Entertainment Industry Asked To Assist AntiDrug Campaign

Increase in Teen Usage Concerns Clinton

President Clinton yesterday called on the entertainment industry to support
his new $195 million ad campaign to counter a surge in teenage drug use by
refraining from glorifying drugs.

In his weekly radio address, Clinton said popular media including music
videos, movies and magazines too often fill children's minds "with
warped images of a dream world where drugs are cool." He called on the
media to give children "the straight facts: Drugs are wrong, drugs are
illegal and drugs can kill you."

Overall, illegal drug use in the United States has declined almost by half
since 1979, but drug use among the young has been increasing in recent
years. Among eighthgraders, use of marijuana has nearly tripled since
1991, according to federal drug abuse surveys.

Clinton said he had no full explanation for those trends but noted that
"the number of antidrug public service ads has fallen by more than
onethird."

The new effort was first announced in the wake of the 1996 presidential
campaign in which Republican rival Robert J. Dole accused Clinton of not
doing enough about drug use. The $195 million advertising campaign, which
is expected to be matched by the private sector, is projected to reach
every child in the United States between ages 9 and 17 at least four times
a week.

Clinton said it is crucial to reach young people with antidrug messages.
"Young people who have not used illegal drugs by age 21 probably never will
use them," he said. "That's why we must reach our children with the right
message before it's too late."

Clinton compared the antidrug campaign with his administration's efforts
to eliminate tobacco advertising that appeals to young people. He said his
administration also has asked the spirits industry not to advertise hard
liquor on television.

"We know that the media can powerfully affect our children for good or
ill," Clinton said.

In the GOP's weekly radio address, two House members continued the party's
assault on the Internal Revenue Service, saying they are determined to get
the powerful agency "off the backs of the American people."

Touting his bill to expand the rights of taxpayers and assign new people to
run the IRS, Rep. Bill Archer (RTex.), chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee, said, "We can make the IRS do a better job of serving the
American people." His comments came as a group of congressional Republicans
launched a national tour to build support for abolishing the current income
tax system.

Also during the broadcast, Rep. Rob Portman (ROhio) criticized a White
House proposal to reform the IRS in part by appointing an executive
oversight board, calling it another in a "series of half steps" for change.

(c)Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company