cannabisnews.com: The Reality Behind the Movie Traffic: Part Four





The Reality Behind the Movie Traffic: Part Four
Posted by FoM on March 22, 2001 at 16:52:35 PT
Coming Up On Nightline By Leroy Sievers 
Source: ABCNews 
Tonight, we have Part Four of our series "Traffic": silver or lead? That's an old saying in Spanish, and the meaning is pretty clear. Take our money ... or we'll kill you. Far too many officials and law enforcement agents in Mexico have gotten that call.  What would you do? Say you were a police officer, or a high government official. You get an envelope in the mail. In it ... pictures of your wife, or husband, or children. The message is pretty clear: We know how to hurt you.
Or perhaps someone comes to see you. They give you an envelope. Inside ... cash. Lots of cash. What do you do? The expression is "Plata o plomo?" ("Silver or lead?") When we talk about corruption, this is pretty much the way the drug cartels work. Some people, faced with that choice, have tried to walk some sort of middle line. They won't take the money, but they communicate their commitment to just look the other way.Now sitting up here safely in Washington, it's easy to say that of course you wouldn't take the money. But when you see those pictures, to be honest, I'm not sure what I would do. I think the only way out would be to resign and leave the area, and I'll bet that that's not really an option for many people.When we were in Mexico, shooting this series, we heard the same complaint from almost every Mexican official we spoke to. "Why do you Americans think that corruption stops at our border? Why do you assume that there's no corruption in the U.S.?" Their position is that with all of our resources, with all of our power, we could stop the flow of drugs into this country if we wanted to. The only explanation, in their eyes, for the drug problem here is that it is allowed to continue. And that must mean corruption. It's an interesting, and troubling question.That's what we'll be looking at tonight. You'll hear the story of an imprisoned drug lord who virtually owned his prison, and finally just left. And you'll hear from the president of Mexico again on how he is trying to stamp out the corruption that pervades virtually every facet of life in Mexico. And of course, we'll raise that unpleasant question of corruption here at home. We hope you'll join us.Leroy Sievers is executive producer of Nightline.Source: ABC NewsAuthor: Leroy Sievers, Executive Producer NightlinePublished: Monday, March 22, 2001 Copyright: 2001 ABC News Internet VenturesWebsite: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Contact: http://www.abcnews.go.com/service/help/abccontact.htmlTraffic Official Web Site http://www.traffic-movie.com/The Reality Behind the Movie Traffic: Part Three http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9100.shtmlThe Reality Behind the Movie Traffic: Part Twohttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9086.shtmlThe Reality Behind The Movie Traffic: Part One http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9071.shtml 
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Comment #11 posted by jAHn on March 24, 2001 at 12:55:01 PT
The Forth Reich. How's life?
"The fine line that's been drawn between Entertainment & War..."-RATM Gets Confusing, Huh?Don't worry...The media is responsible for staging ALL wars after World War 2. To further the money making tactics employed by those who lead "The Forth Reich." "Leaders" who lead you forth into something with a facade that really isn't what it seems on the outside. Confused at the fact that it sounds too much like Auschwitz? That's how they do it, Stoopid!!!
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Comment #10 posted by MikeEEEEE on March 23, 2001 at 19:53:55 PT
HUMMMMMMMM!!!
Can't you hear it? The propaganda machine hard at work...hummmm, hummmm.
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Comment #9 posted by Willy on March 23, 2001 at 18:53:27 PT
The Vast Wasteland
My first instinct, when I read about this series, was to snort in disgust. I didn't watch it and now I'm glad. Television is owned by mega corps and they give money to polititians so they will do the bidding of the corps. Do you think the corps would allow their employees to go against the government line?Thanks for your comments everyone. I feel vindicated about my first instinct.Thanks
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Comment #8 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on March 23, 2001 at 10:43:55 PT
Bad drug policy kills people.
  I did like it when Ted Koppel said that guy's answer was "bullshit" at the end... because it was, but then again Ted should talk. He's not asking the right questions. I love seeing Vincente Fox on TV, and I feel I know more about him through Nightline - but if Nightline were the only place I'd seen him, I'd think he was another drug warrior, and not someone who thinks legalization is a viable plan. Why doesn't Ted just ask Vincente what he thinks we can DO about the issue? Maybe he did, and Ted didn't like the answer, so we don't get to see it... I also wonder if the ONDCP had their hands in the script for this series. And where the heck did they find those three suburban "druggie" kids? Presumably some rehab racket. I'd like someone to expose the making-of the Nightline episodes, though.
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Comment #7 posted by NiftySplifty on March 23, 2001 at 01:56:10 PT
Al Capone's Vaults...
...had more investigative journalism than this crap. Let's see what they've discovered here: Multi-billion dollar black market spawns organized crime and corruption of public officials. No shit, Sherlock! What do we do about it? Gosh, the only thing that would take the wallet out of the pocket of organized crime instantly by legalizing? No, that would send the wrong message to the children. What we want to teach them, instead, is that their Constitutional Rights might as well have been printed on a roll of Charmin Extra-Quilted, and we need to make things worse. If we spend more money on fighting the "war", we make the organized crime richer, more powerful, more violent, and the government more intrusive, corrupt and oppressive. God, that sounds like a great idea! Carry on, men!N...
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Comment #6 posted by CongressmanSuet on March 23, 2001 at 01:31:30 PT
" Pull strings and I'll dance for you....
Im your puppet" sound familiar.... 
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Comment #5 posted by MegaStoner on March 23, 2001 at 00:07:04 PT
Gotta say
Couldnt resist further verbage.That's the main reason for the auxiliary nom de plume,,,,This Nightline series could be compared to some of the most sophisticated,and highly developed,mass propaganda items in the history of the world!Ya gotta give mild credit for some of the content,that tiptoes into the realm ofactual info,,,,,but the whole show is rendered into spineless pondscum puppetshowfakeout crap,when you consider the "payola",that influences most all of Americas'political whores.They are on the exact same moral plane as any money influenceddrug supplier. I still suggest that this Nightline series was specificly designed,concieved,and producedto allow the government to water down the concern caused by Traffic.This is "damage control"in its' highest form...They have effectivly deflected the focus from the actual issues,intosome sort of demonization extravaganza,that pretends that the whole thing is all aboutruthless drug dealers,and their victims....I'll bet American cops have exterminated and/or assasinated more people,because of the "drug war",than all the "drug cartel/kingpins",ever have.
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on March 22, 2001 at 23:33:47 PT
correction
the last line of the previous,should have ended with ;government corruption on THIS side of the border.
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Comment #3 posted by dddd on March 22, 2001 at 23:29:55 PT
Yup!!
 Is this not a cheaply masked anti infomercial?....ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!,,,,,nearly unwatchable,,,,a brick would have been too wimpy,,I'm thinkin' bowling ball,,file cabinet,,,,skilsaw,,jackhammer...This is more damaging than helpful,to put it mildly.I wonder why they neverdelve into the issue of government corruption.d      d       d        d
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on March 22, 2001 at 22:39:45 PT
my Zenith
Come on over Nifty,I just ordered a pallette of bricks fromHome Depot,in case we miss,and if we get really upset,we canturn on my backup Magnavox,and enjoy another temporary neanderthalcalm as we pick the slinters of glass out of our faces.,,,,after that,I'll dazzle you by digging out my 9 inch Sony,so we can still catch PoliticallyIncorrect...dddd
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Comment #1 posted by NiftySplifty on March 22, 2001 at 18:01:59 PT
Guaranteed bullshi*.
I predict that tonight, I'll smash up dddd's TV.N...
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