Breaking The Taboo premieres London tonight!
- By Hannah Mahony -
- Dec 05, 2012
Tonight sees the London premiere of groundbreaking new documentary ‘Breaking The Taboo’.
Narrated by Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman, the film produced by Sam Branson follows The Global Commission on Drug Policy and their mission to break the political taboo over the US led War on Drugs.
It took two years to make the documentary which visits four continents and features 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, Colombia; Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazil.
“Having spent two years working on Breaking the Taboo I am convinced, now more than ever, that this is a debate that has to happen. Not just on a local level, in our own communities, but on the global stage.
"This is an issue affecting everyone of us on the planet and it will take a global effort to solve it” said Sam.
Sundog Pictures have partnered with YouTube to make the film available for free, live on December 7th through its own branded channel - www.youtube.com/breakingthetaboofilm
Until the film is made available on Friday – take a look over these shocking drug stasitics:
- The 40 year ‘War on Drugs’ has cost $2.5 trillion.
- Today the UN estimates there are 230 million drug users in the world. 90% of them are not classified as problematic.
- In 2005, the UN estimated that criminals were trading more than $320 billion a year on the illegal drug market.
- In 1970 there were approximately 330,000 prisoners in the US. Today there are 2.3 million behind bars – more than any country in the history of the world. In 2009 alone there were 1.6 million drug related arrests in the US. 1.3 million of these were for possession of drugs alone and over half were related to marijuana.
- In Mexico more than 50,000 soldiers and federal police are now actively involved in the fight against the cartels. Yet the death toll – now over 47,000 – continues to rise and the cartels have taken control of whole regions of the country.
- Afghanistan has emerged as the main producer of heroin in the world. Breaking the Taboo looks at military behavior in Afghanistan and the demands made on US military personnel in the poppy fields.
For more trailers, information and clips from the film – visit the Breaking The Taboo YouTube channel and follow Breaking The Taboo on Twitter
By Hannah Mahony. Social engagement executive, Virgin Group Digital. Tweets @hannahmahony
