Drug Smuggler Turned Green Candidate

0:00On April 17th, a Green Party candidate, gunning for Lambeth Council in London's May elections, dropped a bombshell about her past. She got nabbed. Smuggling drugs into America nearly 30 years back. Carlota Alam, then 25, touched down at Los Angeles Airport, with 10,000 ecstasy tablets taped to her waist and legs. She was mulling for a lead's dealer, lined up for 5,000 pounds to take the pills in and another 5,000 to haul cocaine back. Locked up for nine months in a tough LA detention center, she straight up feared a 10-year bid until she flipped and testified against the dealer. Who copped seven years in Britain? Turns out she was pregnant too, which sped her release to head home. These days at 54, Alam runs the stretch charity in Brixton, aiding addicts, the homeless, prisoners, and ex-cons do art and stories. Her raw experience fuels her fight against record prejudice and works steering youth clear of that life. Now campaigning nightly in Brixton Windrush Ward alongside her husband, both fresh greens, she champions full drug legalization to kill black markets, and push treatment.

1:10Other stories no hurdle with voters. It's her edge in tackling real justice issues head on.