Original subtitles

[thunder]

♪

♪ [thunder]

I had no intention of being in the field of addiction.

I was in the field of experimental psychology.

♪

In 1970, I was the youngest member of the

Faculty of Psychology at Simon Fraser University.

And the youngest guy gets to teach the course that

nobody else wants to teach,

and that course was called Social Issues.

Vancouver was in the midst of an addiction crisis and

that meant I had to teach about addiction.

I mean, I knew nothing about addiction.

Well, my life changed one day when

a student in the back of the class raised his hand...

And said, "Haven't you heard about the rats?"

We based a whole science on isolated rats,

a prison cell of isolation cages.

They looked lethargic. They're not doing anything.

They're given spouts on the wall where they can

drink a presentation of fluids: water

or, morphine.

They consume a lot of morphine,

so much that they die. They actually starve to death.

♪

So, Rat Park was an experiment.

Maybe if we give the same number of rats a place to

live in that's comfortable, maybe they wouldn't

take as much of the dope.

We built a big...

place, with plywood walls.

♪

♪

Which was basically designed as a heaven for rats to live in,

and we called it Rat Park.

♪

♪

♪

And what they've got there is lots of

other rats to scamper around with and

they got lots of opportunity for social activities,

and the walls are painted so that we have

a beautiful British Columbia forest,

which we all love.

♪

♪

♪

And then, we gave them the choice:

they could have water or

they could continue to drink the morphine.

We got these results consistently,

that the rats in Rat Park didn't like the morphine.

The finding is absolutely clear

that the rats in isolation

drink a lot more morphine than the rats in Rat Park.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

I don't think we can understand drug addiction

by starting with drugs.

I mean, drugs, of course, are essential to drug addiction,

but the larger picture has to...

has to matter.

You know, when people have a drug problem,

the easiest thing is to blame the drug;

that must be the reason.

If they weren't using that drug, you know,

their lives would be all together.

And it's very hard for people to kind of

go to that deeper level.

Sometimes, focusing on the bigger social problems -

unemployment, lack of opportunity,

poor education - well, those are big problems.

When you take the metaphor that,

that sort of emerges from the Rat Park research and say,

well, now, how might that be true among human beings

'cause rats are rats and people are people?

Rat Park shows us that we simply can't

understand addiction without understanding

the environment that a person is in.

♪

Even as we see progress on harm reduction and

drug policy reform, the majority of nations,

in Asia, and sprinkled around the rest of the world,

they're still in the dark ages.

♪

Philippines is a contrast for me.

It's a contrast between a rich,

beautiful country with resilient people,

but at the same time, a country so poor that

the people are left with no sense of governance.

But the Filipino people have shown that there are

limits to the Filipino people's patience.

[children's chatter]

♪

I first heard about crystal meth in the late 90s.

It was called the poor man's cocaine.

This is one of the poorest communities here in the country.

♪

This area was designed by former Imelda Marcos

as a resettlement area, so people from the provinces

come here and the port is nearby,

so when they get here,

they don't have a place to go to and...

This is so most-- where most of them stay.

The drug situation here in the country is endemic and

mostly in the poor communities,

especially with meth because they are the target market.

♪

Who are these people? Why are they using?

They are under educated and many of them were

doing it not just for recreation purposes,

some were doing it for productivity purposes

because it would allow them to wash clothes;

it would allow them to take double jobs;

it would allow them to stay awake.

Right now, you wouldn't want to be in the Philippines

if you're a drug user

because it's not about treatment here,

it's really about punishment.

♪

So we are a country in search of itself.

It's a work in progress.

So when Duterte came into power in June 2016,

he declared the war against drugs.

[indistinct speaking]

Nobody actually knew what that meant...

until the killings began.

Drugs and corruption, maybe, and crime...

have so devastated the country that

a populist leader who promises

to eliminate drugs in six months,

is the hope of the country.

He rode on the people's discontent.

And from mayor, somebody broached

the idea of running for president.

Unfortunate because he never learned that there are

things that you do in a certain city that

you cannot do for the entire country.

The drug war that we are experiencing right now,

I think that's a perfect example of

a country that is still maturing.

The people are just fed up with traditional politicians,

all promises of big politicians, nothing happens.

Here comes a guy who promised change and

his way of solving change is different from the others.

There's a lot of...

"Anyone who uses drugs is an addict."

"All addicts are criminal."

He's the first politician to offer in a presidential election

that, "I will kill drug addicts."

♪

It shocked us.

And then we realized it's war against people.

And that's when we began scrambling.

♪

[crowd chatter]

♪

♪

♪

Florida has always been, like, con central.

Like, if you want to fucking start a con-ass business,

you go to Florida. Like, insurance fraud,

you want to do Medicaid fraud,

or phone room scams, time share scams,

you come to Florida, right.

It's just always been that way.

And, the nature of people, the nature of capitalism,

and the nature of...

I think that, this hustler spirit that,

that a lot of folks have in America,

is that if there's a way for me to fucking make

a lot of money I'm gonna do it.

And, that's what happened.

It, it's just like, it's a culmination of,

I think, a lot of, of things,

and I think Florida, at that time,

was just a perfect storm.

♪

What you had in Florida was this loose regulation,

anybody could open a clinic and treat pain.

Anybody.

What you had were these unregulated pain clinics

opening up nearly everywhere.

You, essentially, would go in and

you would pay somebody cash to get an MRI.

They would do an MRI, and as long as you went in with the

MRI to the pain clinic, the doctors there

would prescribe you, um...

pretty much whatever you wanted.

Back in 2010 and 2011, we had more pain clinics

in Florida than McDonald's and Walmart's, combined.

And then, all you needed for the perfect storm was to have

a ready supply of retired doctors,

looking to write scripts to make some extra money.

What state had more retired doctors than Florida?

While other states developed tougher laws to

restrict these pills, Florida, it was open season.

We didn't really have any laws.

It was really bad, like, you could,

you could drive down certain streets and just see,

like, lines out the door, armed guards.

They could walk out with prescriptions,

not for hundreds of pills, but thousands of pills.

Manufacturers got big profits and

distributors got big profits;

the doctors were making big money;

the users were getting their high.

Until it all came crashing down.

♪

We tightened the supply.

We made it much harder to get oxycodone and other pills.

But what happened to the demand;

the demand didn't go away.

The demand moved to a cheaper,

more accessible alternative: heroin.

And today's heroin is not your father's heroin anymore.

This is heroin, too often spiked with

cheap, potent Chinese Fentanyl.

The fact that the people in government and

law enforcement who shut down these pill mills

didn't have the foresight to see the addiction crisis

was gonna go to the street, that addicts were gonna

go to the street now; that's the problem.

Why does this continue?

You know, we had methamphetamine

immediately before this, crack before that.

We need to keep this going in order to justify the

existence of this drug war machine.

And so, after the opioid's over,

there'll be something else.

You can't solve this problem by a bunch of suits

in an ivory tower.

You need to get on the ground floor,

you need to get on the streets,

you need to talk to people who know what's really going on.

♪

[dog barks]

Hey... hey!

(whistles) Go get it.

Get!

Worst fucking fetch player on earth.

He's got heart cancer now.

Him going through it was legit, like,

one of the hardest things I ever had to deal with

in my fucking life. I deal with, like,

overdoses and I deal with, like,

hearing about people in our community dying and...

It's not very personal a lot of times just because it,

it's hard to...

internalize that kind of stuff when it's, like, a,

a normalized part of your job, um...

[lighter sparks]

So you almost have to, like,

keep it kind of compartmentalized.

♪

You know, I, I had my own history with drug use and,

and mental health, and...

When I was homeless, I, I went to The Lord's Place

to get food vouchers.

I went there to get clothes to interview because

I didn't have any.

And what I found is that there was always this stigma

and this belief held over me that, like,

I had to prove how much I wanted help.

Yeah, we get you're homeless,

we get that, fucking, you don't have any access

to healthcare or anything else, but really,

we need to talk about you smoking crack.

You know what; fuck you.

I don't think people quite understand the shame and,

and the guilt and all of that stuff that folks have to

fucking go through just to be able to show up to say,

"Hey, I need help with that," right?

And I think it's much easier for me to help drug users

when the very act of existing is not illegal,

and that's essentially what drug laws are.

They make the very act of existing,

for a drug user, their day-to-day life,

is illegal.

They criminalize the person and that's a,

that's really fucked up concept.

The longer that the sort of old thinking,

the old way of thinking about drugs,

is perpetuated, it just means the more we're gonna

suffer higher levels of addiction and that's why,

you know, moving towards drug policies grounded in

science and compassion, health, and human rights,

is so pivotally important.

♪

I never liked the term "War on Drugs".

Because a war, it's supposed to have a beginning and an end.

In the end, you either win it or lose it.

The problem with War on Drugs is that

you will never get an end to it.

There will be new substances coming up every day,

or every month, or every year.

So, we do not know what's ahead of us.

What we know is that it's not going to end.

We are not going to solve this problem,

but there's a lot of ways we can manage it.

♪

♪

The major problem we had back in the 80s and 90s

was heroin usage. Mostly injected heroin usage

with all the HIV infection involved and hepatitis

due to the lemon juice used in shooting heroin,

and that was the, the main reason that

led the government to change the policy.

We see people that use drugs as victims of a crime.

The crime being the crime of the drug smugglers,

the drug traffickers.

They are the real criminals.

We went for, we went for the whole thing.

We changed everything.

I believe that these new laws can provide a new solution.

We are not creating any better conditions for

consumption in Portugal, we are just creating

better conditions for people who are drug addicts and need help.

We were lucky.

[air pumping]

(humming)

♪

(humming)

Come on.

♪

I like the idea of art. I like those things.

I like materials. I like colours.

I like shapes. I like techniques.

But, in general, classic art, I don't like.

Modern art, I don't...

I don't know if I like because I don't know what it is.

(laughs) Eh...

I like doing things.

♪

♪

You can say ceramics, it's an art.

It's different, of all the ceramics are made by artists.

Sometimes people ask, "Are you an artist? Oh!"

Understand?

Why don't they ask, "Are a you very good...

or very happy potter?"

Yes, I am. (laughs)

[wheel whirring]

You see, sometimes I do the stuff,

but then I need to go out, wherever,

and I leave it and I don't finish them.

[dog barking outside]

♪

21, I began my, my place, working in ceramics.

24, I was technician of ceramics in the University of...

Architecture, in the design, industrial course,

for years, always using drugs.

I teached in a school, pottery,

always having my own potter business.

This is 1995. There were no half-pipe, nothing.

There was no BMX in Lisbon, and so,

we made the first half-pipe in Lisbon,

I'm in the newspaper.

So this photo is from a professional.

This is a Roland MC-303, it's a sequencer.

Synthesize sequencer, to make "doo-doo-doo-doo-doo".

I sell it for two grams of crack.

This were photos I took for purpose, it was to,

to give to an agent because sometimes I wanted to

do figuration, so you need photos for them.

And these, these I really love it 'cause it's my daddy.

I really like my expression. I like all the things,

and it's 19... 1977.

♪

There are guys, I think, like me. I get addicted,

and now it's difficult to go out because I still want to use it.

That's the question; you're not even addicted

to one drug, you're addicted to alterated states.

And that's the, the balance and the fight between

crack, heroin, methadone.

Cannot feel like a criminal, so I must show

I don't feel like I'm doing a crime.

[thunder]

When I think about addiction,

I think about the work of

one of my favourite Canadians, of Bruce Alexander.

He showed that rats raised in an enriched environment

are far less likely to take drugs than rats raised in

a barren or desolate environment.

We thought we'd bring that idea to the human laboratory.

We tested the impact of having an alternative reinforcer

or an attractive alternative to cocaine, crack-cocaine,

as a choice, so we allow people to either take

a certain amount of money or take a hit of crack cocaine.

And what you find is that when your alternative is

high enough or attractive enough,

like the amount of money is large enough,

you would get those folks actually choosing money

over their drug of choice.

Just shows that people behave rationally,

even people who use drugs,

even people who we call drug addicts.

This work grew out of the work of Bruce Alexander

who did this sort of work in rats.

♪

You can only learn so much by studying rats and

we found something that I think was important.

I mean, what's surprising is how active rats are in,

in society. They're always busy,

except the occasional moment for meditation.

But, but, basically, they're always busy and

rats in cages are not busy, they've got nothing to do.

They got no life.

Well, that seems like a pretty good metaphor.

I spent the rest of my career trying to figure out

where that metaphor goes.

Under what conditions would people adopt

a self-destructive addiction?

I think that the answer lies along the lines that

everybody would choose to have a healthful,

happy life, but what if that's blocked?

You know, most people who are opioid addicts are not

in cages, but maybe the cages are a metaphor;

maybe there are cages we don't see.

♪

In understanding addiction,

it's about the culture in which we're living.

The Philippines is a very sad situation because

here you have an outrageous leader, Duterte,

and he's engaging in an extrajudicial war on drugs,

basically telling security forces and police that

they should feel free to kill anybody that they

think's involved in drugs at all and he'll have their back.

The thing that's so tragic about this,

it's not just the loss of life and a sense of terror,

it's also that his policy is supported by a

majority of the population, so far as we can tell.

♪

♪

[crowd chatter]

[scrubbing]

♪

People are afraid...

But there, there is work being done on the ground

to document the killings because the sentiment is,

one day, when this leader steps down,

he will get his due.

The battle for reforms in this country cannot just be

conducted in the courts, not just in Congress,

but also in the streets.

[indistinct speaking]

But, we already know that, ah...

the victim has been killed.

Off-screen: How do you know that?

We-- I also cover that area.

We are doing investigative work there.

[traffic & crowd chatter]

It was the foreign media who branded us as,

"night crawlers".

Actually, the group doesn't really have a name.

We're just a group of...

journalists and photojournalists

who've tried to share our information and to get leads.

[dog barks]

♪

[dog barks]

♪

We didn't have much time to gather a lot of information,

but back in 2017, we started to do more of

an investigative way of documenting things.

And, that's where we found a lot of inconsistencies with

what they claim to be police operations.

♪

Word on the street is that there's this group called

the Davao Death Squad,

and these are, I guess,

policemen who are doing the killings.

So, you have a rider, you have a...

the person with the gun, they drive by,

they shoot a particular person

who's reported to be a pusher.

When somebody kills somebody,

it's just killing. It's just murder, you know.

But if government conducts the killings

that's extrajudicial killings.

This, ah...

that's how the police operatives look like.

They... you don't see their faces.

They wear shorts, t-shirt,

and that's where they keep their guns.

They have these sling bags.

Oh, I was there. I took it from the hip.

Yeah.

It is very important that we got to know Orly much better

because through him, we get a lot of access to

the contact details of the families,

where to look for them, where the wake is,

where to search for the families.

♪

♪

♪

According to the spot report, the police claim that

they found meth on he-- on this body,

but the gunman was an unidentified motorcycle gunman.

There were no witnesses in identifying the assailants.

This is very hard.

How do we start with the investigation or...

where do we start with the investigation?

The victim was already-- He surrendered.

He surrendered in 2016, under the drug watch list.

That same day, on November 1,

they did a random drug test on him.

Well, we, we won't know what the result was,

but after, past midnight, he was killed.

♪

[car honks]

♪

There is only Fentanyl available in Florida.

If you try to buy heroin, it is only a Fentanyl

or a Fentanyl analogue.

This is Florida. We've already established

the canary in the coal mine status, right?

In all of Florida, there is only one needle exchange program.

It's a pilot program, the state refuses to pay for it.

We're not looking at the science again.

- Welcome. - Thanks, dude.

How you doing? It's good to see you.

You too. You want to go upstairs?

So, in the whole state of Florida right now,

it's you, Sun Coast Harm Reduction Project, and us.

- That's it? - That's it.

In this entire state, I mean, that's--

- Whole state. - Unbelievable.

♪

This is the IDEA Exchange. We're the first

legal needle exchange program in the state of Florida.

What we try to do is bring harm reduction services

to the people of Miami.

The whole ethos of harm reduction is about

meeting people where they're at so they can

take a step at a time towards a better life,

whether that better life involves being

abstinent from drugs or whether it means

still finding a way to use drugs,

but in a way that's less destructive for them and

the people around them.

You're not hanging down on 14th and 2nd, right?

- I wasn't today. - No, no, no.

We have just completely neglected to implement

evidence-based strategies.

I mean, this is not a radical thing.

It's literally that people do not care.

Like, they, they do not care about the people that we serve.

Just, and, I think would be very upfront about that.

We are decades behind, but this isn't it.

There were people doing underground needle exchange

before we got the authorized program.

"Outlaw".

It's about syringe exchange, just doing, like,

illegal syringe exchange.

Rebel Recovery is a harm reduction organization at heart.

And mainly, it's just meant to...

show compassion, love, and understanding to

a population of individuals that

have been routinely victimized and...

outcast from normal society.

So, it was really just like a...

a movement for drug users by drug users.

It's not driven by what public policy says.

If the government won't, we will.

Interestingly, because of people like Rebel Recovery and

the IDEA Exchange who put Naloxone into the hands

of people who need it, the overdose rates in

south Florida are actually coming down for the first time

since the closure of the pill mills.

♪

It's my first time being invited to a meeting like this,

not being arrested previous to it.

(laughs)

Ah, I appear to be the only one who's actually had

experience using substances, and common sense would

usually dictate that if you want to know how to solve an issue,

talk to the people who have struggled with the issue.

(applause)

Mr... Mr. Kunzelman.

So, this is, this is our Naloxone

for community distribution.

So, it's a nasal spray, inserted into the nostril.

[clicks & inhales]

That's a live dose I just put in my nose.

So, when Naloxone's introduced in a system,

it rushes to the site of opiate receptors,

boots out whatever opiate is in there,

removes the effect of the opiates on the person's body.

Last month, we... reported--

we had 51 reversals reported to us

directly from the Naloxone that we distribute.

There's just, there's no greater act of compassion

than telling somebody that you accept them for,

for exactly where they are and that you see them

as a human and that you're willing to do

whatever it takes to keep them safe...

until they're ready to make positive changes in their life.

Harm reduction, it's all about trying to reduce the

harms associated with drug use by and among those people

who are unable or unwilling to stop using drugs today.

If you ask heroin addicts,

"What's the toughest drug to quit?"

What do the majority say...?

Cigarettes.

Yet, on the other hand, cigarette smoking has been

cut by at least a half, maybe much more than that now,

since its peak, without anybody ever relying on

a criminal law, or police,

or prosecutors, or prisons.

♪

We need to assume that the public health system and

the health system, generally, is the way to deal with

drug use and drug addiction.

♪

There's a lot of people taking pills for allergies, right.

They have to take a pill every day in the morning

otherwise they will not be able to function normally.

That pill is a, is a substitution drug, right,

but people do not perceive it as a problematic thing

because it's done under a medical environment.

There's a medical doctor that explains to the person

that they are not going to be cured,

but nevertheless, there is a treatment option that

they can take for the rest of their life.

♪

♪

I don't trust in priests; I don't trust in lawyers;

I don't trust in police.

Mostly, I don't trust in dealers.

But these guys, I trust them for sure, you know,

they are the best I have at the moment.

I really like their attitude,

their position of, of the way they treat us.

I was waiting for this a long time ago and

if this wasn't here, now, I wouldn't be here.

Probably I wouldn't-- I would have waken up

two hours ago, very bad...

on dependence of heroin.

But now... I can go work naturally.

Rat Park is just a metaphor, it's just rats.

Human beings have, have properties,

which rats can't possibly have,

but it suggests something.

Maybe it's the case that

if rats are allowed to develop their culture,

then opioids cease to be a problem

for a normal society.

Now, it doesn't mean that the rats in Rat Park

didn't drink any morphine 'cause they did,

they drank a fair bit of it. I mean, just a fraction of

what they drank in the, in the cages,

but every once in a while,

there was a rat who did a lot.

I began using drugs, age 16, smoking hash.

17, LSD.

At 18, heroin, I just try it,

not to get addicted because heroin,

you must learn to get addicted.

19, 20... sniff cocaine.

22, smoked cocaine.

(snaps) Oh! Things change.

(laughs)

After that, all together, woohoo,

and sleeping pills, then depression.

A high depression.

All these mixed with antipsychotic, hypnotic,

anti-depressive, sleeping pills,

all that shit, huh, for years.

All that shit, with all due respect,

because they help me treatment.

Just have a little piece.

♪

This is already cooked.

Because a few years ago,

normally you don't buy it prepared for smoke.

I don't have too much.

This little piece, I already smoked.

I buy it, 15 euros. It depends on the place.

Normally they sell it at 10, already smoked.

So, this small stuff, it's more or less,

it can be 10 euros, ah, easy.

This is crack-cocaine.

It's... it goes very, very fast.

♪

I smoked already today. I smoke it every day,

so it's not so...

You are always looking for the first experience again,

obviously, with all the drugs.

That's it, done.

Even so, I don't know if you notice, probably,

I am changed, okay.

And you become stupid, and you become... you know.

That's the problem of cocaine and crack, mostly.

Always the same problem.

Are you getting high? (laughs)

It's not, you know, 10 years ago,

if I was doing this, I would have--

Just a minute, sorry.

I have to prepare everything.

Somebody enters, blows all this shit away.

It's impossible.

Imagine I couldn't get this. The crack, it's the problem.

There's no medicine for crack.

The guy who invents something like methadone,

but for crack... success.

Perfect, huh.

♪

News: Of course we have some concerns that people may see

the law as a license for a free drug holiday,

but it's still illegal to take drugs,

buy drugs, and sell them.

It isn't a get out of jail free card,

and it certainly isn't, come to Portugal,

we're drug free.

♪

We are a dissuasion commission,

so we are not here to try to prevent people from using drugs.

What we try to do is try to prevent people from

misusing or abusing an illicit substance.

Portugal is not particularly liberal about drugs and

they don't feel all that kindly towards

their junkies, their addicts.

What Portugal did, when all is said and done,

was they said, "We're making a commitment.

We are not going to put people in jail for

simple drug use or possession.

If they're really a bad guy,

we'll catch 'em for something else."

If the rest of the world could make a commitment like this--

'cause remember, the large majority of

all drug arrests in the world are for

simple drug use and possession -

I think the War on Drugs would essentially dissolve.

♪

If someone is caught in the possession of

an illicit substance,

the police officer apprehends the substance,

but instead of being referred to a court of law

under the Ministry of Justice,

they are referred to the Ministry of Health because

90% of drug users do it because they like it and

10% do it because they are addicted to it.

So, none of those sort of users will stop using

because a judge tells them that what they are doing

is a very wrong thing.

Rat Park helps us to understand that

we cannot understand drugs simply as

something which affects the brain and

changes a person into an addict;

that we must look at society in a much broader way.

I think it's very important for people like me,

psychologists, to realize that we cannot treat our way

out of the addiction problem,

and I also think that it is important for

doctors to realize that.

You know, people are struggling to

try to give their life some kind of meaning,

some kind of center of gravity

and they, they latch onto addiction.

But they're not sick: they're desperate.

♪

♪

♪

These are the two that were killed this morning.

Yeah.

On each body, they found two sachets of shabu.

It's kind of very ironic that dead bodies are turning up

with just 4 dollars' worth of shabu on them,

and they are dead.

While, those people who are engaging in

importing billions' worth of shabu...

nowhere to be found.

So, it's a pretty-- it's really unfair that

these people who are just mere users,

are just... are just getting killed.

They have names and faces and...

they are somebody's loved one.

Hopefully, those photos, when the time comes,

somebody can identify those photos,

then give closure to those families

who are looking for them.

♪

They are usually dropped off from a vehicle,

brought down and shot.

They wrap their faces in plastic,

in packaging tapes...

And, ah... leave cardboards on the,

the dead bodies.

It just states that, "I'm a drug addict,

I'm a drug pusher. I'm a thief.

Don't emulate me."

♪

We have a message that goes against the message

of the government, so they don't like that.

They don't like that we are not saying

what they want us to say.

And, so what we get are threats.

Sometimes you see people following you.

Sometimes text messages or threats.

Does it make us fearful? Of course, yes.

And so, we've had to be careful because I don't know...

how it may affect me or my family.

You know, as they say, so long as one is a monk,

one has to go on tolling the bell.

There is almost 5,000 killed in police operations and...

maybe 25,000 killed that are still under investigations;

that's already 30,000.

That number is already very staggering.

It could be claimed as a genocide.

Where have you seen that somebody-- 30,000 people

getting killed because of this so-called propaganda?

♪ [news theme music]

During his visit to the Philippines,

President Donald Trump sat down with

President Rodrigo Duterte.

Donald Trump has a friendlier relationship with Duterte

than his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

Obama condemned Duterte for his violent response

to the nation's drug problem.

Human Rights Watch reports that Duterte has authorized

the killing of thousands of suspected drug users and has

vowed to protect police officers from drug war prosecutions.

[indistinct speaking]

(laughs)

(laughs)

♪ (singing)

Duterte told the audience he sang upon the orders

of President Trump.

♪ (singing)

I do it with Ms. Pilita Corrales

upon the orders of the commander in chief

of the United States.

(laughs)

(applause)

Drug panics blow on us like tsunamis.

We distract ourselves by paying too much attention

to the panic of the moment

and not enough attention to the rising tide.

We've got to look at it in terms of

a much broader view of society.

♪

We have a heroin epidemic;

we've had people literally dropping dead

in Donald Trump's figurative backyard.

If you have a medical system which is based on capitalism

then, of course, there will be predators involved.

Florida is the recovery capital of the world.

The problem with treatment in Florida is that

it has been so terribly regulated.

♪

I, I picked this, ah...

sober magazine up in a coffee shop.

And this is the crazy part: the ads have very little

to do with the actual interventions or

the modalities that are being used.

That's the start of the scam, that's the tip of the spear,

is when you see a deceptive ad telling you

to come down to Heavenly Valley Recovery

in Delray Beach, Florida.

When, in reality, there are no valleys in Delray Beach,

and I'm sure wherever you're going may not be

very heavenly if you're basing it merely on an advertisement.

All that's shown is like luxury beds.

Like, it looks like a hotel ad.

You see "hope" a lot as a buzz word.

This is not a 30 to 90-day thing we're talking about.

This is somebody's life.

None of it is, is centered in...

in actual evidence-based treatment.

Paying to care for somebody else's horses is accepted

as a standard of care, or as a selling point for

a treatment facility, but the idea that somebody could--

should safe-- more safely use heroin,

is bullshit in this country, is...

off, it's fucking maddening.

♪

This place laid the foundation for me just as a,

as a person, of like,

the value of community and hard work, and...

you know, kindness.

Everybody wants the visual of a dude experiencing

homelessness in a fucking trench coat,

who's living under a bridge, like,

jamming a spike into his arm.

In reality, drug use is a lot more normalized than that,

like, everybody gathers around on a Friday afternoon

after work to consume drugs in large, large quantities.

What is a bar but a safe consumption site for alcohol?

It's, it's a matter of...

teaching people that drug use is,

is as American as...

apple pie and baseball.

♪

Portugal was called the, "Portuguese Experiment,"

for the first 10 years after the change in the law.

And along the way, we started being called

the, "Portuguese Model."

For me, I felt like the little mice running in the maze

when we were an experiment.

But now, I feel like the little mice that

actually got out of the maze.

The problem is that our maze,

it's completely different from all the other mazes.

The only thing I think people should copy from us

was the way we did it.

It's fairly easier for a person to assume that

they have an addiction problem if along the way

they do not have to assume that

they also have a criminal problem.

For being in Portugal, I think what makes my life

as good as possible is because I do what I want.

If I do what I want in a place where I like,

that's the perfect storm.

I can ride my bike; I can do pottery...

So, if the drugs were not so expensive,

that was only a small problem.

A lot of people that work in the field of narcotics,

they know that the substances are not going away.

They know that if they apprehend more,

they will just-- the drug dealers will just

bring more to the market, so it's a...

it's like a never-ending race that they know

they are not going to win.

There is no place in Portugal where you can just go in and

buy an illicit substance and get a receipt out of that

because you'll still have to go to the black market,

there's no quality control, there's no taxation,

there's no nothing.

♪

Tiago has a lot of experience, like, 30 years;

that's why he still works.

And I don't know somebody using like him and

how I can help him stop cocaine or heroin,

for me, it's really difficult and,

it's impossible, almost impossible.

[indistinct speaking]

Normally, this doesn't happen,

but sometimes it's possible to happen, okay.

This is just because of the fucking dealers.

Just because, I...

it's off, at 12:30, they change.

There's one guy selling, then comes another one.

And I respect that, but I don't know who they are.

But then comes, "What are you doing?

I didn't tell you wait!"

Obviously, he-- the guy who sold me...

keep the money, and the guy who stole me,

keep the, the drugs.

And he went, changing the problem to the other.

Off-screen: What happened to your lip?

He, they kicked me. There were five men.

They kick me, they give me a punch and

I think my teeth is broken.

Sorry.

♪

The dealer's, the problem is they can't do nothing.

What you tell me? Talk to the police?

What can I do? They can do whatever they want.

I have-- I need the drug!

I'm gonna lose this teeth, for sure,

in several months or a year. For sure.

So, I'll look like a real junkie.

(chuckles) I am a real junkie.

I just want to be a human and be treated like a human.

What are the ways whereby those people who love cocaine,

who are addicted to cocaine or whatever,

what are the ways in which those people

who represent the large share of the market,

can get the drug they want in such a way that

it does not endanger the broader public health?

That's really the $64,000 question.

The Portuguese don't know what the fuck they're doing.

And I'll tell you why. They just happen to have

a policy that decriminalized drugs.

Drug sales are still illegal.

Legalization is treating drugs like we treat alcohol.

Why shouldn't people have the right to use drugs;

that's really basic. Why?

You got a responsible person who pays their taxes,

they contribute to their community,

they're doing all of these things...

Why would you want to tell those people they can't use drugs?

I mean, I think what we can say about Portugal is that

they have made it safe, but of course,

they haven't solved the problem,

nor has Canada, nor has Sweden,

nor has Norway...

All these places which are really ahead.

I was thinking about the paradigm shift that

we need to make in the field of addiction.

And then, I saw a picture.

So, imagine this: it's a golf course,

and these guys are very intently playing golf

on a mountainside.

And across the valley, on the facing mountain,

there's an inferno.

Now... that's a paradigm shift.

Those guys are playing the wrong game.

They need to look up and realize that

this new problem is way more important,

and that's why I love the picture, because

that's what we have to do in the field of drug addiction.

We've got to stop playing these drug games and look up.

On what basis does one say to a parent who, God forbid,

has two kids addicted to drugs - one, to heroin,

and the other one to alcohol - on what basis

does the state say to that mother or father,

"Well, that kid, the one who's addicted to alcohol,

which is a deadly addiction, dangerous to society,

as long as he doesn't get behind the wheel of the car

or go out and beat somebody up,

he's not a criminal.

That one, addicted to heroin, that one,

I don't care if he gets behind the wheel of a car or not,

I don't care if he beats somebody up.

Simply possessing that thing for his own use,

in the privacy of his own room in your house;

that's a basis for taking away his freedom and

throwing him in jail.

And if he is unable or unwilling to stop,

we will keep putting him in jail for the rest of his life

so long as he defies that law."

There is not legitimate basis,

in science, in medicine, in ethics,

or for that matter, the Bible,

for discriminating or distinguishing among people

based upon the substance they put in their body.

♪

♪

♪

♪

[camera clicks]

We have Jesus lizards, right,

we got big-ass lizards out here, don't we?

Yeah.

Yeah, and we got lots of pretty birds.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

And we can see all the stars in the sky at night, right?

There's no light pollution at all, right?

We hear chickens and roosters.

- Yeah. - Yeah, we see goats and cows.

Your home should be your sanctuary, you know.

And I just found my sanctuary.

You know, we worked our asses off to get it.

My family deserved all of my fucking dedication and

all of my time and... [boy laughs]

This is where my-- This is what I do

for my recovery, you know what I mean?

Once I, once I got it, like,

there was no way anybody was gonna take it from me...

'Cause I get to come home to do this all day,

you know what I mean?

[boy laughs]

What are we gonna do today?

Huh? Hey.

We're gonna change the world.

We are gonna change the world, right?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Huh?

♪

[crowd chatter]

As of now, they covered the,

covered the body.

But later, when the crime scene investigator comes,

they will open, open the...

remove the carton.

What the family is saying is...

What the people are saying was there were kids playing here,

playing here, and all of a sudden,

these three guys who came in just shooed them away.

After that, they heard gun shots.

It has become normal for, for...

the neighbourhood to see dead bodies.

♪

♪

[whispers] Sorry.

♪

It's nothing new here.

He was just sitting outside along the street,

and he was shot by a motorcycle gunman.

♪

[camera clicks]

[dog barks]

How can you not be angry?

[crowd chatter & dog barking]

♪

♪

I was told just because I said in a press conference

that not all users are addicts,

and somebody messaged me and said that

he hoped that my daughter would get raped

by a drug, by a drug addict.

So that kind of violence, so it's not just--

For me, it's, it's not just about the violence

against users, but it's the message that you can...

cure problems by just killing.

[camera clicks]

They don't understand that it's really just, they--

what they need to focus on is poverty,

but they're choosing to fight the wrong war.

♪

Most of these cases won't, won't be resolved.

They will be just numbers and statistics of the killings.

With this kind of impunity that's happening right here

in the country, I don't see justice.

I don't see anybody getting justice

during his administration.

♪

♪

♪

Pender Island is the right place for me

to finish up the story.

This whole island was logged.

But, but now it's in recovery and,

and we have this, this second growth forest,

which is, which is good to us.

This is all second growth. And yet,

it makes, it makes a beautiful forest.

You could say that, that I have found Rat Park here.

We've got to do something to make

the modern world more habitable. How are we gonna do that?

Well, I think it might be different in Portugal and

it might be different in the Philippines,

but I think that where we are right now is,

is in the stage of awareness.

That's why, you know, I do what I do.

We want to make sure people are thinking because

once people start to think, it decreases the likelihood

that you will implement policies and practices

that result in the disproportionate

poor treatment of any groups.

When people start to understand how dirty the game is,

and how the game is not based on science

or pharmacology, then they're starting to think.

For me, my punch line is a core principle,

and that core principle is that nobody deserves to be

punished or discriminated against or amongst

based solely upon the substance they put into their body.

[phone rings]

[speaking Portuguese]

Toot-toot.

♪

Maybe sometimes I feel a little bit guilty because

we are pressed to feel that.

We are pressed to feel we are doing something very wrong,

very criminal, very bad.

♪

There will always be drugs, so if you want to

solve as much as possible the problem,

you just have to change the, the attitude, period.

And then, we'll solve all the other possible problems

that will appear as we solved with cigarettes,

with alcohol, with... with food.

And maybe for coincidence, I live in a country

where things are changing and it's incredible.

♪

During the earlier days when the killings started,

it's more of a photojournalistic work.

We look for the light; we look for the composition;

we look for the angles.

But, right now, it really has taken a toll on me.

A lot of my friends say that I have to take a break

because I'm already breaking down,

I'm on the verge of breaking down.

But, the problem is, there are less and less of us

documenting this and how can we take a break?

♪

I've seen a lot of horrific photos,

but I don't think that...

images of the victims haunt me.

What haunts me more is...

the knowledge of the killings are still continuing

and it will still continue

as long as Duterte is still in office.

♪

Let's go put your book in the car, okay.

I want to read it in the car.

You can read it in the car.

[indistinct speaking]

Hold my hand.

You know, there has been a dramatic change,

and I do credit Justin with that.

And I have watched Justin at many meetings

piss off people to no end.

I mean, God bless him for doing it.

So many lives have been saved.

What's up, bro?

You doing alright?

Alright, bro...

No worries, dude.

If the people who were in my situation,

if everybody is not treated equally

under the eyes of the whole community,

then we failed as a fucking community.

I, I need help, man. I'm like really having a hard time.

I got you, bro. Don't worry about it; I got you.

- Alright, cool. - You're good.

- Thank you, bro. - You're good, yeah.

Alright, brother.

When I got put in a position that

I could do something about it, I did.

You know, I, I-- we can't sit around and

wait on the government.

Maybe for one person,

I know that somebody doesn't have to go through

the same shit that I went through in my community.

♪