Education Dept. to Mail 80,000 Anti-Drug Videotapes to Schools

The Education Department plans to mail nearly 80,000 anti-drug videotapes to school districts across the nation, Education Secretary Lauro F. Cavazos announced Thursday.

The tapes, produced at a cost of $5.5 million, are copies of 10 films that include such stars as Academy Award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., Emmy Award winner Richard Kiley and Kirk Cameron of ABC-TV’s “Growing Pains.”

“We show children at all levels how to turn away peer pressure to use drugs,” Cavazos said at a news conference where portions of the films were shown. “We even show them that peer pressure can work the other way. It can be used by a child to encourage a friend to avoid drugs. These videos also teach children that people who offer them drugs are not their true friends.”

It will be up to individual school districts to decide whether to use the tapes. The mass mailing, the largest by the federal government of audio-visual materials to the nation’s schools--both public and private--should reach about 93% of all students.

“We hope they all find a home in the classroom--and I truly believe that they will,” Cavazos said.

Cavazos called the films a new force for the department’s war on drugs and said scripts or videotapes were field-tested before student groups.

Separate films were made for elementary, junior high and senior high school students. Subjects include marijuana, alcohol, “crack” and cocaine.

“I urge every community in this country to get mad about this chemical war being waged against our children, against our laws, against our society,” said Cavazos. “No child takes a drug that didn’t first come from the hand of an adult.”