'TRAFFIC' PROVIDES WAKE-UP CALL FOR BUSH

Film Sheds Light On Deficiencies Of Drug War.

Hollywood is rarely helpful when it comes to formulating policy for a new
administration, but President-elect George W. Bush could glean some
important ideas about America's 30-year-old drug war from the hit movie
"Traffic." The movie's three interlocking stories provide a realistic
indictment of the drug war and cry out for action.

An early scene in the movie portrays a Georgetown cocktail party with real
politicians - Sens. Orrin Hatch, Barbara Boxer and Don Nickles - discussing
the drug war. What the politicos don't explain, but "Traffic" exposes, is
that we are losing that war.

Although the number of current drug users has declined from 25 million to
14.8 million since 1979, many Americans understand that these numbers hide
sobering realities. Illegal drugs are widely available today at all-time
low prices. Drug purity and selection are unsurpassed. Modern marijuana can
be 30 times more powerful than the 1969 Woodstock variety. Some street
heroin is so pure that snorting or "chasing the dragon" - inhaling the
narcotic's fumes - has enticed 50 percent more addicts since 1992. In
addition, modern science has increased the variety of designer drugs such
as ecstasy to near-epidemic proportions.

In spite of a growing federal anti-drug budget - $19.2 billion in fiscal
2001 - traffickers are better organized and equipped than ever before, and
there is no shortage of willing street dealers. One of "Traffic's" plots
gives the viewer a realistic glimpse inside a Mexican drug cartel. The
Tijuana cartel's military-like discipline and cold-blooded actions make the
Drug Enforcement Administration appear weak. The movie's Gen. Arturo
Salazar eerily reminds the viewer of Mexico's former drug czar, Gen. Jesus
Gutierrez Rebollo, who was a front for a cartel.

The Tijuana cartel, as depicted, is representative of many organized crime
operations around the world. Today, drugs are pushed by vicious crime
groups from Colombia, Mexico, China, Russia and elsewhere. They show no
respect for borders, people or governments, and they use modern
communications technologies, the best intelligence techniques and
sophisticated weapons. Their prowess sobers even the best law enforcement
agencies.

The most poignant part of the movie is the plot line that approaches the
drug crisis from a personal angle. Michael Douglas, "Traffic's" drug czar,
discovers after only a couple weeks in his job that his 16-year-old
daughter, Carolyn, has a substance-abuse problem. Tragically and all too
typically, Carolyn's problem is first exposed when she is arrested for drug
use.

Douglas' character offers a familiar parental denial: "My daughter is one
of the leading students in her school." Translation: She can't be involved
in drugs.

Carolyn slides from social drinking through marijuana and eventually to
heroin. This bright young woman steals from her family and sells her body
to feed her habit. His family tragedy forces Douglas' character to resign
as drug czar and ask rhetorically, "How can I wage war on my own family?"

There are too many Carolyns in America, and many families are devastated as
a result. A recent Gallup Survey found that 22 percent of Americans believe
drugs cause trouble in their families. Those same Americans believe that
drugs are a "very" or "extremely" serious problem.

Legalization is not the answer. Drug users and libertarians call for
wrong-headed change. They promote the myth that legalization will reduce
crime, bring more addicts into treatment and make economic sense. Actually,
legalizing drugs will cause social costs to skyrocket, with increases in
homelessness, unemployment, lost productivity, medical care costs,
accidents, crime, school dropouts, chronic mental illness and child neglect.

Bush must change attitudes about drugs, starting with White House staff and
then across this country. Too many parents are in denial about drug use.
Too many politicians consider the crisis merely a nuisance rather than a
national crisis.

Additionally, the Bush administration must assess the threat of illegal
drug trafficking and international organized crime. This assessment should
lead to a national strategy that attacks the problem at its roots, with
emphasis on the Colombian and Mexican drug quagmire.

"Traffic" is different from most Hollywood movies. It does not glamorize
drugs and should frighten every American. If the new residents of 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue take its message to heart, they will take action to
save our kids.