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UK: Anti-drugs drive on film and TV has 'feeble impact'

Guardian, The (UK)

Thursday 13 Apr 2000


Subj: UK: Anti-drugs drive on film and TV has 'feeble impact'
Date: 13 Apr, 2000
Source: Guardian, The (UK)




Anti-drugs drive on film and TV has 'feeble impact'
Matt Wells, media correspondent

Anti-drugs messages in television and film have little
effect because young people do not regard media
representations of drug use as credible, according to
research published today.

Demonising the effects of drugs lessens the impact of any
negative message, the report found. Instead of taking their
cue from TV and film, which only has a "feeble" impact,
viewers are influenced far more by the activities of their
friends and peer group, the broadcasting standards
commission survey shows.

Representations of drug use should be more realistic, the
commission said, while at the same time pointing out the
risks and not glamourising illegal substances.

Lord Holme, the commission's chairman, said drug workers
believed that broadcasters should not "instruct" on how to
use the most dangerous drugs. But he added: "It is also
clear that whilst broadcasting is a less significant
influence for good or ill than is sometimes believed, if it
is to play an effective part in the fight against drug abuse
then its portrayals must be realistic."

The commission's researchers questioned 170 people aged
between 11 and 35, most of whom had taken drugs. The
researchers found that people tended to be introduced to
drugs through friends and associates, rather than TV, which
was a "feeble" influence. "It is talking to friends about
what it feels like that generates curiosity, not TV and
film."

Professionals who worked with drug users said that anti-
drugs messages would carry far more weight if they were more
realistic. There was no point in showing a character dying
after taking one ecstasy tablet because thousands took
ecstasy every weekend and suffered no ill effects. "These
respondents wanted more honesty - an end to what they
perceived as a sustained effort to demonise drugs," the
report said.



 

 

 

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