The War on Drugs

More than three decades have passed since Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs. Today, drug trafficking exceeds 7% of global trade. The film shows how the war is being waged by examining the situation in Colombia and the United States. The spearhead in the war on drugs is the U.S. police force, DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). In Colombia, the U.S. fights this drug war by attacking the supply chain. Under a large offensive named Plan Colombia, coca and poppy growing areas are sprayed on a huge scale to eradicate the crops. However, many years of fumigation has not reduced the extent of the growing areas. In many remote sections of Colombia, the peasants have no viable alternatives to cultivating the coca plant. The coca plant is the only sustenance product there. In the United States, drug prohibition is enforced by imposing harsh prison terms for drug law offenders. The fates of Richard Paey and Sharanda Jones show the social, political and personal implications of these measures. The War on Drugs is an analysis of a war that started almost 40 years ago and shows no signs of subsiding.