Traffic Page #5

NAN:

What I know is ducks, as cute as

they are, were designed by God to be

eaten.

Nan reaches for a taste and the other women lean forward

also, a sea of inanity swirling around Helena's salad.

EXT. COUNTRY CLUB PARKING LOT - DAY

Helena buckles her little boy, DAVID, 5, into the front seat

of her Mercedes. He won't let go of his putter.

HELENA:

I'll put this in the back.

DAVID:

No --

HELENA:

All the professionals keep them in

the trunk.

DAVID:

Not Tiger Woods.

HELENA:

Especially Tiger Woods.

(sharing a secret)

...Actually, he keeps his on the

back seat.

She pulls the putter away from the reluctant boy and sets it

on the back seat.

EXT. HOTEL - DAY

A modern high-rise on the waterfront playground of San Diego.

Helena passes the hotel in her car.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY

A standard room looking out at the water which is dotted

with sailboats and cruise ships. The bed is covered with hi-

tech surveillance equipment.

The equipment salesman, LONNIE, 40's, who makes a fetish of

gadgetry, explains the finer points of operation to FRANCISCO

"FRANKIE" FLORES, 30's, sallow, watery-eyed, in expensive

clothes.

LONNIE:

Gates, Myrhvold, Bezos. I sell to

all those guys. Why? Because the

technology to intrude has reached

the masses. Your competitor, your

ex-spouse, adversaries, stalkers,

they're at the local electronics

store right now, and they're gonna

be intruding on you not only through

your telephone, but your fax, cell

phone, pager, cable TV, Musak,

windows, walls, air conditioning

ventilation, modem, and internet

connection.

He walks over to the bed and the sexy equipment --

LONNIE:

Nobody has these babies, no way, not

the shiznit.

Frederico picks up a piece of equipment.

FRANCISCO:

I want to intercept cell phone calls,

digital and analog. And locate the

source of the call. I need databasing

capability, to cross-reference calls

and numbers.

Lonnie lovingly picks up a laptop computer with a sleek device

attached to it --

LONNIE:

Your Cellular Secretary, friend across

all the digital wireless spread

spectrum.

(beat)

So, Francisco, what do you do? You

a PI? Private security?

Francisco looks at Lonnie coldly.

FRANCISCO:

Assassin.

LONNIE:

(not missing a beat)

Assassin, okay. Let's get you started

in surveillance.

EXT. GEORGETOWN BROWNSTONE - NIGHT

The house takes up most of one of the nicest blocks. PEOPLE

enter and party VOICES drift out.

SUPERTITLE:
GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON, D.C.

INT. GEORGETOWN BROWNSTONE - NIGHT

A power cocktail party in full swing. This is where most of

the business in Washington gets done.

Robert, scotch in hand, listens to a smug PHARMACEUTICAL

LOBBYIST explain the world.

PHARMACEUTICAL LOBBYIST

We in the legal drug business, and I

mean Merck, Pfizer, the rest of my

very powerful clients, realize this

isn't a war with a traditional winner

and loser, but an organism at war

with itself, whose weapons of mass

destruction happen to be intoxicants.

And if you want a body count look no

further than alcohol which racks up

80,000 kills a year. Cocaine manages

a measly 2,000. Same for Heroin.

But, the big daddy is Big Tobacco

which kills 380,000 each year, which,

by the way, is more people than have

been killed by all the illegal drugs

in the last century.

ROBERT:

(faking it)

That's very interesting.

The lobbyist smiles. Robert sips his drink.

ANOTHER ANGLE ON ROBERT

In another room. Listening to STAN, overweight advocate for

the United States Council of Chambers of Commerce.

STAN:

It's time, Robert, to choke some

honesty out of these rural

legislators; get'em to fess up that

it's pretty much Prisons or Casinos

in terms of their choices for economic

growth.

ANOTHER ANGLE ON ROBERT

listening to ETHAN, earnest advocate of harm reduction.

ETHAN:

What's the difference between Prozac

and Ecstacy, you ask? One's a

mattress and the other's a trampoline.

Molecules don't have morality.

Really, think about it: some molecule

changes the way a serotonin re-uptake

inhibitor works, it's not suddenly a

bad molecule; it's just a molecule.

My theory:
America has a real fear

of short, intense experiences.

Robert turns away --

ROBERT:

(under his breath)

Like you.

ANOTHER ROOM:

Robert at the bar getting another

scotch. A secretive man, TIM, 40's,

nerdy, sidles up beside him and

whispers furtively in his ear.

TIM:

(whispering)

Chemicals? Some say problems, others

say solution. Imagine a cloud that

when it rains prohibits the growth

of poppies or takes the THC out of

marijuana. Imagine a pill that

eliminates any psychological craving,

from Dilaudid to Dove Bars. Law

enforcement hasn't let science sit

on the sidelines. Addiction is no

more relevant than polio or the Black

Plague.

Tim slips away into the crowd. Robert moves away from the

bar.

ANOTHER ROOM:

An argument is breaking out between an ECONOMIST and an

UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE with Robert as the audience.

ECONOMIST:

(to the undersecretary)

You're not battling traffickers or

dealers, but a market, and the market

contains a paradox: if you arrest

traffickers, you raise prices, and

you also raise profits, which brings

more traffickers into the business.

UNDERSECRETARY:

(to the Economist)

Back in the real world, we're talking

about Mexico and not John Maynard

Keynes. We will spend 18 billion

dollars this year on this "war," and

the question on the table every year

is do we certify Mexico as an ally

or not?

Another man, RUSH PHILLIPS, a middle-aged powerbroker,

overhears, then joins and Robert is encircled.

RUSH PHILLIPS:

You want to make a difference, hit

the users. You don't jeopardize our

financial markets by some hypocritical

stance on drug consumption. We're

snorting it, why penalize Mexico for

supplying it?

UNDERSECRETARY:

Mexico, don't talk to me about

Mexico --

ECONOMIST:

It's the stick of law enforcement

that creates the carrot of huge

profits... That's economic truth --

RUSH PHILLIPS:

Addicts don't vote; they don't have

PACs; they don't spend soft money,

that's political truth --

UNDERSECRETARY:

We're locking them up and

consumption is falling --

ECONOMIST:

The price of coke and heroin has

dropped and purity has increased.

All this law enforcement has achieved

is kids can get better stuff, cheaper.

In economic terms, you can forget

it; this is not a winnable war.

RUSH PHILLIPS:

Christ, you want to decertify

somebody, take Pakistan or Columbia.

We don't need them for anything.

ECONOMIST:

If you manage to seize an

inconceivable 50 percent of all drugs

coming into this country, you'll

still raise the price of coke and

heroin less than 3 percent which

won't affect drug use at all.

RUSH PHILLIPS:

Why are we calling this a war at

all? You don't declare war on your

own people. Addiction is a little

worm that gnaws a house apart from

the inside.

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