Pubdate: Mon, 04 Aug 2003
Source: CNN (US Web)
Copyright: 2003 Cable News Network, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.cnn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/65

THE FORGOTTEN WAR

DOBBS: Tonight, we begin a series of special reports this week on the war 
on drugs. We call it "The Forgotten War." It's a war that costs American 
taxpayers $12 billion a year to stop the flow of drugs into this country.

Lisa Sylvester reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 30 years of fighting 
the drug war, U.S. law enforcement officials have been changing their 
approach. Instead of simply looking at the drug war based on supply and 
demand, they now look at it as a business, attacking growers, shippers, 
wholesalers, and retailers.

Just last Thursday, the Justice Department announced it broke a major 
Mexican drug cartel. The Zambada-Garcia organization that was funneling 
cocaine from Colombia to the U.S.; 240 people were arrested and six tons of 
cocaine seized.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The success of Operation Trifecta has made 
this a good day for justice and a good day for the people of Mexico and a 
good day for the people of the United States.

SYLVESTER: The federal government says it intercepts 20 percent of the 
illegal drugs headed for the United States. Policy groups tracking the 
issue say the number is closer to 10 percent. No one really knows the exact 
figure. What is known is, the United States has spent billions of dollars 
fighting the drug war; $11 billion has been budgeted this year alone, with 
$2 billion spent on interdiction and another billion dollars on 
international efforts, training the Colombian and Mexican military, 
destroying crops, and offering farmers alternative crops to grow.

STEVEN CASTEEL, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: Drugs took years and 
generations to get embedded into our society. And it's going to take years 
and generations, a long fight. SYLVESTER: According to the federal 
government, 90 percent of all cocaine and 80 percent of the heroin in the 
U.S. either originates or passes through Colombia. Peru and Bolivia make up 
the rest of the supply, while Mexico serves as a primary transit point for 
the South American drugs.

Three years ago, the U.S. launched a program called Plan Colombia. The 
government in Colombia stepped up spraying coca and poppy fields, the 
precursors to cocaine and heroin. There are signs it's working. Net coca 
production in Colombia, which tripled in the last decade, dropped 15 
percent in 2002. And the opium poppy cultivation fell 25 percent last year.

Drug czar John Walters is optimistic.

JOHN WALTERS, DRUG POLICY CHIEF: We should see, given what we know now, 
historic changes in the marketability of cocaine in the next six to twelve 
months.

SYLVESTER: But that's not a unanimous view. The U.S. may be successful in 
Colombia, but drug dealers are simply moving their operations across the 
border, to Bolivia and Peru, where drug cultivation has increased 
substantially.

SANHO TREE, DRUG POLICY PROJECT DIRECTOR: All we've been doing is pushing 
cultivation of these illicit crops from one country to the next, and, 
indeed, from one continent to the next. It's not unlike that game 
whack-a-mole. You beat the mole down on one end, it pops up on the other end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: This fight has been going on for three decades, but one big 
difference is the effect of 9/11. Security at the border has never been 
tighter. And with the Patriot Act, law enforcement officials have broader 
authority for intelligence gathering. That's being used not only to fight 
terrorism, but also to stop drug dealers -- Lou.

DOBBS: Lisa, thank you very much -- Lisa Sylvester reporting from Washington.

Joining me now to talk more about the forgotten war, Deborah McCarthy. 
She's with the State Department's Bureau For International Narcotics and 
Law Enforcement and joins us from our studios in Washington, D.C.

Good to have you with us.

DEBORAH MCCARTHY, BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT: 
Good to be here.

DOBBS: The ultimate test, obviously, in the success of the war on drugs is 
how many people in this country are using those drugs, how much in the way 
of drugs are being moved to them. Do you have good news for us on that? 
MCCARTHY: Well, it's a continuous major struggle, because we have in the 
states approximately $64 billion being spent on drugs. And we are spending 
approximately $12 billion, as was noted, on the fight, of which a portion 
is overseas, from which most of the drugs flow.

So we're having -- we're seeing a turn in Colombia. We're watching what's 
happening in Peru and Bolivia. And we are taking down major 
narcotrafficking organizations, because it is a battle against 
organizations, in countries such as Mexico.

DOBBS: Ms. McCarthy, Mexico, Colombia is the principal origination point 
for heroin, for cocaine, and Colombia itself racked with an internal 
crisis, political crisis. How likely is it is that the United States can 
realistically stop coca production, heroin production in Colombia within 
the next year to three years?

MCCARTHY: At the present rate in which we are going after the sources and 
spraying, we should substantially get the bulk of what is there, not 
forgetting that, at the tail end, there will probably always be a portion 
there.

But with the commitment that we have and that President Uribe has to attack 
the organizations in all fronts, including the supply, as you noted, we 
should see significant progress in the next couple of years.

DOBBS: Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, is the United States receiving the 
cooperation from those countries that is desperately needed to have a 
dramatic impact on the flow of drugs into this country?

MCCARTHY: We're seeing excellent cooperation, and with the focus primarily 
on Colombia. We are working closely, law enforcement agencies on both 
sides, in Mexico. In Peru and Colombia, we are seeing a sort of holding the 
line. And we're watching that closely to focus on what could possibly be a 
slight balloon effect. So we're carefully watching that and pushing for 
ramping up eradication, which is the key there.

So I would say, on the whole, yes, we do have excellent cooperation, 
particularly in the largest two countries from which the drugs either come 
from or flow through.

DOBBS: As you know, Americans are very skeptical about the pronouncements 
on the war on drugs. For two decades, drug traffic, over that period of 
time, into this country has actually risen. It's abated in some cases and 
stabilized in others in the last year or two. But the fact is that the 
street price of drugs, which is the best indicator of the availability of 
drugs, remains at the same levels that it was two years ago, three years 
ago. When will we see a real change in that indicator on the success of the 
war on drugs?

MCCARTHY: It's estimated that there's going to be a lag of about six to 
twelve months before we see effects on the price. And I need to note also 
that we need to also watch carefully a new crop of drugs which are called 
the synthetic drugs, which can either come from overseas or basically be 
put together just about anywhere. That's something to watch. And that is 
affecting a number of our young people in the states.

DOBBS: You're talking about ecstasy? You're talking about methamphetamines 
and...

MCCARTHY: Correct.

DOBBS: ... other drugs. Those drugs are largely being manufactured in this 
country, though, are they not?

MCCARTHY: They're being manufactured. A large portion, we see in Mexico. 
And we're also seeing a large portion that is flowing to us from the 
Netherlands. And we're working closely with that country, in addition to 
countries in Latin America, to curb the flow, which is quite large.

DOBBS: Deborah McCarthy, amongst those who has a very difficult job facing 
her, and we thank you for your time here tonight.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

DOBBS: Tomorrow, we continue our series of special reports on "The 
Forgotten War." We look at what's being done to control drugs that are 
produced in this country, including the synthetics, as Deborah McCarthy 
just mentioned. Bill Tucker will have that report for us.

And that brings us to the subject of tonight's poll. The question is, 
should the United States be doing more to win the war on drugs? Yes, no, or 
perhaps even maybe? Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll have the 
preliminary results a little later in the show.

A different kind of drug war is being fought over patients who are 
increasingly diagnosing themselves. As drug companies advertise more, 
patients are demanding certain prescription drugs by name. And that has 
begun to concern a number of medical practitioners.

Kitty Pilgrim reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

NARRATOR: Talk to your doctor about Claritin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

NARRATOR: Ask your doctor if Lipitor is right for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

NARRATOR: Prozac, a medicine that's helped millions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to your TV, you 
could be taking a lot more drugs and feeling like a million bucks. It's 
called direct-to-consumer advertising, telling the consumer they really 
should consider a new product.

Some doctors object.

DR. JAMES GORDON, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR MIND AND BODY: What they're doing by 
advertising drugs is giving patients, I think, the belief that the drug 
that's so beautifully, although I believe insipidly, portrayed in the 
television commercial is going to be the answer. And they're causing 
patients to put more pressure on doctors. And, unfortunately, many doctors 
are giving in to that pressure.

PILGRIM: Promotional spending by pharmaceutical manufacturers has soared, 
from some $9 billion in 1996 to more than $19 billion in 2001, more than 
double.

Do the ads work? Absolutely. According to one study, every dollar spent on 
an ad generates $4.20 in sales. Many new drugs address conditions that have 
been barely treated before or simply not openly discussed, like impotence, 
depression, or adult attention deficit disorder.

Dr. Steven Lamm says he doesn't mind pharmaceutical companies trying to 
educate consumers and meet patient needs. He objects when they try to 
create a need for a drug without any medical reason. These days, he sees a 
dramatic difference in the patient-doctor relationship.

DR. STEVEN LAMM: They come in armed with information about which are -- the 
best hospital, the best doctors, the best alternative treatments. So this 
is just part of this mass of new health care information that's available 
to patients that I have to deal with every day, that my father, who's a 
physician, family doctor, years ago did not have to deal with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Now, some doctors say it's a phenomenon that's here to stay. The 
ads won't go away. But they recommend patients look at the drug Web sites, 
instead of just viewing the ads, because self-education is OK. The problem 
is self-diagnosis without any information -- Lou.

DOBBS: Well, if the drug companies can generate over $4 per dollar spent on 
advertising, it's working very well. Why in the world are doctors allowing 
patients to, effectively, prescribe? PILGRIM: They basically say, patients 
come in and request. They still have the ultimate power, in that they write 
the prescriptions. It does create a different dynamic between...

DOBBS: There go the fancy dinners at AMA conventions, right?

PILGRIM: Well, I'm not sure about that. Those are probably pretty permanent.

(LAUGHTER)

DOBBS: Kitty, thanks -- Kitty Pilgrim.

Well, tonight's thought is on the power of drugs. "No drug, not even 
alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the 
source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs. We should test 
them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power" -- that from 
humorist and author P.J. O'Rourke.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens