Drug Use, Depictions of

Illicit drug use in adolescence is associated with myriad adverse outcomes, including delinquency, depression, and violence. By the time adolescents finish high school, 51% of them report having tried an illicit drug. Findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicate that 40% of students used marijuana at least once during their lifetimes, 12% used inhalants, 11% used ecstasy, and 9% used cocaine. Trend data from the Monitoring the Future Survey suggest a gradual decline over the past decade in most categories of drug use except inhalants and OxyContin, a highly addictive narcotic. Content analyses provide detailed accounts of what adolescents see and hear about illicit drugs in popular media, but the consequences of exposure to such messages are not well understood.

Although much is known about the portrayal of tobacco and alcohol in popular media, fewer content analyses have examined depictions of other drug use in movies or on television. Illicit drugs appeared in 22% of the 200 most popular movie rentals from 1996 and 1997—in 20% of R-rated and 17% of PG-13 movies. Of the 43 movies in which illicit drugs appeared, 26% contained explicit, graphic portrayals of drug preparation or use. Marijuana was found most frequently (in 51% of the 43 movies), followed by powdered cocaine (in 33% of the 43 movies). At least one major character used illicit drugs in 69% of the scenes of that portrayed drug use. Few movies portrayed the negative consequences of drug use or emphasized its illegal nature; only 28% of the 43 movies in which illicit drugs appeared associated these substances with crime or violence.

A study of 87 top-grossing movies of all time observed marijuana use in 8% and noninjected drug use in 7% of the movies. Drug use in these movies was typically portrayed by adult characters who were not in main roles. No illicit drugs appeared in any of the 81 G-rated movies released between 1937 and 2000, although three movies showed characters consuming a food, pill, or potion that transformed them, and two movies showed a syringe being used.

Television is often identified as adolescents' primary source of information about illicit drugs, but little is known about how entertainment television depicts drug use. A study by Peter Christenson and his colleagues concluded that prime-time television more often talks about than shows illicit drugs: They were mentioned in 21% and seen in 4% of the situation comedies and serial dramas most popular with adolescents. Half of the episodes that contained drug references included humorous statements about drug use, such as jokes about smoking marijuana or attending drug rehab. Almost as many episodes included at least one negative statement about drug use, such as warning characters to avoid drug use or information about its harmful effects. Most episodes that depicted drug use also portrayed at least one negative consequence, such as a dangerous health outcome, arrest, or losing a coveted job.

Another study observed that illicit drug use was less prevalent on prime-time television than in real life: incidence rates were 1.5% among main characters, 0.8% among all characters combined, and 6.1% among the U.S. population. Compared to drug users in the U.S. population, however, drug users on TV were more likely to be minority than white.

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