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I thought you might be interested in the article from the FAIR web site. The following article will be appended to your message: Don't Forget the Hype By Micah Fink Solid lines: number of stories per month in New York Times index on drug abuse, addiction, and traffickingDiamonds, dashed lines: percentage of U.S. public saying drugs are "the most important problem facing this country today"Circles, dotted lines: percentage of high school seniors who say they have used any illicit drugs in the past 12 months The New York Times/CBS News poll records two periods during the last decade when public concern about drugs suddenly skyrocketed. In spring 1986, when the media "discovered" crack, the percentage of the public identifying" drugs" as "the No. 1 problem facing the nation" climbed from 3 percent to13 percent in three months. A second shift occurred in 1989, when the number of people who identified drugs as the most serious problem leapt from 23 percent in June to 65 percent in September. The statistics on actual drug use during the 1980s indicate no material basis for these increases in public concern. Annual reports by the University of Michigan on drug usage among U.S. high school and college students (the sectors of the population most likely to use drugs) show that most illegal drug use has been generally decreasing since the late 1970s.Powder and crack cocaine use peaked in 1985 and 1986, respectively. So when the public suddenly became aware of the "drug crisis" in the spring of 1986, the use of all major drugs was declining. The media's role in prompting this public response can be extrapolated from the publishing record of the New York Times, whose lead is frequently followed by media around the nation. Hype I: The Discovery of Crack To read the rest of the article, please click on the link below. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1506 This article was published on Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting's Website (http://www.fair.org).

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