Geraldo Rivera NBC Drug War Special Sunday PM - Write a Letter To NBC DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 111 June 20, 1999 The NBC Special "DRUG BUST, THE LONGEST WAR" Is an important and accurate portrayal of the folly of the "War on Drugs" and the devastation it is causing to the nation and the world. It will be aired on NBC during the hottest prime time hour of the week (Sunday PM). Contact info, show details, and other helpful information is provided below. This NBC special will have a multi-million dollar advertizing value for the reform movement. We want to encourage a massive effort to acknowledge NBC for this and future shows on drug policy. To that end we have collected a list of E-mail addresses so that those who choose to join us can easily write a letter not only to NBC corporate headquarters but to their local affiliates as well. Please watch the special this Sunday June 20, at 8-9 PM PDT and 8-9 EDT (check local listings in some areas or services, like PrimeStar or DirecTV it could be on at 5PM and/or 8PM.) After you see the program please visit the web sight below and write a letter to NBC expressing your views. Thanks to Richard Lake for compiling the list of NBC Affiliates at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n000/a03.html Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do So... Just DO it PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the MAPTalk list if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO NBC Headquarters Email: Andrew Lack, President NBC News 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10012 (212) 664 4444 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EXTRA CREDIT - Richard Lake has created a great list of local NBC affiliate contact info. Please write NBC after this show using the contact list set up at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n000/a03.html For your local affiliates -AND- please write NBC HQ at After the show send a copy of your letter to NBC to so it can be posted on the MAP Chat lists. EXTRA CREDIT 2 For those who don't mind Spaming Paul Wolf has generated a list of 62 NBC affiliates. I will email these to anyone requesting it who wishes to send their letter to all NBC local stations. Send me a note at and I'll get to you right away. NBC News Release NBC NEWS PRESENTS A GERALDO RIVERA REPORT: "DRUG BUST - THE LONGEST WAR" ON SUNDAY, JUNE 20 Rivera's Hour-Long Special Examines America's War on Drugs NEW YORK, NY, June 16, 1999 A war is being waged at this very moment in the United States a war the White House declared 31 years ago. The "War on Drugs" has cost hundreds of billions, yet 4 million Americans are addicted today; hundreds of thousands are in prison and many drugs are cheaper and more accessible than ever. On Sunday, June 20 (8-9:00 p.m., ET), NBC News presents "Drug Bust, The Longest War," an hour-long special reported by Geraldo Rivera, that explores the war on drugs. In numbers and through the lives of those addicted, the special examines how we're fighting the war and asks the question: have we in fact already lost the war -- and is this a national policy heading nowhere? "Drug Bust" investigates why drugs continue to flow into the U.S. at an alarming rate, our government's precarious partnership with Mexico and why addicts seeking treatment often end up incarcerated. Border War NBC News examines the United States' interdiction policy playing out at the world's busiest border crossing, San Ysidro, CA, where smugglers try to outwit Customs inspectors on a daily basis. Rivera interviews players on both sides of the United States' $57 billion drug habit: a seasoned senior Customs inspector known for finding drugs and a veteran smuggler who made a fortune almost beating the system. The special also visits the Domestic Air Interdiction Coordination Center at March Air Force Base in Riverside, CA where the Government's most sophisticated air radar system ever built tracks every plane entering the U.S. while smugglers relentlessly poke holes in the operation. Yet, after all the effort, the U.S. government only stops 5-10% of the drugs coming across its borders, the same percentage they've been getting for years. Mexico - Business as Usual? The special's in-depth investigation into the U.S. alliance with Mexico reveals a partner in the war on drugs has now become the primary source for the drugs entering America a staging ground for smugglers. With 70% of the drugs sold in the U.S. produced in or shipped through Mexico and all too many in the Mexican government on the payrolls of the cartels, Mexican anti-drug efforts last year were mostly a disaster, according to many U.S. Senators. Rivera also speaks with Jesus Blancornelas, a fearless Mexican journalist upon whom an assassination attempt was made for exposing the corruption all around him. The Treatment Gap "Drug Bust" examines why those addicts who really do want to get help have an easier time getting drugs than treatment. A drug budget of close to $18 billion last year provided only 3 billion, 17%, for treatment. Rivera speaks with addicts in San Diego struggling to get treatment only to discover there simply aren't enough beds. He speaks with top treatment professional Jeanne McAlister, the founder of the McAlister Institute, a Southern California treatment clinic, who explains the outcome when addicts don't get help, "Death or incarceration, and that's it. Those are the alternatives." In the special, Drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey acknowledges that America has a 50% treatment gap. "Drug Bust" also explores the human toll on the American side of the border as the supply and demand for drugs continue to rise. In San Diego, Rivera speaks with a group of middle class, well-educated heroin addicts who defy the stereotype of a heroin user. With the cost of dope going down, many middle class users are entering the ranks of America's four million hard-core users. Senator Diane Feinstein (D), a member of the Senate caucus on international narcotics control has seen the price of drugs in California drop dramatically, "In my state you see the cocaine street price of cocaine is at a five year low." The Prisoners of the Drug War Each year, more than a million and a half people are arrested on drug violations, sending addicts and many casual users flowing into America's jails and prisons and creating a boom in prison construction. Rivera visits Riker's Island jail in New York City to meet the men behind bars for drug offenses. Although treatment is offered at Riker's Island jail, the special finds that treatment is not available to the overwhelming majority of prisoners in the U.S. At Bedford Prison in New York state, Rivera visits with inmates who have extraordinarily long sentences for apparent minor offenses under New York's mandatory minimum Rockefeller drug laws. California Congresswoman Maxine Waters tells NBC News she is particularly concerned about the apparent racial imbalance in sentencing, "Black and browns are being incarcerated at a rate that's literally destroying our communities." The special looks at a major American story that has been out of the headlines and off the radar for years the drug war; but it's a story that has never gone away and continues to cost us billions of dollars every year in incarceration, addiction and human misery. James Stolz is the executive producer of the special. Michael Singer is the senior producer. Ginny Somma is the producer. Daniel S. Goldfarb is the senior coordinating producer. Annie Ballard is the editor. Sam Camporeale contributed to additional editing. A complete list of resources and more information on NBC's "Drug Bust - The Longest War" will be available on line onMSNBC.com. SAMPLE LETTER (sent to NBC) Dear NBC and Geraldo: Hearty Congratulations for the _OUTSTANDING_ special "DRUG BUST, THE LONGEST WAR" Geraldo Rivera and NBC have hit the nail on the head! The "War on Drugs" is the biggest boondoggle to be foisted on the American public this century. It has made "The Land of the Free" into a country that shamefully incarcerates more of it's citizens than any other industrialized nation on earth. It has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars and yet any child can obtain drug sat will. It's long past time to implement sensible drug policy reforms and end the black market treachery that always results from prohibition/incarceration model. We are building 9 new prisons for every one new university in this country and incarcerating sick people for using medicine that works for them. Thank God a major media network has at long last broadcast accuracy, facts, and reason on a crucial subject that is all too often hidden away and avoided. Please keep it up! Stay on this topic. If your efforts help end this destructive, expensive, and useless drug war you may have done more to help return this country to The Land of the Free than anyone since our founding fathers wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. My sincere and heartfelt thanks. Mark Greer Executive Director DrugSense (MAP Inc.) PO Box 651 Porterville, CA 93258 (800) 266 5759 http://www.mapinc.org/ http://www.drugsense.org/ IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the station does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. Prepared by Mark Greer DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialist

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