Bush to Hollywood: Tell Truth About Drugs : Politics: The President’s address to the television academy is well received, though a few say solutions to the drug problem lie elsewhere.

Hollywood producers, writers and actors had a mostly favorable reaction to President Bush’s address here Friday exhorting them to portray realistically the negative effects of drug abuse.

But George Kirgo, president of the Writers Guild of America, said that the government, not the entertainment industry, should be held accountable for America’s drug problems.

Bush’s appearance at the Century Plaza before the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences followed in the footsteps of former first couple Ronald and Nancy Reagan in urging the creators of American entertainment fare to aid in the fight against drugs.

Unlike Reagan, however, Bush won over many of his 1,700 listeners by avoiding attacks on Hollywood. Last November, during a visit to Japan, Reagan raised hackles by saying that the entertainment industry should look to Japan to bring back “decency and good taste” to American films. He later apologized for the gaffe in an appearance before the Hollywood Radio & Television Society. Bush steered clear of criticizing Hollywood’s current morality in addressing the drug issue.

“I’m not asking you to compromise your art,” Bush said. “I’m not asking TV producers or film makers to portray a fantasy world where drugs don’t exist. Sugarcoating won’t solve anything. What I’m suggesting is that you have an opportunity to help your country.

“I’m with those of you who believe the answer is to treat drugs with the same degree of realism TV brings to so many other subjects,” Bush said. “How what starts out as a high turns into the lowest form of self-abasement . . . how drugs kill--every day.”

Suzanne de Passe, president of Motown Productions, said that she appreciated Bush’s non-judgmental approach. “I think what he was saying is that if drugs are an issue in your program, not to sugarcoat it, and I agree with that,” she said.

Television academy President Leo Chaloukian said he hoped Bush’s support would aid the academy’s anti-drug push.

“I do hope that the producers of television and film, as well as the motion picture industry, will take heed to the president’s request to tell the whole story when somebody is on drugs,” he said. “What happens to the mind, the body and the individual--it’s not just a glory trip. That’s what producers should do, in my opinion--tell it like it is.”

Bush also put in a plug for the academy’s “Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue,” an animated substance-abuse special for children set for simultaneous broadcast on ABC, CBS and NBC April 21 in the middle of the Saturday morning cartoon block.

The special, funded by McDonald’s, features animated stars including Alf, Bugs Bunny, the Smurfs, the Muppet Babies and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, rallying to rescue a 14-year-old boy from a life of drug abuse. The academy estimates that more than 20 million children will watch the program in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

While praising Bush’s low-key approach, Kirgo was cynical about the president’s remarks.

“I think he was pretty good in that he didn’t say, ‘Come on, Hollywood, shape up,’ the way some politicians did,” Kirgo said. “At least he didn’t pull the number Reagan did in Japan.

“(But) I don’t think it (the drug problem) is Hollywood’s responsibility. I don’t think the answer to the drug problem is a cartoon for kids. I mean, we hope Roger Rabbit never has a monkey on his back, but the problem is so much deeper.”

Chaloukian defended the academy’s animated special. “If we can get to them at a young age about the consequences of drugs, I would say we’re way ahead of the game,” he said. “Television is the most powerful medium of communication in the entire world; you can move people, you can do a great deal about the drug problem through television if it is used properly.”

Tony Danza and Judith Light, stars of ABC’s comedy “Who’s the Boss?,” were in the audience for Bush’s speech and expressed support for his efforts. “I think (drug abuse) is something we’re already concerned about,” Light said.

Added Danza: “I think television should be more realistic in its treatment of all subjects, not just drugs. While they’re at it, we should clean up some of this violence in children’s cartoons.”

Producer Marian Rees said she hopes that Bush’s plea for realism will result in more TV programs about drug rehabilitation as well as about the dangers of drug use. Several years ago, she said, she tried unsuccessfully to get the networks to buy a TV movie script about recovery from addiction, to star Michael J. Fox.

“I’m going to take that script out again today; I’m encouraged,” she said.