MANY FILMS SHOW SUBSTANCE ABUSES

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Marijuana, martinis and Marlboros. They're shown on the
big screen and mentioned in popular songs blaring into the ears of young
people. Now the government wants to know if that encourages America's youth
to use and abuse them.

U.S. drug officials released results of a study today that says people were
depicted doing drugs, drinking or smoking in 98 percent of the top movie
rentals and 27 percent of the most popular songs in 1996 and 1997.

The study, commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services and
the Office of National Drug Control Policy, revealed that of 669 major adult
characters featured in the movies, 5 percent used illicit drugs, 25 percent
smoked tobacco and 65 percent consumed alcohol.

Drugs were associated with wealth or luxury in 20 percent of the songs, with
sexual activity in 30 percent and with crime or violence in 20 percent.
Violent messages in movies and music have surfaced in discussions about what
influenced two teen-agers to walk into their high school in Littleton,
Colo., last week and shoot 12 classmates and a teacher before killing
themselves.

As President Clinton proposed gun-control legislation Tuesday, first lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton talked about the school shooting and how children
become desensitized and lose empathy for human life when their culture
glorifies violence in music, movies and television shows.

But she said: ``It will take more than strong leadership from the media and
entertainment world to stop the culture of violence that surrounds our
children. Kids need more caring, responsible adults in their lives.''

Also on Tuesday, four members of Congress wrote a letter to ask Clinton to
convene an emergency summit meeting at the White House with the leaders of
the entertainment industry.

The letter, signed by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and John McCain,
R-Ariz., and Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Dan Burton, R-Ind., said school
violence is a complicated issue, but ``we believe that media violence is
contributing to this problem and we need the help of the entertainment
community to solve it.''

On Monday, Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., cited the school shootings when he
introduced a bill that would let the TV industry air violent shows only at
times when children aren't likely to be watching. Neither the National
Association of Broadcasters nor the National Cable Television Association
had immediate comment on the bill.

A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America also declined
immediate comment until it had time to review the new study about how drugs,
tobacco and alcohol are depicted in 200 movies and 1,000 songs.

Among the findings:

- -93 percent of the movies showed alcohol use, 89 percent portrayed tobacco
use and 22 percent portrayed characters using drugs.

- -17 percent of the songs included lyrics about people drinking alcohol, 18
percent using drugs and 3 percent smoking.

- --About a fourth of the movies that depicted drugs contained explicit,
graphic portrayals of their preparation or ingestion.

- -15 percent of movies portrayed substance abuse by characters who appeared
to be younger than 18.

- --Only five of the movies were free of substance use.