FILM SPURS FIGHT AGAINST DRUG LAWS

Steven Soderbergh's film Traffic may be more than a good bet as an
Oscar winner. A new Internet campaign launched this week hopes to use
the movie as a starting point in a fresh discussion about narcotics
legislation in North America.

With hopes of dealing the real dope on the war on drugs, the
Lindesmith Center -- a U.S.-based organization fighting for the
rationalization of drug laws -- created stopthewar.com, a
Vancouver-built Web site that deals specifically with the film and its
inherent message that the current "war on drugs" is an expensive
exercise in futility.

Citing actual plot details in the film, inspired by a BBC-TV series,
the Web site features a point-by-point analysis showing "How Traffic
Relates to the Real War on Drugs."

For instance, on the subject of violence, the Web site compares fact
to fiction. "(In the movie) police in Mexico and the U.S. fight bloody
battles against the drug-trafficking cartels of Juarez and Tijuana....
(In reality) Traffic's depiction of the crime and corruption of the
drug war is accurate.... By creating the current criminal drug market,
drug prohibition generates huge profits for organized crime -- and
produces the chaos and bloodshed dramatized in Traffic," reads the Web
site.

"Traffic has created a mainstream interest in the issues surrounding
the war on drugs and the Web site is trying to make the most of that
interest by getting people involved. Through the Web site, people can
educate themselves and sign up to get involved -- which is the only
way things will change," said Christine Spinder, a spokesperson for
Vancouver-based Communicopia.Net, the company that was asked to build
the Web site after a referral from the non-profit group Donor Digital.

"This is relevant to every one -- even right here in Canada, and
particularly here in Vancouver, where people are just beginning to
understand how far-reaching the problem is and how hard it is to
control. The war on drugs affects everyone, and that's what Traffic
was so successful at illustrating," said Spinder.

"Hopefully, the movie can be a part of a larger social change. I know
Soderbergh himself is behind the project, and through interviews like
this one, we can get the message out to the masses."