'FRONTLINE' INVESTIGATES A 30-YEAR BATTLE: THE DRUG WAR

Every hour of every day, somewhere in the United States, a plane loaded
with illegal drugs to be sold on the streets, lands on a vacant lot or a
remote airfield. It's been this way for some 30 years.

Throughout that period, in increasing amounts, the US has poured hundreds
of billions of dollars and millions of man-hours into stopping that flow.
It has not succeeded.

This fall, as part of its Election 2000 "Democracy Project," PBS's
prestigious "Frontline" series launches a two-part investigation of this
long struggle in "Drug Wars" (Oct. 9 and 10, 9-11 p.m., check local
listings). This battle has altered our criminal justice system, put
millions of people in jail, and created a multibillion dollar, global drug
industry.

"We're trying to present an objective history of how we got to where we are
now," says producer Martin Smith. "Most people in this country are severely
divided over the issues of criminalization or decriminalization, over what
the exact [drug] policy should be or shouldn't be."

The most evocative portion of the documentary comes from the Vietnam War
era, when reports came back to Washington that servicemen were developing
severe heroin habits. The Nixon White House responded with what were then
controversial methadone treatments.

The methadone program "was an experiment that worked, and it worked to a
very high level," says Robert Dupont, head of the National Institute of
Drug Abuse during that period. "That's the good news. The bad news - and
it's something I struggle with - is how it was lost."

The series tries to show that the Vietnam period is the only time during
the past three decades that treatment was given a high priority. From that
point onward, the law-enforcement model - interdiction of drugs, legal
prosecution of users and pushers - has dominated both the discussion and
the dollars.

"The problem is really that there's too much support for the
law-enforcement side of the drug-war question," Mr. Smith says.

"It's the politicians," says "Drug Wars" reporter Lowell Bergman, who
sprang from behind the camera to big-screen notoriety in the recent movie
"The Insider." "The politicians are afraid of being called soft on crime.
There's the dilemma."

Law-enforcement officers make their case onscreen. "I think going after
product is basically a foolish objective," says Robert Stutman, a former
agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). "Whether it be the Medellin,
Cali [drug cartels], or anybody else, [they] can afford to lose 90 percent
of their product, probably 95 percent of their product, and still turn a
profit. Yet, the basic concept of US government and most state drug wars is
to go after product. Well, my three-year-old grandson knows that doesn't work."

A dramatic appearance by a drug-cartel operative under federal protection
underscores the depth of the problem.

"DEA is an agency that has scored a lot of big goals against the cartels,"
says Carlos Toro, a former drug trafficker - and a childhood friend of
Colombian cartel leader Carlos Lehder - whose testimony helped land Lehder
in jail. "But the tentacles of the cartel are greater than any people can
imagine." His recommendations echo those of the law-enforcement members who
were interviewed in the series.

"All I can tell you is we have to reduce the demand," Mr. Toro says. "As
long as there's a great market for consumption, the Colombians, the
Bolivians, the Peruvians, those who grow the coca leaf, those Colombians
who produce it will be enticed to make the billions of dollars."

The show will be enhanced by companion programming from National Public
Radio, whose stations will air a five-part series on "All Things
Considered" during the same week.

"We made this film," Smith says, "because for the first time we have people
who've spent their entire careers at this endeavor on one side or the
other, and these people are retiring and they have a lot to teach us."