In this talk Valdez argues that doctors are unjustifiably excluded from the debate about drug policy. He talks about a post prohibitionist model which prioritizes harm reduction based on scientific evidence. He also compares Drug consumption with health issues such as obesity, where the concern should be the health of consumers and not outlawing fattening foods. He also exposes the case of tobacco as an example of regulatory a model in which educational campaigns help reduce demand.
He advocates harm reduction due to the fact that current models of rehabilitation work for addicts and consumption, conceived as a disease and not as a crime, is more like a chronic degenerative disease that an infectious one (the latter are the only fully eradicated in the history of medical science).
