Focus On Downers (1971)

What? Please, please, just relax, sweetheart. I called in and they're on their way. What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong. Connie, don't you won't mutter. I mean, don't do that. Just try and be still. What happened to you? Maybe I can help you. I'm the sweet, don't you? Please be calm. Be calmer. Please. Please, sweetheart. Please don't. Connie, please. Connie. No. Connie. Connie. You're all right. You're going to be all right. You'll see. You're going to be all right. Come in. Come in over here. Here she is. Come over here. Come under here. Here she is. And I don't know what's wrong. I don't know. And she That's all. That's all she I don't know anything else. What What do you think's wrong? What happened to her? She fell off the car. Call the doctor. I don't know why. Are you sure? Are you sure? Are you sure? Sure. Yeah, she's getting on. Okay. She's doing better. The hospital. Are you her mother? Yes, I'm her mother. What do you think is wrong with her? Well, why are you taking her? What do you think's wrong with her? Can't you tell me what's wrong? Don't you know what's wrong? Well, I don't understand why you have oxygen. Baby, you'll be all right. Don't worry, sweetheart. You're going to be all right. They're going to take you in and everything's going to be all right. They're going to take care of you now. Nothing worries. They're going to put you in. Don't worry, baby. They'll take care of her. Where am I? Where are you? Don't worry. Don't worry. Don't worry. You're going to be all right. Be all right, sweetheart. Don't worry. Don't worry. You're going to be all right. [Applause] No, this isn't a film about heroin. It's a film about downers, the barbiterate drugs. And that was not someone kicking the heroin habit. That was a 14-year-old girl suffering the withdrawal symptoms of barbituate addiction. Surprised? So was she [Music] This girl is addicted to barbituates. She's been taking downers for only 4 weeks. Before she came to this party, she took four second or as some people know them, reds. A very strong seditive. [Music] She's so stoned now that she doesn't remember taking. She'll die tonight because she forgot. [Applause] [Applause] Can you go? Before leaving this morning, this boy took three rainbows. two and all capt. He doesn't know that drinking and barbbituates will lead to death for him tonight. This girl is on her way to her girlfriend's house. She took a few yellows nebul capsules before she left her house. Because she couldn't see well enough and because her reaction time was severely slowed down, she too will be in for a big surprise. Her very last big surprise. Because she will also die tonight. Let's find out what all these kids should have known about barbiterates before they started experimenting with them through radio, television, and newspaper advertising. We're constantly encouraged to buy the many drugs that are sold in our neighborhood drugstore. Drugs for colds, drugs for fevers, drugs for sore throats, drugs for running noses, and drugs to give you a lift, and drugs to bring you down. Take these sleeping pills over here. The same kind your mother and father may take occasionally to get to sleep after a nervous day at home or at the office. They're right out on the counter within easy reach of everyone. So that means that they're pretty safe. Right. Right. Because they do not contain any of the barbbiterate drug. All barbiterates must be dispensed by a licensed pharmacist. It's his job to see to it that no one is given any barbiterates without a doctor's prescription. All barbiterates are considered dangerous and may only be prescribed and taken under the supervision of a qualified doctor, which is why they're called dangerous drugs. This is one of those dangerous barbiterates, second all reds. And this is another two and all rainbows. And this is another nebuto yellows. Yellows, reds, rainbows. Pretty colors. But these three drugs make up the majority of barbiterates being abused in this country. In the past, when they were prescribed by a doctor, they were used to treat high blood pressure, epilepsy, and some forms of mental illness. Today, they're mostly prescribed for people with insomnia who can't fall asleep at night. We went to the Los Angeles Free Clinic to find out how experimentation with these barbituates leads to addiction and talked to Dr. Ron Citroenbomb. We see about 600 patients a week here at the free clinic. So, I am only too aware of the growing number of teenagers becoming addicted to barbiterate medications. The amazing thing is that barbiterate addiction can take place in just a few weeks. During that time, the body develops a tolerance, sort of a partial immunity to the drug. The user must take more and more to get the same effect. Eventually, he may be taking 10 or 20 times that amount, uh, the normal amount, and still need more. At that point, his body is physically dependent on the medication. If the barbiterate addict decides to stop taking the pills, he will go through a very serious and dangerous withdrawal. This is characterized by nauseousness, vomiting, muscle cramps, delirium, and convulsions similar to epileptic fits. Many barbiterate addicts going through withdrawal will die unless immediately hospitalized. This is why withdrawal from barbiterates should take place over a period of weeks. with gradually reduced dosages and always under medical supervision. Of course, no one plans to become addicted to barbiterates, but even teenagers who know that they're extremely addicting use them. Why? Let's find out from a psychologist who works with young people and is familiar with their problems. Her name, Dr. Patricia Keith Spiegel. There are many reasons why young people become involved with barbbitures. For instance, some teenagers don't do as well as they should in school. Many feel they'd rather not go there at all and are unwilling or unable to see school as anything other than a very boring waste of time. The answers are all backwards. Were you confused? It's just terrible. You may not even be able to be a member of this household if you continue to act like that. Oh, mother. Others are often depressed because they quarrel with their parents so frequently. They feel that their parents just don't listen to what they have to say and that when they do, they don't care either. Sharp improvement. Many youngsters feel that there is just no way out of the bario or ghetto slum. That this is all they have to look forward to for the rest of their lives. They feel defeated and beaten in a world that doesn't seem to care about their needs and problems as minority citizens. On the other hand, there are the wellto-do kids who've had everything they've ever wanted handed to them by their parents, but for some reason are anxious and uptight and not able to get along with friends and people their own age. Even in this group, there is still a percentage of kids who take barbiterates just to relax and turn off the world. If you have the slightest feeling that you could be or are beginning to rely on the barbiterate drugs to avoid feeling tense, worried, anxious, or helpless, then you are in danger of becoming dependent upon or addicted to barbiterates. The thing to remember is that there hasn't been a drug invented that can actually solve problems. Well, you I tried to tell you, but you just never listen. If you think your parents don't understand what you're trying to tell them, then maybe you'd better keep trying because it's a sense that any gap in communication or understanding there already is always will only be widened by taking drugs. The difference between living the rest of your life like this, without hope, without a future, and living like this, no matter what minority group you belong to in our rapidly changing times, is the result of an education, something you get from school, not from drugs. And here's something else to consider. I've noticed that people who are hung up on barbiterate drugs don't really have that much fun after all. In most cases, they're so doped up that they normally can't get into the things that their straight friends are into. Not only are they too tired all of the time, but they don't even have a desire to be with their friends. This leads to a dull, lonely existence where the only thing they really want to do is get stoned because they're getting stoned is eventually all they can do to hold off their withdrawal symptoms. This, of course, continues to make their lives even more dull and uninteresting. What's really needed to change things is your involvement. Everybody has personal problems and everybody has to solve them in their own way. But coping out on drugs is not the way you solve problems. It's only a way of avoiding them temporarily. And the more problems you avoid and don't solve when you're young, the more problems you'll have to solve when you're an adult. So even if you don't die from an overdose, even if you don't die because you mixed alcohol with barbbiterates, even if you don't die from the withdrawal convulsions, the most you can expect from your experimentation with downers is to return right back to the same problems that you found too unpleasant to face before. Also, can you be sure that you're not becoming the kind of person who was constantly running away from your problems? Can you be sure that you'll be able to stop taking downers when you want to, knowing that barbbiterate tolerance and dependency develops with just a few weeks? Is it really worth the risk? And for all of you who feel that the world is just too sick to understand or handle and would like to turn it off occasionally with barbiterates, you might want to think about this. You are the generation with the least amount of time left to prepare yourselves to make this a better world for all. Becoming addicted to barbiterates is not the answer to the problems facing all of us, young and old. The pusher gets money by selling barbiterates. What do you get? [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh, [Music] oh. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]