Listening To America: What Price The Drug War?

Host Bill Moyers explores the question of the effectiveness of the government's so-called war against drugs over the past few administrations in this excellent edition of Listening to America. In the first half of the program, Moyers and journalist Robin Wirk, author Michael Levine, and government representative John Walters hash out the realities of U.S. intervention in Latin America and whether there's been any change in the influx of drugs, particularly cocaine, in the past few years. Although Walters is outnumbered, his case for the government is still pretty weak, as Wirk and Levine demonstrate that when coca production in one area is shut down it simply moves to another. The most damning example of government ineffectiveness, however, is the widely publicized bust and conviction of Panama's Manuel Noriega. What wasn't publicized was the cost: an estimated 1,000 lives (U.S. and Panamanian), some 200 million U.S. dollars, and then necessity of cutting 60 deals with drug dealers (many of whom were far worse than Noriega) in order to make the charges stick. In the ensuing years the drug traffic did not slow down. The present decline in cocaine use in the U.S. is attributed more to the slump in the economy than to the "drug war." In the second half of the program, author Mark Kleimar and NYC mayoral assistant David Condliffe join Moyers and Walters to talk about what's happening within the U.S. vis-a-vis the drug war. The most disturbing issue that arises from this discussion is the fact that only 16% of the drug war budget is earmarked for treatment. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of inner-city drug users wishing to enter rehabilitation programs are assigned to a waiting list (sometimes for several weeks). What Price the Drug War? offers a trenchant debate on an important issue. Highly recommended. (See FRONTLINE: YOUR LOAN IS DENIED for availability.)