TV TELLS CONGRESS HOW IT WILL AID ANTI-DRUG DRIVE

but it is willing to cooperate with Congress to step up the campaign, spokesmen for the major networks suggested Wednesday.

NBC, CBS and ABC, along with the Cable News Network, were swift to respond to a letter signed Tuesday by 338 members of the House of Representatives urging them to intensify anti-drug efforts. Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who co-wrote the letter with Rep. Lynn Martin (R-Ill.), said that House members want the networks to devise an intensified campaign of public-service announcements and instructive programs to deliver the message.

The consensus among the networks is that “members of Congress are helping to focus national attention” on the drug problem, as ABC’s official response stated.

“It sounds like more of a national mobilization now,” said NBC executives. CBS said: “We share the concern.”

All of the networks contacted by the House, however, emphasized that their drug-awareness efforts preceded the congressional suggestion or President Reagan’s call for a crackdown on drugs earlier this week.

There are numerous anti-drug public-service spots, officials say. Drug humor and the glamorization of drug use has become virtually taboo on network entertainment programs.

“For a long time we have recognized the problem and have tried to see if there are ways we can use the particular impact of television to solve the problem,” said NBC Executive Vice President M.S. (Bud) Rukeyser Jr., whose staff drafted a three-page response late Tuesday after the House press conference on the subject. “We were doing it before they (House members) came to us and . . . we will try to cooperate with them too.”

“I think we’ll talk about doing more in a continued vein, but we’re certainly not starting from scratch,” said George Schweitzer, vice president of the CBS/Broadcast Group.

ABC received the House letter by express mail Wednesday morning. The immediate reaction around the company, according to Vice President for Corporate Communications Patricia J. Matson: “We’re very pleased anytime anybody focuses on a problem we’ve had an interest in for so long.”

Already on the boards at the Big Three is a joint effort with the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies, which will be donating the service of some of Madison Avenue’s top copywriters to combat drug use. The ad agencies intend to provide newspaper ads and television commercials that presumably will hit home the anti-drug message with the same flair used to sell deodorant and soda pop.

Network response indicates that, if nothing else, drugs are a very hot topic.

NBC’s official press statement cites the “more than 700 news, sports and entertainment programs” dealing with the drug problem last year. News reports made up the bulk of that number, Rukeyser said.

Not surprisingly, CNN, the Atlanta-based 24-hour news service from Turner Broadcasting System, also aired “hundreds (of) reports on the crack epidemic and the cocaine epidemic,” said spokesman Bennett Owen.

The networks also cited numerous documentaries on the drug problem as well as existing public-service announcements. Perhaps most memorable in the latter category was NBC’s “Don’t Be a Dope/Just Say No” campaign in 1983-84. Stars such as Daniel J. Travanti and Mr. T participated in those 30-second anti-drug spots.

ABC followed up last year’s public-service campaign on alcohol abuse with one this summer about crack, an inexpensive and highly addictive form of cocaine. Stars of ABC’s daytime shows and soap operas deliver that message.

Drug awareness at ABC, Matson said, was heightened with the arrival this year of new management from Capital Cities Communications, which merged with ABC. As a result, ABC several months ago planned a drug education conference scheduled for the fall which will be attended by 150 ABC news personnel from around the country.

The anti-drug theme also turns up frequently on regular programming. CBS received kudos for its recent made-for-TV movie, “Not My Kid,” about a thoroughly normal family that couldn’t believe their child was using drugs. Nancy Reagan appeared at the end of that show to suggest reading materials on the subject.

The First Lady also appeared on a previous season’s episode of NBC’s “Diff’rent Strokes” that had an anti-drug plot line.

NBC claims it was the first to ban drug jokes. “It used to be just about any live taped show we did had drug humor,” said Maurie Goodman, NBC West Coast vice president for broadcast standards. That ended five years ago, Goodman said, shortly after the Scott Newman Drug Foundation took the network to task for that kind of humor.

As a result, Goodman said, drug humor immediately disappeared from monologues by Bob Hope and Johnny Carson as well as from the show where it was once most likely to be found, “Saturday Night Live.” Goodman added that, in today’s climate, program producers themselves are far less likely to incorporate any potentially pro-drug messages.

All three networks’ broadcast standards manuals have language that essentially says that depiction of drug use must not be imitable or instructive. A party scene on an episode of “Miami Vice” last season had to be re-edited after initial broadcast, Goodman said, because a censor spotted someone snorting coke in the background.

Some TV characters still drink liquor, but the guidelines are strict. CBS’ program practices guide states: “When the line is crossed between normal responsible consumption of a particular substance and abuse, the distinction must be clear and the adverse consequences of abuse specifically noted and explored.”

CBS’ Schweitzer noted that even on a show like “Dallas,” where convivial imbibing of spirits once was routine, “it’s been greatly minimized.” Characters often ask for iced tea instead, Schweitzer added.