DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY OFFERS CONSULTING SERVICES TO HOLLYWOOD

LOS ANGELES -- The people waging the war on drugs have gone Hollywood.

Officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration briefed producers,
directors and writers on the connection between drug trafficking and
terrorism and to offer to consult on movies and television programs.

About 40 people, including film directors like Michael Mann and Arthur
Hiller and people behind TV series such as "Third Watch" and "E.R."
gathered at the Beverly Hills Hotel Wednesday for several hours to hear DEA
Director Asa Hutchinson as well as the agency's intelligence chief and a
former undercover agent.

"I was stunned," said Anne Sweeney, president of ABC Cable Networks Group,
a unit of The Walt Disney Co. "It helped deepen people's understanding of
the challenges our country faces in the war on drugs."

The meeting was organized by the Entertainment Industries Council, a
nonprofit group that helps writers and producers depict social and health
issues such as AIDS, alcohol abuse and gun violence.

"The DEA knows more about terrorism and drugs than anybody," said Brian
Dyak, the EIC's president and chief executive. "If they're willing to open
their doors a little and the information becomes a part of story lines,
it's a service to the public."

A DEA spokesman said the agency is trying to emerge from its often
necessary shroud of secrecy to help offer technical assistance on films and
shows in the same way the Pentagon and the CIA consults on movies such as
the recent blockbuster "The Sum of All Fears."

"We don't expect to try and directly shape what some screenwriter is going
to write," DEA spokesman Chris Battle said. "Our goal was simply to provide
a more realistic and accurate version of the drug war and what kind of
challenges, what kind of threats our agents face every day."

The session turned out to be just the thing for David Mills, the creator of
a television drama called "Kingpin," about a family run drug cartel, set to
air next year on NBC.

"I have been relying on a retired DEA agent, not even bothering to deal
with the official DEA because I figured they had better things to do than
to help me tell a story," Mills said.