FREQUENCY OF DRUGS IN FILMS, MUSIC STUDIED

Culture: Nearly All Of 200 Most Popular Movies In 1996, 1997
Included Narcotics, As Well As Alcohol, Tobacco. But Survey Found No
Apparent Consequences.

WASHINGTON-The passionate debate over how kids are influenced by
popular culture shifted from violence to drugs Wednesday, as the White
House released a new study detailing how frequently drugs and other
dangerous substances show up in movies and music. Nearly all of
the 200 most popular movies rented in 1996 and 1997 included the
appearance of alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs, Stanford University
researchers found.

Gen. Barry R.McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy, said most troubling was the carefree context in
which smoking, drinking and drug use were often presented. Of the 79
major characters under the age of 18 who smoked marijuana or
cigarettes, for instance, none suffered any apparent consequences, the
report concludes.

"When drugs are portrayed, they are stripped of their consequences,"
McCaffrey said at a news conference. "That's a problem." The study,
presented in the wake of the Littleton, Colo., tragedy, comes at a
time of renewed concern about what children are watching and hearing.

McCaffrey used the new data to call on the entertainment industry to
present a more realistic and responsible portrayal of drug use.

McCaffrey said he has already begun meeting with film and music
industry leaders to drive home the dangers of depicting drug use as
normal and free of risks.

But some entertainment executivesand even a Clinton administration
health officialsaid the numbers may simply reflect the realities of a
society where drugs, alcohol and smoking are still
commonplace.

Researchers singled out rap music for particular criticism, saying
that 63% of all songs refer to illicit drugs. The prevalence was far
higher than that found in other musical genres, but an executive with
one major rap label said the federal government is simply trying to
scapegoat rappers.

Rap artists "aren't rapping about things they made up. It's not
glorifying it. It's just real life. It is what it is," said Gabrielle
Peluso, director of publicity for Def Jam Records in New York.

The $400,000 study was commissioned by the drug policy office and the
Department of Health and Human Services. Researchers, using young
people to decipher slang terms for drugs, studied 1,000 rap, rock,
country, heavy metal and other popular songs from 1996 and 1997, along
with 200 movie rentals.

About 98% of all films included some depiction of drinking, smoking or
drug use. Alcohol and tobacco appeared in more than 90% of the films
and illicit drugs in 22%, the study found.

Movie warnings about graphic content, adopted in 1990, were often
incomplete.

In nearly half of the PG13 and Rrated movies in which illicit drugs
were used, remarks by the Motion Picture Assn. of America failed to
note drugrelated content, researchers said.

The MPAA declined comment on that particular finding, but the group
made clear that it would oppose any efforts to use the data to
regulate the content of films.

"We're the first industry to do any sort of voluntary ratings of our
content for parents, and we think we've done exactly what we set out
to do," said Rich Taylor, spokesman for the MPAA.

Although music was much less likely than film to include questionable
content, with 27% of all songs related to drugs or alcohol,
researchers found that when these subjects did come up in songs, the
users rarely suffered any effects.

Only 19% of songs depicting drug use and 48% of the films showed any
consequences to the user, the study said.

Even when the impact was shownsuch as the late actor Chris Farley
falling down drunk in the film "Tommy Boy"the effect was often played
for laughs, said Stanford University communications professor Donald
F. Roberts, the lead researcher.

The question of whether exposure to an illicit activity, such as
drinking or drug use, actually makes children more likely to undertake
it has been hotly debated for years, and McCaffrey was careful not to
draw any direct connections. But noting that children spend an average
of four hours a day listening to music, he said parents "need to know
what these products are." And coresearcher Peter G. Christenson
of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., said that denying
possible links between what children hear and how they act "is just
silly."