McElvaine Traffic

The war on drugs is not winnable. It is a fight that goes back and and forth and even though progress can be made in reducing drug use in our country, drug use and traffic will never be fully eliminated. The movie, Traffic, is a testament to that claim. The film depicts wealthy, caucasian, teenagers using heavy drugs as a way to escape their anger and depression and as a way to seem "cool" in front of their friends. We see the teens going into unsafe neighborhoods to buy drugs and it is clear that it is very easy for them to attain drugs. At one point in the film, Robert Wakefield takes Seth Abrahms into the part of town where they buy drugs in order to find Wakefield's daughter. Wakefield says to Abrahms, "I can believe you took my daughter to a place like this." Abrahms replies that the drug trade in this part of town is a flourishing business and that it has become of a cycle of young white people buying drugs from young black people. It is clear that the cycle is endless because their will always be a demand for drugs and as long as there is a demand the suppliers will continue to produce the drugs.

The war on drugs is not a winnable one because of the powers of drug addiction and the ease with which people may attain drugs. As much as the government can enforce the illegality of drug use and production, they cannot force people to stop their use of drugs and they cannot force people to treat their drug addictions. Ending drug use is a personal choice for every user and many drug users are not willing to quit. This, in turn, creates a demand for drugs which perpetuates the production and trade of drugs. In essence, the war on drugs is not a winnable one because there is no effective way to control every individual who uses or sells drugs.