Media Images Of Drugs

            Depiction of Drugs in the Electronic Media.
             "Because of the clear and present danger of Schedule I and II drugs, the electronic news media should reinforce our negative evaluations of Schedule I and II drugs by depicting them as causes of social evils" is a statement that has been debated for years. Should the electronic news media be held responsible for the way that they depict drugs? People have com accustomed to automatically believing the things they see on television and the news. Due to the electronic news media's extreme influence over the people who follow the media, there is some truth to the above statement. People are influenced by the views of the media, so the media should carefully decide the way they want to depict Schedule I and II drugs in their stories and broadcasts. In my opinion, the news media should take a negative stance towards drugs. .
             The electronic media has a great influence over the way the public sees any given subject. The influence that the media has over people is no different when it comes to their representation of drugs. The stances that the electronic media take in any certain situation are the same stances that most of the viewing public is also going to take. That is why the electronic media must carefully pick and choose their battles. When it comes to the war on drugs, it seems that the electronic media takes a pretty solid negative stance against drugs, especially Schedule I and II drugs. There are many ways that the electronic media can influence the views of the public. The main source of influence that the electronic media has at their disposal is their power of creating stories that can put the drugs in a positive or negative light. It is up to each individual media arm to decide how they want to depict the story. One thing is for certain though, if a media group runs a story portraying marijuana as an "evil" drug and that it should be completely cleaned off the streets, a majority of the people who saw the story would start to believe the same way as the media group about marijuana.