FILM DEPICTIONS OF DRUG USE

Regarding The Times' July 12 editorial: The Office of National Drug Control
Policy is not providing any form of financial reward to the film industry
to encourage accurate depictions of drug use in the movies. Nor are there
any plans to reward studios for anti-drug depictions. No financial
incentive has ever been offered or planned to encourage the accurate
portrayal of drug use.

The costs of drug use to our families and nation are real and substantial.
Each year 52,000 Americans die from drug-related causes. The additional
societal costs of drug use to the nation total over $110 billion per year.
California feels these impacts as badly as anywhere else.

Our outreach efforts toward the film industry focus on providing technical
assistance (including access to experts, research and the most up-to-date
information). These efforts are part of a long history, both within this
agency and through the National Institutes of Health, of working with the
entertainment community to help ensure accuracy. We are providing them with
the science-based information; they can choose to use it on their own terms.

The goal of our National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is to provide young
people and the adults who care about them with the facts needed to empower
our youth to reject drugs. Through the full power of this public health
campaign--from television to the Internet to community-based outreach--we
are now reaching 95% of America's young people on an average of 6.8 times
per week with research-based, effective drug-prevention messages.

These messages are effective at reaching young people. Since its launch in
March of 1999, our Freevibe.com Web site has received over 1.8 million page
views, with the average visit lasting over 7.4 minutes. Television programs
incorporating anti-drug messages have resulted in over 100 million teen
impressions and 250 million adult impressions. Most importantly, we are
beginning to see changes in youth drug-use attitudes and behaviors. The
National Household Survey released in 1999 reported that overall youth drug
use (children ages 12 to 17) in the U.S. fell by 13% from the prior year.
Youth inhalant use plummeted 45%, cocaine use fell 20% and marijuana use
dropped 12%.

Barry R. McCaffrey, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy,
Washington