A report by two government agencies released yesterday sounds the alarm about the depiction of drugs in movies and popular songs – like that 98 percent of movies show characters using ”substances.”
Hold on, though, because the ”substances” in question aren’t just illegal drugs but legal stuff like tobacco, alcohol, even over-the-counter prescription medications.
Indeed, the conflation of legal ”substance-use” with the use of illegal drugs seems to be one of the implicit aims of the study, released by White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey together with the Department of Health and Human Services’ substance-abuse office.
The findings that pertain only to illicit drugs aren’t heartwarming, but they’re not so terrifying either. The study found that illicit drugs appeared in 22 percent of movies and that in a quarter of those movies, drug use was ”portrayed in a humorous context.”
Just under half the movies that portrayed drug use indicated that such use has ”negative consequences.” Fifteen percent of them included some kind of ”anti-use statement” and 21 percent included a refusal of an offer to use illicit drugs.
Recent films featuring casual drug use include ”Go,” ”A Walk on the Moon” and ”SLC Punk!”
According to spokesmen for the agencies, the purpose of the study is encourage parents to monitor their kids’ watching and listening habits, and to further the cooperation of the entertainment industry with substance-abuse prevention groups.
But the success of so many R-rated movies with socially negative messages about drugs, crime and sexual behavior may well indicate that many parents are aware of this content but are not worried about any impact the movies may have on their kids.
And if you look at recent movies aimed at young audiences, there are very few that don’t suggest that drug use has negative consequences.
In ”Go,” when the character played by Sarah Polley gets involved with a drug deal, she nearly dies as a result.
In ”SLC Punk!” one of the characters is driven temporarily insane (he later becomes a derelict) when hallucinogens in his pocket leech into his bloodstream through his skin.
And in ”Idle Hands,” which opens tomorrow, the stoner lead character is so lazy that the devil chooses him as the instrument of evil, and his transformation into a hero fighting the forces of darkness involves his rejection of marijuana.
And even in the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino, considered amoral by some critics, drug use leads to alarming consequences, such as Uma Thurman’s collapse until resuscitated by a hypodermic needle jabbed into her heart.