Pubdate: 17 Feb 2000 Source: Nation, The (US) Copyright: 2000, The Nation Company Contact: http://www.thenation.com/ MINDLESSNESS ON DRUGS After spending two and a half years examining Britain's drug laws, a quasi-official committee is about to issue a report that will recommend the decriminalization of marijuana. Currently, pot possession in Britain is punishable by up to seven years in prison. Concluding that this is far too severe, the committee will propose that possessing small amounts of the drug be subject to nothing more than a fine or other civil penalty. The committee will also recommend easing the penalties for other soft drugs such as Ecstasy. Unfortunately, the government of Tony Blair is unlikely to accept these recommendations. With a general election approaching, it doesn't want to look soft on drugs. Still, the fact that a panel of prominent citizens could propose decriminalizing pot suggests a degree of openness on the issue totally absent here. The Clinton Administration's drug policy, led by Gen. Barry McCaffrey, has been a disaster. On issues ranging from needle exchange to medical marijuana, from foreign intervention to treatment dollars, the White House intimidated by Republicans in Congress has taken an unrelievedly hard line. News organizations have done no better. Consider, for instance, the recent flap over the White House's policy of reviewing TV scripts in order to encourage anti-drug messages. The arrangement, whereby TV networks that incorporated such messages into entertainment shows could earn financial credits that freed them from having to air costly public service announcements, was widely panned as allowing undue government interference in TV programming. And rightly so. For federal officials to review TV scripts and encourage the airing of certain types of messages seems uncomfortably close to news management. At no time, however, did commentators bother to scrutinize the substance of those messages. Thus, the Washington Post, while chiding broadcasters for allowing themselves to be manipulated by the White House, noted that "in this case, we happen to agree with the spin, and the idea of sitcoms and television dramas carrying anti-drug themes seems healthy." And, on NPR, Matthew Miller said the only thing wrong with the White House policy was the secrecy surrounding it. "Surely everyone can agree that it's a good thing for Hollywood to dramatize the fact that drugs wreck lives:' he said. "Just as Humphrey Bogart did far more than the Marlboro Man to glamorize smoking, George Clooney and his colleagues can help teach millions of fans that the clean life is cool." A closer look at the plot lines engineered by the White House, however, would have revealed a deeper intent than simply educating kids about drugs. As reported by Salon, which broke the original story, the segments included a Chicago Hope episode on which young revelers suffer drug-induced death, psychosis and a two-car wreck; a Wayans Bros. installment featuring a pot smoker freaking out; a Drew Carey Show involving blanket drug tests at work; and a 7th Heaven segment featuring a young teen who enlists as an undercover drug informant after a minister suggests this to his parents. This is Just Say No come to prime time. The script-review policy is part of a billion-dollar, five-year program to combat drug use among young people. At the core of the campaign are those bizarre Love Is the Antidrug ads appearing on television, in newspapers and on billboards. From a public-health standpoint, the ads fail on three counts. First, they make no distinction between hard and soft drugs; overwhelmingly, the ads focus on marijuana the least harmful of illicit drugs. Second, the ads rarely mention alcohol the substance most abused by young people. (The liquor industry threatened to raise hell if its products were targeted.) And finally, the ads do not generally include a phone number that families can call if one of their children actually does get into trouble with drugs a key component of any public-health campaign. Instead, the ads -- and most of the scripted references on television - -- hew to the old line that toking on a reefer can make you crazy. The failure of the news media to explore this point shows how thoroughly the Just Say No mindset has taken over. - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto