-----Original Message-----
From: MAPNews <owner-mapnews@...>
To: mapnews@... <mapnews@...>
Date: Friday, October 06, 2000 1:59 PM
Subject: MN: US: 'Frontline' Investigates A 30-Year Battle: The Drug War


>Newshawk: http://www.cannabisnews.com/
>Pubdate: Fri, 06 Oct 2000
>Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
>Copyright: 2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society.
>Contact: oped@...
>Address: One Norway Street, Boston, MA 02115
>Fax: (617) 450-2031
>Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/
>Forum: http://www.csmonitor.com/atcsmonitor/vox/p-vox.html
>
>'FRONTLINE' INVESTIGATES A 30-YEAR BATTLE: THE DRUG WAR
>
>Every hour of every day, somewhere in the United States, a plane loaded
>with illegal drugs to be sold on the streets, lands on a vacant lot or a
>remote airfield. It's been this way for some 30 years.
>
>Throughout that period, in increasing amounts, the US has poured hundreds
>of billions of dollars and millions of man-hours into stopping that flow.
>It has not succeeded.
>
>This fall, as part of its Election 2000 "Democracy Project," PBS's
>prestigious "Frontline" series launches a two-part investigation of this
>long struggle in "Drug Wars" (Oct. 9 and 10, 9-11 p.m., check local
>listings). This battle has altered our criminal justice system, put
>millions of people in jail, and created a multibillion dollar, global drug
>industry.
>
>"We're trying to present an objective history of how we got to where we are
>now," says producer Martin Smith. "Most people in this country are severely
>divided over the issues of criminalization or decriminalization, over what
>the exact [drug] policy should be or shouldn't be."
>
>The most evocative portion of the documentary comes from the Vietnam War
>era, when reports came back to Washington that servicemen were developing
>severe heroin habits. The Nixon White House responded with what were then
>controversial methadone treatments.
>
>The methadone program "was an experiment that worked, and it worked to a
>very high level," says Robert Dupont, head of the National Institute of
>Drug Abuse during that period. "That's the good news. The bad news - and
>it's something I struggle with - is how it was lost."
>
>The series tries to show that the Vietnam period is the only time during
>the past three decades that treatment was given a high priority. From that
>point onward, the law-enforcement model - interdiction of drugs, legal
>prosecution of users and pushers - has dominated both the discussion and
>the dollars.
>
>"The problem is really that there's too much support for the
>law-enforcement side of the drug-war question," Mr. Smith says.
>
>"It's the politicians," says "Drug Wars" reporter Lowell Bergman, who
>sprang from behind the camera to big-screen notoriety in the recent movie
>"The Insider." "The politicians are afraid of being called soft on crime.
>There's the dilemma."
>
>Law-enforcement officers make their case onscreen. "I think going after
>product is basically a foolish objective," says Robert Stutman, a former
>agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). "Whether it be the Medellin,
>Cali [drug cartels], or anybody else, [they] can afford to lose 90 percent
>of their product, probably 95 percent of their product, and still turn a
>profit. Yet, the basic concept of US government and most state drug wars is
>to go after product. Well, my three-year-old grandson knows that doesn't
work."
>
>A dramatic appearance by a drug-cartel operative under federal protection
>underscores the depth of the problem.
>
>"DEA is an agency that has scored a lot of big goals against the cartels,"
>says Carlos Toro, a former drug trafficker - and a childhood friend of
>Colombian cartel leader Carlos Lehder - whose testimony helped land Lehder
>in jail. "But the tentacles of the cartel are greater than any people can
>imagine." His recommendations echo those of the law-enforcement members who
>were interviewed in the series.
>
>"All I can tell you is we have to reduce the demand," Mr. Toro says. "As
>long as there's a great market for consumption, the Colombians, the
>Bolivians, the Peruvians, those who grow the coca leaf, those Colombians
>who produce it will be enticed to make the billions of dollars."
>
>The show will be enhanced by companion programming from National Public
>Radio, whose stations will air a five-part series on "All Things
>Considered" during the same week.
>
>"We made this film," Smith says, "because for the first time we have people
>who've spent their entire careers at this endeavor on one side or the
>other, and these people are retiring and they have a lot to teach us."
>__________________________________________________________________________
>Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
>receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
>---
>MAP posted-by: Jo-D
>



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