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Show Public service in the best sense ,, Politics in recent years has made cynics of us all. We cast a cold eye on legislators and bureaucrats, always expecting a fresh scandal, a new bit of jiggery-pokery. We have also learned that presidents and their wives work harder at image-building image-building than movie stars. When they embrace a charitable cause, the disenchanted public sees not the private impulse but the public-relations imperative. Ans so we smiled tolerantly when Nancy Reagan launched her mission to the addicted two years ago. Cynics said the first lady now had a new worry what to wear to all those workshops and seminars on the heroin traffic. Evita Peron did it better, they sniffed. "She just lined up the poor and gave them little purses of pesos." Mrs. Reagan opened her anti-drug crusade as the president was calling for community volunteers to aid the poor. His call was condemned by Democrats as a sly way of diverting attention from his $100 billion cut in domestic programs. Among the volunteers volun-teers would be the beautiful Nancy, posing prettily with addicts at community com-munity rehab centers. People said it would give her something to do between the hairdresser and the dressmaker. 1 But the first lady has surprised us. It appears that she is truly and deeply moved by meeting families that have been torn apart by drug abuse. Because she is who she is, her concerns have commanded national attention. She has made us aware of the terrible dimension of the drug epidemic. Whatever your party, this is public service in the best sense. mystique that surrounds drug use. The notion that cocaine and marijuana are harmless is put to rest with impressive data and demonstrations from the medical profession. Viewers will see that the CAT scan sees in the body and brain of a drug user. It's shocking. Brains aren't simply befogged for an hour or so. Brain matter is destroyed, connections are broken. This means memory loss diminished IQs and slowed reaction time. Is the problem being overstated? Obviously not. More than one-third of our high school students use illicit drugs in addition to marijuana, used by some 60 percent. Among adolescents, 17 percent take cocaine, and 15 percent use hallucinogens such as LSD. Crowning all other statistics, 93 percent of high school seniors regularly regular-ly drink alcohol. (Schools have turned up drunkards as young as 10.) By the end of 1983, 8,000 young people will have died in drunken-driving accidents. acci-dents. "My daughter is bright," says a mother on the TV panel. "I thought she knew better." The last statement is part of what drug therapists call "the wall of denial." Not until children are well into the drug habit do parents admit that a problem exists. If Mrs. Reagan's efforts divert only a few hundred youngsters from habitual drug use, she will have performed a noble public service. The hope is that her name, her presence, will have a major impact. 1983 Harriet Van Home Distributed by Special Features Syndication Sales During the past week Mrs. Reagan has turned up on a number of TV programs urging parents, teachers, policemen and clergymen indeed, all caring citizens to take community action against drugs. After one appearance on "Good Morning, America," Ameri-ca," hundreds of viewers called to volunteer their help. Highlights of this national "call to action" will occur on Nov. 2 and Nov. 9 when "The Chemical People" a two-part two-part program is offered by Public Broadcasting. Mrs. Reagan presides regrettably from a distance, but effectively all the same. She minces no words in her appraisal of a sickness that is destroying thousands of youngsters. "I am scared for our children," she says. In communities across the land these PBS programs will be shown at schools and town halls. The first program will fairly stun Americans who never dreamed that youngsters of 10 and 12 are smoking pot, getting drunk and snorting cocaine. A pretty teenager, "now clean," as they say, relays the advice of an old hand at the game: "You can deal, steal or hook." She became a hooker. Besides some cured addicts and anxious parents, the show is dramatically drama-tically enhanced by the presence of famous TV faces. Bill Bixby, Michael Landon, Rita Moreno, Bruce Weitz, plus Willie Stargell of baseball, all deliver the message: "Drugs are dumb and they can destroy your life." Dramatic sketches, sharp and brutally frank, are offered by a company of net-yet-famous actors. Perhaps the greatest service of these PBS shows is the debunking of the |
