Ebert said, "Our laws against illegal drugs function as a price support system for the criminal drug industry. They do not stop drugs. Despite billions of dollars spent and a toll of death, addiction, crime, corruption and lives wasted in prison, it is possible today for anyone who wants drugs to get them. "For someone my age," says a high school student in Traffic, "it's a lot easier to get drugs than it is to get alcohol." Who supports the drug law enforcement industry? A good many honest and sincere people, to be sure. Also politicians who may know drug laws are futile, but don't have the nerve to appear soft on the issue. And corrupt lawmen, who find drugs a lucrative source of bribes, kickbacks and payoffs. And the drug cartels themselves, since the laws make their business so profitable. (sic) If the decriminalization of drugs was ever seriously considered in this country, the opponents would in

Ebert continues, "The movie tells several parallel stories, which sometimes link but usually do not. We (sic) meet two Mexican drug enforcement cops, two San Diego-based DEA agents, a mid-level wholesaler who imports drugs from Mexico. a high-level rug millionaire who seems to be a respectable businessman, a Ohio state supreme court judge who is appointed the U.S. drug czar, and his teenage daughter, how becomes addicted to crack cocaine and nearly destroys her life (sic). We (sic) also meet a Mexican general who has made it his goal to destroy a drug cartel-but not for the reasons he claims. And (sic) we see how corruption between Mexican and U.S. authorities is compromised because key people on both sides may be corrupt, and betray secrets. The movie is inspired by a five-part "Masterpiece Theater" series named "Traffik," which ran ten years ago and traced the movement of heroin from the poppy fields of Turkey to the streets of Europe. The story in North America is much the same, which is why adapting this material was so depressingly easy. At every level, the illegal drug business is about making money. If there is anything more lucrative than an addictive substance that is legal, like alcohol or tobacco, it is one that is illegal, like drugs-because the suppliers aren't taxed or regulated and have no overhead for advertising, packaging, insurance, employee benefits or quality control. Drugs are produced by subsistence-level peasants and move through a distribution chain of street sellers; costs to the end user are kept low, to encourage addiction. Soderbergh's film uses a level-headed approach. It watches, it observes, it does not do much editorializing. The hopelessness of anti-drug measure is brought home through practical scenarios, not speeches or messages-except for a few. One of the most heartfelt comes from a teenage character in the movie who observes that at any given moment in America, 100,000 white people are driving through black neighborhoods looking for drugs, and a dealer who can make $200 in two hours is hardly motivated to seek other employment. The key performance in the movie is by Michael Douglas, as Robert Wakefield, an Ohio judge tapped by the White House as the nation's new drug czar. He holds all the usual opinion, mouths all the standard platitudes, shares all the naive assumptions-including his belief that he can destroy one of the Mexican cartels by cooperating with the Mexican authorities. This is true in th

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Approximate Word count = 1666
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)