THE FORGOTTEN WAR

DOBBS: Tonight, we begin a series of special reports this week on the war
on drugs. We call it "The Forgotten War." It's a war that costs American
taxpayers $12 billion a year to stop the flow of drugs into this country.

Lisa Sylvester reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 30 years of fighting
the drug war, U.S. law enforcement officials have been changing their
approach. Instead of simply looking at the drug war based on supply and
demand, they now look at it as a business, attacking growers, shippers,
wholesalers, and retailers.

Just last Thursday, the Justice Department announced it broke a major
Mexican drug cartel. The Zambada-Garcia organization that was funneling
cocaine from Colombia to the U.S.; 240 people were arrested and six tons of
cocaine seized.

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The success of Operation Trifecta has made
this a good day for justice and a good day for the people of Mexico and a
good day for the people of the United States.

SYLVESTER: The federal government says it intercepts 20 percent of the
illegal drugs headed for the United States. Policy groups tracking the
issue say the number is closer to 10 percent. No one really knows the exact
figure. What is known is, the United States has spent billions of dollars
fighting the drug war; $11 billion has been budgeted this year alone, with
$2 billion spent on interdiction and another billion dollars on
international efforts, training the Colombian and Mexican military,
destroying crops, and offering farmers alternative crops to grow.

STEVEN CASTEEL, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION: Drugs took years and
generations to get embedded into our society. And it's going to take years
and generations, a long fight. SYLVESTER: According to the federal
government, 90 percent of all cocaine and 80 percent of the heroin in the
U.S. either originates or passes through Colombia. Peru and Bolivia make up
the rest of the supply, while Mexico serves as a primary transit point for
the South American drugs.

Three years ago, the U.S. launched a program called Plan Colombia. The
government in Colombia stepped up spraying coca and poppy fields, the
precursors to cocaine and heroin. There are signs it's working. Net coca
production in Colombia, which tripled in the last decade, dropped 15
percent in 2002. And the opium poppy cultivation fell 25 percent last year.

Drug czar John Walters is optimistic.

JOHN WALTERS, DRUG POLICY CHIEF: We should see, given what we know now,
historic changes in the marketability of cocaine in the next six to twelve
months.

SYLVESTER: But that's not a unanimous view. The U.S. may be successful in
Colombia, but drug dealers are simply moving their operations across the
border, to Bolivia and Peru, where drug cultivation has increased
substantially.

SANHO TREE, DRUG POLICY PROJECT DIRECTOR: All we've been doing is pushing
cultivation of these illicit crops from one country to the next, and,
indeed, from one continent to the next. It's not unlike that game
whack-a-mole. You beat the mole down on one end, it pops up on the other end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVESTER: This fight has been going on for three decades, but one big
difference is the effect of 9/11. Security at the border has never been
tighter. And with the Patriot Act, law enforcement officials have broader
authority for intelligence gathering. That's being used not only to fight
terrorism, but also to stop drug dealers -- Lou.

DOBBS: Lisa, thank you very much -- Lisa Sylvester reporting from Washington.

Joining me now to talk more about the forgotten war, Deborah McCarthy.
She's with the State Department's Bureau For International Narcotics and
Law Enforcement and joins us from our studios in Washington, D.C.

Good to have you with us.

DEBORAH MCCARTHY, BUREAU FOR INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT:
Good to be here.

DOBBS: The ultimate test, obviously, in the success of the war on drugs is
how many people in this country are using those drugs, how much in the way
of drugs are being moved to them. Do you have good news for us on that?
MCCARTHY: Well, it's a continuous major struggle, because we have in the
states approximately $64 billion being spent on drugs. And we are spending
approximately $12 billion, as was noted, on the fight, of which a portion
is overseas, from which most of the drugs flow.

So we're having -- we're seeing a turn in Colombia. We're watching what's
happening in Peru and Bolivia. And we are taking down major
narcotrafficking organizations, because it is a battle against
organizations, in countries such as Mexico.

DOBBS: Ms. McCarthy, Mexico, Colombia is the principal origination point
for heroin, for cocaine, and Colombia itself racked with an internal
crisis, political crisis. How likely is it is that the United States can
realistically stop coca production, heroin production in Colombia within
the next year to three years?

MCCARTHY: At the present rate in which we are going after the sources and
spraying, we should substantially get the bulk of what is there, not
forgetting that, at the tail end, there will probably always be a portion
there.

But with the commitment that we have and that President Uribe has to attack
the organizations in all fronts, including the supply, as you noted, we
should see significant progress in the next couple of years.

DOBBS: Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, is the United States receiving the
cooperation from those countries that is desperately needed to have a
dramatic impact on the flow of drugs into this country?

MCCARTHY: We're seeing excellent cooperation, and with the focus primarily
on Colombia. We are working closely, law enforcement agencies on both
sides, in Mexico. In Peru and Colombia, we are seeing a sort of holding the
line. And we're watching that closely to focus on what could possibly be a
slight balloon effect. So we're carefully watching that and pushing for
ramping up eradication, which is the key there.

So I would say, on the whole, yes, we do have excellent cooperation,
particularly in the largest two countries from which the drugs either come
from or flow through.

DOBBS: As you know, Americans are very skeptical about the pronouncements
on the war on drugs. For two decades, drug traffic, over that period of
time, into this country has actually risen. It's abated in some cases and
stabilized in others in the last year or two. But the fact is that the
street price of drugs, which is the best indicator of the availability of
drugs, remains at the same levels that it was two years ago, three years
ago. When will we see a real change in that indicator on the success of the
war on drugs?

MCCARTHY: It's estimated that there's going to be a lag of about six to
twelve months before we see effects on the price. And I need to note also
that we need to also watch carefully a new crop of drugs which are called
the synthetic drugs, which can either come from overseas or basically be
put together just about anywhere. That's something to watch. And that is
affecting a number of our young people in the states.

DOBBS: You're talking about ecstasy? You're talking about methamphetamines
and...

MCCARTHY: Correct.

DOBBS: ... other drugs. Those drugs are largely being manufactured in this
country, though, are they not?

MCCARTHY: They're being manufactured. A large portion, we see in Mexico.
And we're also seeing a large portion that is flowing to us from the
Netherlands. And we're working closely with that country, in addition to
countries in Latin America, to curb the flow, which is quite large.

DOBBS: Deborah McCarthy, amongst those who has a very difficult job facing
her, and we thank you for your time here tonight.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

DOBBS: Tomorrow, we continue our series of special reports on "The
Forgotten War." We look at what's being done to control drugs that are
produced in this country, including the synthetics, as Deborah McCarthy
just mentioned. Bill Tucker will have that report for us.

And that brings us to the subject of tonight's poll. The question is,
should the United States be doing more to win the war on drugs? Yes, no, or
perhaps even maybe? Cast your vote at CNN.com/Lou. We'll have the
preliminary results a little later in the show.

A different kind of drug war is being fought over patients who are
increasingly diagnosing themselves. As drug companies advertise more,
patients are demanding certain prescription drugs by name. And that has
begun to concern a number of medical practitioners.

Kitty Pilgrim reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

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(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

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(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)

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(END VIDEO CLIP)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to your TV, you
could be taking a lot more drugs and feeling like a million bucks. It's
called direct-to-consumer advertising, telling the consumer they really
should consider a new product.

Some doctors object.

DR. JAMES GORDON, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR MIND AND BODY: What they're doing by
advertising drugs is giving patients, I think, the belief that the drug
that's so beautifully, although I believe insipidly, portrayed in the
television commercial is going to be the answer. And they're causing
patients to put more pressure on doctors. And, unfortunately, many doctors
are giving in to that pressure.

PILGRIM: Promotional spending by pharmaceutical manufacturers has soared,
from some $9 billion in 1996 to more than $19 billion in 2001, more than
double.

Do the ads work? Absolutely. According to one study, every dollar spent on
an ad generates $4.20 in sales. Many new drugs address conditions that have
been barely treated before or simply not openly discussed, like impotence,
depression, or adult attention deficit disorder.

Dr. Steven Lamm says he doesn't mind pharmaceutical companies trying to
educate consumers and meet patient needs. He objects when they try to
create a need for a drug without any medical reason. These days, he sees a
dramatic difference in the patient-doctor relationship.

DR. STEVEN LAMM: They come in armed with information about which are -- the
best hospital, the best doctors, the best alternative treatments. So this
is just part of this mass of new health care information that's available
to patients that I have to deal with every day, that my father, who's a
physician, family doctor, years ago did not have to deal with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PILGRIM: Now, some doctors say it's a phenomenon that's here to stay. The
ads won't go away. But they recommend patients look at the drug Web sites,
instead of just viewing the ads, because self-education is OK. The problem
is self-diagnosis without any information -- Lou.

DOBBS: Well, if the drug companies can generate over $4 per dollar spent on
advertising, it's working very well. Why in the world are doctors allowing
patients to, effectively, prescribe? PILGRIM: They basically say, patients
come in and request. They still have the ultimate power, in that they write
the prescriptions. It does create a different dynamic between...

DOBBS: There go the fancy dinners at AMA conventions, right?

PILGRIM: Well, I'm not sure about that. Those are probably pretty permanent.

(LAUGHTER)

DOBBS: Kitty, thanks -- Kitty Pilgrim.

Well, tonight's thought is on the power of drugs. "No drug, not even
alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the
source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs. We should test
them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power" -- that from
humorist and author P.J. O'Rourke.