On the Right - Hard Lessons From Traffic?(the George W. Bush administration does not seem prepared to offer any dramatic new policies in the war against drugs)(Brief Article)

NEW YORK, MARCH 16

The drug czar-elect in the movie Traffic has decided to look at the grit of drug trade and drug addiction first hand, to which end he forages about Tijuana and has a near overdose. Groggy from what he has seen, he accosts his staff on his posh private plane going back to Washington. Michael Douglas does one of his jut-jawed scenes, with which the movie is replete, and says he wants all ideas ventilated. Everything. The director, who is headed for Oscarland, wisely decided to cut away before any new ideas were in fact proffered, because the drift of the movie-like the drift of public policy in the matter of drugs-is: Continue, at breathless speed, to accomplish . . . nothing.

At a recent press conference, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was asked if the president had seen the movie.

Answer: Yes.

Have there been any policy changes on the matter of drugs? Mr. Bush has said that in his view (personally tested), treatment is more effective than punishment. To this end, when talking about the subject with the president of Mexico, the idea was evidently tossed around to concentrate less on interdicting supply than on "reducing demand." How do you do that?

Well, of course, the conventional way is to punish those who make up the demand. If Johnny is thinking of buying some coke, the idea of a couple of years in jail is supposed to deter him, and certainly does deter some prospective users. The movie seen by the president glancingly acknowledges the point, but its dramatic focus isn't on Socratic monologues that weigh the lure of a snort over against the horror of a prison term. The focus, quite understandably, is on young people who would do anything for another fix and, in the movie, do.

Another deterrent is to expose the addict or near-addict to a depiction of what it is like to suffer the thralldom of drugs. Five recovering users in California were interviewed in Phoenix House, the fine drug- recovery center, after being shown the movie. They discussed their own itineraries en route to addiction, and one 17-year-old said that if she had seen this movie, she probably would have found the strength to knock off from drugs.