WHAT 'TRAFFIC' MEANS FOR U.S. DRUG POLICIES

HOLLYWOOD movies are not widely noted for their educational value. But in a
searing depiction of drug "Traffic"king and the war on drugs, the movie
"Traffic" teaches much about the folly of drug prohibition. Even if
"Traffic" does not win the Oscar for best picture of the year; it deserves
the title most important picture of the year.

Lesson 1: Prohibition, not drug consumption, causes the violence often
attributed to drugs. The rival Mexican drug organizations in "Traffic"
resort to cold-blooded murder because unlike ordinary business firms they
have no legal, non-violent means to resolve disputes. In the United States,
the murder rate skyrocketed during alcohol prohibition but fell once
prohibition ended. Statistical research suggests that eliminating drug
prohibition in the United States today would reduce the murder rate by 50
percent.

Lesson 2: Prohibition fosters corruption. Although many American and
Mexican law-enforcement officers are beyond reproach, financial temptation
will weaken some officers' and politicians' resolve to play by the rules.
Drug money corrupts, as police scandals in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and
Washington show only too well. The situation is even worse in developing
countries where wages are much lower than in the United States and the
threat of violence against honest judges and politicians is frighteningly real.

Lesson 3: Prohibition enriches criminals at the expense of society
generally. In "Traffic," honest Mexican and American cops can afford only
modest lifestyles, but fictional drug kingpin Carlos Ayala lives in a plush
seaside mansion near San Diego. No hardworking American would object if he
earned this lifestyle through honest work, but prohibition increases the
wages of sin.

Lesson 4: Prohibition promotes violence and corruption in drug-producing
countries while ensuring the viability of political insurgents, who sell
protective services to traffickers. Notwithstanding Mexican President
Vicente Fox's recent "trial balloon" announcement that we would enjoy less
violence and corruption if drugs were legalized, the specter of
international condemnation renders this possibility academic.

Lesson 5: Prohibition exacerbates racial conflict, since enforcement
inevitably targets minorities even when drug use and trafficking pervade
all elements of society. As one sassy teen in "Traffic" says,
law-enforcement comes down more heavily on the politically and socially
disenfranchised, and the drugs they use.

Mid-Term Exam: What are some evils of prohibition beyond those highlighted
in "Traffic"?

Answer: Prohibition diverts police resources from deterring other kinds of
crime. If we ended the war on drugs, we could devote many more police,
prosecutors, judges, and jailers to the apprehension, conviction, and
incarceration of criminals who commit violent crimes against body and property.

Prohibition causes overdoses and accidental poisonings because quality
control is poor in underground markets. Prohibition prevents the use of
marijuana as medicine, although more potent drugs like cocaine and morphine
can be legally prescribed. Prohibition increases the spread of AIDS by
discouraging the legal sale of clean needles.

Prohibition destroys respect for the law because, despite Draconian
enforcement, drug law violations are rampant, leading many to believe that
compliance with the law is for suckers. And prohibition costs tens of
billions of dollars each year for police, prisons, and the like.

Final Exam: What should be done?

Answer: Make drugs legal again. Before 1914, when federal law first
criminalized drugs, many persons used drugs, and some suffered ill effects.
But this was a problem mainly for users, their families, and their doctors,
not a social problem of immense proportions.

If drugs were re-legalized, there would still be problems related to drug
use, and use would probably increase. But in a free society individuals get
to make their own choices, good or bad. And the reduced violence and
corruption, along with the other benefits of legalization, would accrue to
all elements of society, drug using or not.

No one -- especially not those involved in law enforcement or drug policy
- -- believes we can "win" the war on drugs. Even with state-of-the-art
technology, a U.S. drug enforcement officer at the Mexican border tells the
movie's American drug czar, played by actor Michael Douglas, that their
resources don't come close to those of the Mexican drug lords. The
important achievement of "Traffic" has been to popularize truths about the
war on drugs that many in Washington know, but few have the courage to
acknowledge.