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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1997)
Career Fair MICHAEL CRISP/Emerald Mari Rice, a Senior studying Spanish in the College of International Studies, discusses job possi bilities unth a representativefrom A mericorps Sendee International. Paparazzi, the Princess and the Press: Media Ethics in a Post-Diana World A panel co-sponsored by the School of Journalism and Communication and the American Civil Liberties Union Thursday, November 6,1997 4-5:30 p.m. Ben Linder Room of the EMU Jim Godbold, The Register-Guard Paul Reiss, KVAL-TV Dave Fidanque, ACLU Rebecca Force, media critic Tim Gleason, School of Journalism and Communication Jim Upshaw, School of Journalism and Communication BOTA BAGS ARE IN! 15% Group Discount for 10 or more MCKENZIE OUTFITTERS DOWNTOWN - 79 WEST BROADWAY UP ESCALATOR AT VALLEY RIVER CENTER Be cool... Make a better world. RECYCLE ‘Murphy Brown’ draws fire for marijuana use In a recent episode, the TV character smoked a joint to relieve nausea By Michael J. Sniffen The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Fictional broadcaster Murphy Brown is in trouble again with a government official. The chief of the Drug En forcement Administration ac cused the CBS television charac ter Wednesday of sending a dangerous message to children by using marijuana to relieve nausea caused by chemotherapy. In a statement issued a few hours before Wednesday’s broad cast of the situation comedy, DEA Administrator Thomas Constan tine said CBS and the show’s cre ators were “doing a great disser vice” by "trivializing drug abuse” and “pandering to the libertarian supporters of an ‘open society’ and to the myths of legalization.” In Wednesday’s episode, ac tress Candice Bergen, who plays television reporter Brown, is shown smoking a marijuana ciga rette to quell nausea produced by chemotherapy prescribed to treat her breast cancer. The illegal mari juana is purchased for her by an other character, anchorman Jim Dial, who is concerned over her inability to get relief from legal drugs and therapies. “As a law enforcement official with 38 years of experience and, even more importantly, a father and grandfather,” Constantine said, “I am extremely troubled that at a time when teenage drug abuse is dou bling ... a television show of the cal iber of Murphy Brown would por tray marijuana as medicine. It is not medicine_More dangerously, the show sends the message to our chil dren that marijuana must be okay because it’s medicine.” CBS Vice President Chris Enders replied in an interview, “Murphy Brown has a rich history of blend ing comedy with controversial po litical and social issues and doing it responsibly. We stand firmly be hind this episode, which deals with the medicinal use of marijua na in a compelling, poignant and sometimes humorous manner. ” Enders said the episode got a more restrictive rating than the show usually does — TV-14, which means parents are strongly urged to exercise greater care in monitoring the program and are cautioned against letting children under the age of 14 watch unat tended. In 1992, then-Vice President Dan Quayle touched off a national debate when he accused the show of undermining families with Murphy Brown’s decision to have a child out of wedlock. Constantine said that smoked marijuana has “more harmful chemicals than cigarettes and damages the immune system. ” He said medical experts, the American Medical Association, the American Glaucoma Society and the American Cancer Society have rejected marijuana as medi cine; that its active ingredient, THC, is available by prescription and work is under way on other nausea treatments. “I’m sorry if we’ve upset Mr. Constantine. Obviously he hasn’t seen the show,” said Mark Flani gan, executive producer of "Mur phy Brown. ’’ “We had no political agenda. We are not advocating the medical use of marijuana.” Flanigan said physicians and cancer specialists told the writers that some patients do relieve nau sea with marijuana when other drugs don’t work, so they wrote marijuana into the script only af ter showing Brown unsuccessful ly trying all other known treat ments. “Marijuana was secondary to the story about Jim Dial and Mur phy Brown. He comes to her aid; he risks something,” Flanigan said. “People will go to any lengths to come to the aid of loved ones. That’s what the story is about.” SexMmV& \ Qreetma& send one to a friend! ONLY *3 Includes holiday art $ea&en’& QreetM@& will publish on Wednesday, December 3rd Deadline is Wednesday, November 26th at 1 p.m. “What Are You Waiting For?” Mason. !<)«>."> Tom MiUcls|.u <!l. A pply now to become an Account Executive for the Oregon Daily Emerald Advertising Department Make money, gain valuable experience and hang out with people like Tom and Jerry (oka^ 'i’s really Jeremy). Pick up an application at Suite 300, EMU. Application deadline is 4:00 p.m. Friday, November 14. Interviews will be held the following week. Applicants must be currently enrolled UO students and be able to work Oregon Daily 1 1 through Fall 1998. Freshmen and Sophomores encouraged to apply. h tflprO IH Tke Orevnn Dnilv Fmeml/i it nn F/n.«l _.V. r ^ your guide to the UO Community TV Oregon Deify Emerald u nn Equal Opportuuit, Employer commuted to a culturally divert, uarkplace
