THE TRUE TRIUMPH OF 'TRAFFIC'

The last time we had anything like this from Hollywood was
Christmastime, 1995. The film was "Dead Man Walking." The stars were
Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. He played an inmate on death row at the
Louisiana State Penitentiary. She played a Catholic nun.

It wasn't obvious at the time, but that movie and those actors
achieved something quite extraordinary. They took an abstract social
issue, capital punishment, and turned it into a topic that was
impossible to ignore. "Dead Man Walking" accomplished this the only
possible way: By telling a human story that was intimate, particular
and unflinching.

You could not see "Dead Man Walking" and ever again think of capital
punishment the same way.

That one movie, more than any other single factor, helped to pry open
a genuine national debate, a debate that thrust the question of life
and death back into the center of the political dialogue, precisely
where it belongs. The movie didn't settle the question, of course, but
it made the discussion impossible to silence.

Yes, the movies still can move people in ways that a thousand op-ed
pieces cannot.

And this wasn't the first time. "On the Waterfront" ignited a national
uproar over mobbed-up labor unions in 1952. "Dr. Strangelove" focused
America on the threat of nuclear war in 1964. A few other movies over
the years-but sadly, only a few-have come down off the screen in a
similar way, reel life altering real life.

Which brings us, finally, to "Traffic" and tonight's big awards
show.

"Traffic" has been nominated for five Academy Awards including best
picture, best director (Steven Soderbergh) and best adapted
screenplay. The movie has already grossed more than $100 million.

But more important than all of that, it has sparked a national
conversation of what very well may be the biggest social problem we
face today: our failed and costly attempts to deal with the issue of
drugs.

Better than any movie ever has, "Traffic" portrays the waste-both
human and financial-and the utter futility of America's 30-year "war
on drugs." The movie achieves that the way that "Dead Man Walking,"
"On the Waterfront" and "Dr. Strangelove" all did: by turning the
general into the particular-and by putting Benicio Del Toro into a
featured role, thereby capturing the hearts of every woman I know.

And not a minute too soon. We are indeed at a crucial moment in the
drug-policy debate.

In New York, state legislators are finally doing something about the
harsh Rockefeller drug laws. Even the Republican governor, George
Pataki, has a plan for easing the mandatory penalties for nonviolent
drug convicts.

And it's not just New York. Five hundred thousand Americans are now
behind bars. Billions and billions of dollars are spent every year.
And illegal drugs are cheaper, purer and easier to get than they ever
have been before.

But the new president, George W. Bush, still has not appointed his own
drug czar. Early comments from the White House are not encouraging.
The drug rhetoric so far is just an echo of the discredited "just get
tough" approach.

We already know what works.

Treatment, not imprisonment.

Education, not criminalization.

Truth, not scare tactics.

And there are some fresh signs of sanity out there.

Just this week, the new president of Mexico came out for drug
legalization. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that doctors in South
Carolina have no business playing narcs in the maternity ward.

The state of New Mexico, whose governor has admitted that he is a
former drug user, just passed three common-sense drug laws. They will
mean more dollars for treatment, clean needles for addicts and a
promising new medication that can prevent heroin overdoses.

Albany should be looking west to Santa Fe.

I don't know whether "Traffic" will win best picture or any of the
other awards it is up for tonight. I hope it wins a few, because that
will generate a whole lot more attention to an issue we cannot afford
to ignore.

In "Traffic," a national drug czar, played by Michael Douglas, fights
desperately to save his own daughter from the ravages of drug abuse.
In the process, he discovers the futility of his country's war on drugs.

The corruption. The hopelessness. And the refusal to face a central
painful truth:Until we rethink these tired old policies, we will
continue making a bad situation worse.

We and our children will pay.

Any movie that can challenge that old thinking is an award winner to
me.