The movie s three interlocking stories provide a realistic indictment of the drug war and cry out for action. Although the number of current drug users has declined from 25 million to 4.8 million since 1979, many Americans understand that these numbers hide sobering realities.
Illegal drugs are widely available today at all-time low prices.
Drug purity and selection are unsurpassed. Modern marijuana can be 30 times more powerful than the 1969 Woodstock variety. In addition, modern science has increased the variety of designer drugs such as Ecstasy to near-epidemic proportions. One of Traffic s plots gives the viewer a realistic glimpse inside a Mexican drug cartel. The movie s Gen. Arturo Salazar eerily reminds the viewer of Mexico s former drug czar, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, who was a front for a cartel.