this issue Okay, George. Thank you so much And I think one more Says a Gaviria, are you there? Okay, well, this is the true firebrand on the Commission says a Gaviria was the president of Colombia He was the head of the OAS He has been the most persistent and relentless advocate in the global Commission So President Gaviria, please just say a few words to us But to tell you and your sorrows and open society and the drug policy Alliance for all the help We have received since five years ago that we created on the leadership of President Candozo the growing Commission for Latin America Latin American Commission he was extraordinary Work we really got that in Latin America We broke the taboo and it was so important that in the last summit of the Americas even but the president Obama in Practically the main issue of that of that meeting was drug policy reform and they asked for two reports. They were Presented a few months ago It's clear that the wheel in Latin America is to reform policy to look for harm reduction and to look for indication of marijuana for treatment similar to other kind of drugs like alcohol and cigarettes If you can hear me We can no longer hear you But we caught the thrust of your message. So thank you ever ever so much for being with us And for all your work And I just like to ask Rebecca Laird to come up here. Rebecca is the communications director of the global Commission based in Brazil and Rebecca I want to present this award to you to bring back to the global Commission. Thank you and no Brigada