Angel Death - Two For One Sale (1979)

how old are you George have you been smoking some angel dust this evening yeah there's something new soaring in popularity among young drug users it's PCP or angel dust if you haven't really been smoking it you can't really talk about it but if you really into it you know what you're talking about my mama mama love [Music] me sometimes it's violent really violent now you just want to fight get it out of you I'm not crazy when I'm high if I had a gun I'd probably shoot myself candy how old are you now 12 how old were you when you uh first started smoking Ang 11 then cycline hydrochloride PCP was developed 20 years ago as a surgical anesthetic in early test scientists found that one out of three people woke up screaming in a state of temporary insanity now the same chemical made in underground labs has become a major drug problem in most large cities in the United States in Los Angeles PCP related arrests have risen 2,000% in the last 4 years in New York one in every six students in junior high and high school has tried PCP at least once it is now second only in popularity to alcohol and marijuana among schoolage drug users how did you feel when you used the angel I don't know I just felt blazing I'm Joanne Woodward and I'm Paul Newman PCP is the latest and potentially The Most Dangerous Drug to hit the youth drug scene the National Institute on drug abuse estimates that over 7 million people have used PCP many are hooked on according to one study the average age for using angel dust the first time is 14 it is cheap and easy to buy the cost of a joint laced with PCP is about the same as a school lunch but the effects are unpredictable and they are uncontrollable many experts say angel dust is the most destructive drug in the street we'll find out why from the people who use [Music] it I have left home and have gotten lost didn't know my way back back home I looked at her until she went to the bottom of the swimming pool and then even when she was at the bottom I said you really swim under the water real good you mentioned it was a pretty good size caliber gun how big a gun did you use uh 357 which would normally kill a person with one bullet close range would yes but uh it was too [Music] angel dust can be purchased in more forms than any other illegal drug it can be smoked snorted shot or swallowed in a pill some even use it in eye drops it can be sold as a crystallin powder or a liquid one way of using it is to dip one of these cigarettes into a liquid and smoke it these are called Shermans or shms and produce a high after one or two HPS the most popular way is to sprinkle the chemical on parsley or mint leaves and roll them into a joint this is a duster and sells for about $3 it looks deceptively like a marijuana joint but PCP is much more powerful a dose of angel dust sent this man running wild down Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles minutes earlier he kicked out store windows with his bare feet and threatened people with a knife this man smoked just one cigarette dipped in PCP an hour later he ended up here in an emergency room six people were required to restrain him these handcuffs were broken by a man whose hands were locked behind his back he was on PCP it took 550 lbs of pressure to break them these are not isolated instances of bizarre violent Behavior caused by PCP they happen often sometimes they are gruesome okay got one one man under the influence of angel dust pulled out his own teeth with a pair of pliers another bit off a woman's nose one woman fried her own baby in cooking oil PCP can cause more harm than any other illegal [Music] drug since its Discovery in the late 50s p cp's only legal use has been as an anesthetic for animal Victor is a 300lb male Jaguar from South America he is about to be knocked out with PCP he had a cancerous growth removed from his leg that still requires periodic Medical Care this is his sixth treatment [Music] in 15 minutes Victor will be completely anesthetized but PCP is not without side effects his passage to Anesthesia will be turbulent initially PCP acts like a stimulant for both animals and humans as the dose increases the effects of PCP change to a depressant senses are dulled reactions slowed and coordination thrown [Music] off when all senses are completely immobilized the animal or human is in a state of anesthesia PCP is a safe drug when properly used on animals it also has some side effects and negative drawbacks to the use of the drug in some animals we see a fairly High incidence of convulsions unless you mask it with other drugs to mask the bad effects you can have the animal go down into violent convulsions and that can be a very dangerous situation for the animal PCP causes other side effects Victor's temperature will rise he will overs salivate and could drown in his own saliva he could begin vomiting uncontrollably early this year legal manufacturers stopped making PCP it is being replaced by anesthetics that are safer and have fewer side effects soon the only species using PCP will be humans my muscles would become extremely rigid I would vomit I remember having muscle spasm you're real shaky and nervous and you stumble on everything and you just can't like move you're like paralyzed and you like that feeling kind of in a way despite its obvious dangers these young people are into Angel Des like I said if you're into getting high it's a good high cuz you space and you like you can let your mind take over anything you could look at a piece of paper and make it look like a rock or the ocean or anything once a week they meet at a Counseling Center to talk about their bad trips and bizarre experiences their counselor is a former drug user himself well I really don't use anymore now like I OD you did OD George Henry is 15 he's overdosed on PCP three times what was the experience that caused you to OD just taking two hits and ending up in the hospital during a break in the filming George and a friend disappeared while the cameras were reloading when he came back George looked different look up here at Jim can you look over here at me can you open your eyes yeah look over here where I'm sitting can you do that yeah look up here we found out later that George had smoked half a duster can you tell us what day it is today yeah all right what day is it today um uh you know where you are this evening no is this the normal way that you feel this evening what's how are you feeling right now can you talk and tell us what it's like where you're at right now yeah what's it like George I don't know a high un angel dust is described as being detached from all feelings or suspended in a state of nothingness a user may hallucinate that he's God Immortal and superhuman while he appears calm scientists have learned the activity in his brain is anything but tranquil for 20 years scientists have been studying the brain waves of monkeys to find out how PCP affects humans this is fuzzy and these are her brain waves were normal after an injection of PCP her brain waves look like this well you can see that fuzzy already is spaced out and yet you notice that she has her eyes open you'd see the same thing in a human being that would take a dose similar to this under PCP P the brain's nerve cells all fire at once sending high voltage surges of electricity through the brain an overdose of PCP can overload the brain circuits with More Voltage than it can handle fuzzy is now showing another thing you you notice the twitchings that she's getting these are seizures and some humans actually have epileptic seizures exactly like fuzzy one of the problems of PCP is the fact that it's very easy to overdose a small dose gives a little bit of a zombie like effect a little larger dose than your R zombie and still a little larger dose and you're in a convulsion and so this is a real problem in the case of phencyclidine because a little bit can really overdose you I want this go home Ellis Warren smoked one Sherman cigarette dipped in PCP he overdosed and was taken to an emergency room [ __ ] HT want to hurtt no one hurt Ellis must be handled very carefully overdose victims feel no pain and often tear muscles and break limbs without knowing the staff must try to restrain him while still protecting themselves and Ellis from injury there is no specific medical treatment or detoxification for PCP we just haven't found it yet kids are dying from PCP and we don't know how to keep them from dying from overdoses from seizures that don't stop uh from coma um the most characteristic thing that you can say about PCP is that it is unpredictable so it's a medical problem that we're not on top of and for that reason medically PCP is is more dangerous than heroin y the violent symptoms of a PCP overdose usually subside in a few hours but they can return PCP is stored in the body's fat cells and can be recirculated through the brain days or even weeks later I find it that that it uh has that uh it has a uh personality effect change on you know just well I couldn't remember how to put together uh Lo lose count of of things zombie space cadet rubberhead burnout these are street terms for a condition doctor's called chronic brain syndrome it is caused by repeated use of PCP even in low low doses Maggie Jackson has been using angel dust for 6 years it has taken its toll in Amnesia stuttering anxiety and severe depression I know I'm sick I I admit the fact that I'm sick when was the last time you got busted I got busted two about two weeks a two weeks ago it's hard for me to remember you know exact dates megie have you had any problems with your memory yes I have left home and have gotten lost didn't know my way back home and um I forget dates and um forgotten my age and you forget a lot I count backwards from a 100 to me not really it's i n 99 98 97 96 it's hard to do really it's it's I guess it the way I feel since I've been off into this thing with PCP I refuse to in a way to do anything intelligent because look seems to me I have in mind that everybody you know look at me as a complete dummy while it is not physically addicting many users find that PCP can easily become a habit get up in the morning light some up t house and i' have some for lunch and i' I'd feel a shortness of breath if I didn't get any for dinner I don't want to smoke it you know I don't I know it's bad you I don't want to smoke it and it's cuz I can't think I can't remember or anything but but then when some if the ch comes up you just gets out of control and you just smoke it few days after his overdose Ellis Warren was released from the hospital Ellis has been taking drugs since he was 13 his experience with PCP convinced him to enter a drug rehabilitation program often an overdose victim does not recall the experience so we invited Ellis to watch the film of his night in the emergency room a night he doesn't remember only one detail I remember was like I was strapped down you know that seemed like that's in my mind but everything else I you know can't remember okay why don't you push the button and look at the film I'm not crazy I'm not crazy my mama mama love me you m [ __ ] that I want hurt you nobody I don't want to hurt hurt I don't know what that [Music] me got nothing man I'm trying can't AC like that a oh a c St C I really hate you know that I was even uh introduced to it you know uh I never felt in my whole life that I would present myself like that I never thought it's like I wasn't that wasn't me that was somebody else I can't really Define what was going on in my mind because I I guess I don't know myself I had no control of us I couldn't even stand up at first and like when I did finally make it to the clinic it was that was when I was like coming down I couldn't be me I had to be what it want me to be and I'm a do everything within my power to never let it happen again for every person who manages to get free from a PCP habit many others fall into the same trap [Music] daily the process starts here this is a transaction between a dust user and a dust dealer the picture and sound quality have been altered to conceal their identity [Music] we made contact with the dealer during our research and he agreed to be interviewed the people that deal the dust are very intelligent and they're very organized he is 21 and has been dealing dust for several years now he wants to stop so he agreed to talk to us you know that a lot of young kids are smoking dust yes I do what do you think of these young kids who were smoking to us I think they're very stupid and they're probably stealing from their friends and their neighbors just to get high and you know who comes up with all their money I do I don't care it's my money to give to my kids my kids come before anybody else you have a couple of little kids right yes I do and they're just babies right now yes they are would you want them to use PCP when they grow up oh Lord no I would not want them to use PCP I want them to understand that I'm going through something in life that they better not go through because if I find out they get they ever got even near this I will find out and I will find out who gave it to them and I will totally kill I will kill them officer yes sir I my now please no you can't ride your bike you're under arrest for suspicion of driving on the influence of drugs he's a the actual sounds of an 18-year-old male arrested for driving a motorcycle erratically he was under the influence of PCP please please D if you got you hardly ripped off man if you got your [ __ ] hard ripped off man you you you'd be pissed off too man I SP the [ __ ] B man God Dam it they [ __ ] me man minutes later he was taken to a police station PCP frequently triggers violent psychotic behavior scientists are not sure why some say it causes it others think that PCP releases impulses and people predisposed towards violence whatever the reason no one can ever be sure how it will affect them uh quite quite often I found I found myself being uh pretty violent n you just want to fight when to get it out of you if you don't get it out of you it stays in you you know you just want to fight just the least thing would really set me off I don't know why but we got in a fight and uh we thrown lamps I was at Dodger Stadium and I tried to sneak down from the general mission to the box seats and I pushed a usherette into a wall an argument came up somehow and before I knew it I found myself pushing his friend out my window do you get into fights often Greg no I don't I'm not a violent person at all tell you the truth you never been busted for Sal no I haven't when he was 16 years old Greg Cooper shot and Beat to Death a friend he had known for 4 years Greg was loaded on Dust how much dust had you done that day I'd say about a half ounce about a half o to be sure a friend of Greg's was having problems with a girl he liked he asked Greg to shoot her new boyfriend when he was not dusted Greg refused this is Robert the boy Greg killed the night of the murder Greg's accomplice got him loaded could you describe what happened when you killed him well uh we were loaded on Dust pretty heavy that night about a half ounce and uh we're all talking and everything and uh I guess the dust started taking effect and uh reacted and got mad and went over there and uh shot him a couple times is that all you did and uh I hit him a couple times in the face with what with uh the gun do you remember the feelings you had no I didn't next day I didn't remember any of it until uh my crime Partners told me the people that were with me did somebody put you up to killing him I sort of got talked into it I'd say if I was in the right state of mind I would have uh walked away I would have never did it you mean not Stoned on death yeah I would have never reacted like that though [Applause] my friend tonight Denise her name was Denise um we decided to go swimming one day and we decided to get the Sherman first and when we got there we decided to get two Sherman so we got in the pool and we splashed around we're having fun oh we're bold we're bad you know we're doing something and U we were just as loaded as we wanted to be and she started screaming for help and she said help me Jack I'm drowning and I said no you're not Denise you're not drowning I got out of the swimming pool and I watched her even when she was at the bottom I said you really swim under the water real good you know and I when I finally did dive in and get her she was already dead and um after that I just just ran off screaming Jackie Blair is 18 she's been using PCP for 3 and 1/2 years 2 weeks after her friend drowned she decided to get help she had herself committed to a state mental institution how do you feel about me kind of putting you know kind of talking about your hurt I don't like it Jackie is in a drug rehabilitation program with other PCP users they share one thing in common they are all in pain and use PCP in an attempt to find peace of mind can you look at me Jack I try and look at me okay I see you looking at me and I'm concerned and I wonder if you share the same concern that I did I um can you say that one more time I I'm concerned but it's not um Jackie has kept her pain hidden away from her therapist and from herself tell me what it's like to just be concerned no know what it's very hard to be concerned and when you allow yourself to be concerned what happens hurt I don't like hurt man what we have with Jackie is a a PCP problem in the present that started off as an interpersonal problem once we get beyond that we find a lot of pain a lot of concern a lot of a lot of feelings emotional feelings that she has no idea how to deal with ever since she was 13 14 years old what she's been doing is stopping those feelings from coming up by taking PCP and uh suddenly you have a PCP problem after two months Jackie has decided she's ready to leave she's leaving right before the breakr there's a a little Ridge that she has to get over where all the emotions lie that's the point that she's decided to leave 2 weeks after she left the mental hospital we filmed Jackie as she visited her friend's grave for the first time well I read a poem and the name of it is Paradise Paradise where is it where can I find it does anyone know may I find it in life can I find it in Death Lord where can I go is it on a far away island or on a cruise on the ship Paradise maybe I'll find it just by taking one cool dip Paradise [Music] right after she died I didn't want to be here either she was gone and I wanted to be [Music] dead I thought about the way she died chemicals that were in her system that's no way to [Music] die staying off PCP isn't easy it's a long tough process for every success there are many others who slip back into it the PCP story has few Happy Endings what happened to me that night I pray to God that it never never happen again Warren is still having problems with drugs he has used PCP several times since watching his own overdose where are you going to go after you leave here this evening according to his mother George Henry has not smoked angel dust since being filmed she has arranged to have some friends beat him up every time he tries deep down I know that it's harmful to me Maggie Jackson is still suffering from some of the symptoms of burnout but she has managed to cut down on dust from once or twice a day to once or twice a month it's scared me into uh where if I went back to it um it just might happen again Greg Cooper was arrested for murder complications in his case led to the prosecution accepting a plea of manslaughter he will be released in 14 months I am in Disguise they'll never catch me no matter what our dealer told us he has stopped selling dust he has moved from his apartment and left no forwarding address or phone number the effects that it gives on you you know it's um some people don't come back even the experience of watching her friend drown has not scared Jackie off PCP completely she slipped back to the drug several times but 7 months after we filmed her she has returned to a drug program for help much about PCP is still a mystery as yet there is no explanation for any of its effects we do not know why PCP triggers uncontrollable violence we do not know why it is unpredictable or why it causes hallucinations paranoia or depression we do not know how long it recirculates in the body or why it leaves people behaving like zombies and we do not know if it causes genetic defects that will be passed along to the children of PCP users what we do know is that PCP is the most Dangerous Drug on the street it is easy to overdose it can easily become a habit it can easily make you crazy if you are into PCP take a close look at yourself it may be giving you a peace of mind that is leaving you mindless your PCP problem will not go away by itself the only alternative to the drug is not to need it the most important thing you can do is to find help if you haven't tried PCP but you're thinking about it just remember the people you've seen here the risks are obvious only you can decide if they're worth it [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music]