Film - The drugs tsar, Keith Hellawell, lays down the law on Michael Douglas's new film

Films that depict the work of individuals or organisations may well entertain, but they rarely do justice to reality. Traffic is no exception. It sets out to convince us that the American war on drugs is unwinnable, without actually identifying what that war is.

Traffic shows the problems created within a family by a young daughter who, influenced by her friends, becomes a drug addict. Well, that part certainly rings true, since it is often peer pressure that sets someone on the path to taking drugs, and the drugs supplier is often an acquaintance or friend.

The family in question is that of the newly appointed American drug tsar and hero of the film, played by Michael Douglas. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the wife of one of the film's many villains, a respectable middle-class husband and father who is a secret drug-trafficker and whose family life is torn apart when he is exposed. Zeta-Jones, a token wife, all mum and apple pie, implausibly dons his criminal mantle when he is in custody and the family bank accounts are frozen. I somehow couldn't see her as the mother- turned-Messalina. The film better displays the violence and corruption within the law-enforcement agencies of Mexico and the United States, and shows how this corruption on both sides of the border contributes to the flow of drugs into the States.

The US's anti-drugs activities in other parts of South America are touched upon, but with the film's crude action approach, viewers will form little concept of the reality of US efforts to tackle drugs.

Action, I'm afraid, seems more attractive to the film's money men than real life, although they do have a stab at realism. Again, this is most notable when the daughter (played by Erika Christensen) starts to recognise her problem, having been forced into prostitution to feed her habit, and goes into treatment and rehabilitation.

There is an important message in the roles of the parents. On the verge of splitting up, they rally to support their daughter. Young people need that stability, and persuading parents and friends to provide this is a crucial part of Britain's own anti-drugs strategy.

Nevertheless, in America and the UK, there appear to have been no accurate films or documentaries on a role such as mine, or on the government's anti-drugs activities. In terms of what is happening to combat drugs, the media portrayal of anti-drugs actions is shallow and misleading.

There is a distinctive difference between my role and that of the American drug tsar, both in reality and as depicted in Traffic. He is largely concerned with federal powers and organisations. As these are largely law-enforcement or quasi-enforcement agencies, the emphasis - and the hype - is essentially combative. This panders to politicians, who welcome any battle cry, and comforts Middle America.

I do spend time with law-enforcement and intelligence agencies here and abroad. I have flown in and out of "war zones" under heavy guard, but such activities offer little more than endorsement for the troops on the ground and good photo opportunities. The real challenge is to change people's attitudes and behaviour, whether in our schools, our communities, or among those who govern us. Little of this is exposed in the film.

What Traffic does is show that the drugs tsar is human. I can closely associate with the problems caused by long absences from home, and have always been lucky to have the support of my wife and family.

The film may, however, alert people to the uncomfortable truth that their own children might be involved. It will expose that they are in danger from drugs and may be becoming addicts right under the noses of their parents. Addicts can be clever in hiding their habits, as Erika Christensen's character shows.

Traffic reveals that there is so much corruption and reward from the drugs trade that even the might of the United States cannot stop it by force of arms, but it is barren on what needs to be done. Americans at all levels of society now recognise that "the war" is unsustainable. Much is being done, and Barry McCaffrey (the real-life US drugs tsar) and I share thoughts and prospects. We share successes and failures. We share the same philosophy.

The trick will be to convince those politicians who seek simple solutions and harsh words that this is not enough. The implausibility of parts of this film, particularly when Douglas and his off-screen partner go into dangerous drugs ghettos where all others have feared to tread (they return unscathed), will only relegate the message to the realm of pop art.

Other victims of reality in Traffic include the key witness, a drug trafficker-turned-informant, who enters the witness protection programme but falls victim to a car bomb. Speaking as a former chief constable, if any one of my men had been involved in such slack and inefficient policing, he would have been looking for a job as an ice-cream salesman.

What I did like was the final scene, in which Douglas, due to accept the presidential nomination as drugs tsar at a press conference, walks away from the job. The administration wants him to concentrate on the "law and order" side of anti-drugs measures, to the apparent neglect of treatment and rehabilitation. They want him to "make war" on drugs, but Douglas says he cannot wage war on those unfortunates caught up in addiction; he cannot wage war on his own family, his own daughter. I said that 15 years ago. I wish I'd copyrighted it; I might be getting a percentage from the film!

Luckily, the real world, certainly as far as the UK's ten-year anti-drugs strategy is concerned, is much different. We hit the villains, we rehabilitate the addicts, we help communities get free of drugs and we educate our children not to take them.

So I have no intention of resigning . . . and I won't be calling on Michael Douglas to portray me in a British version of Traffic. However, if Martin Shaw were free . . . ?

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