THE PILL POPPERS

[Music] this script is about the use of pills more specifically the dangerous abuse of pills all sorts of pills colors all shapes all of them smaller than than a bullet but just as deadly in the wrong hands when we set out to make this film we had in mind a story much like other stories we have filmed and we begin doing our research making our investigation into the facts about popping pills dropping uppers and downers now what we learned in the process of doing this had such a profound impact on us that we decided to let you experience what we did in the same way to that end we'll show you three typical everyday cases the cases of andy [Music] chris [Music] and mark [Music] glue snipping or inhaling spray can aerosols is a sadly false escape from responsibilities and daily problems it's a hazardous risky way of getting high of achieving a feeling of intoxication or euphoria [Applause] it causes irritation and infection it confuses it distorts it destroys the volatile chemicals inhaled can so easily cause permanent damage to kidneys lungs to the liver the bone marrow even the brain hopefully these two young ill-advised sniffers were found out in time their habit is a foolish and dangerous one with this mike and howie agree completely but unhappily for their own misguided and equally dangerous reasons there's a couple real idiots for you why because they want to get high you're putting me on getting high can be really far out but uh not with a bag in a can why not too much man too heavy dig it how can you stash that stuff there's a better way to get high if you're man enough to handle it are you handle what pills man phil uppers for a trip with a real cat the various amphetamines uppers also known as pep pills eye openers co-pilots and many other slang names come in various forms these drugs are stimulants that directly affect the central nervous system the brain and the spinal cord one of the most common of the stimulants is a round pink or white scored tablet amphetamine sulfate known as benzedrine or bennys it is often bought on the street and rolls of several tablets wrapped in foil another is dextroamphetamine sulfate known as dexadrine or dexis which come in both tablet and capsule form one of the most dangerous stimulants is methamphetamine hydrochloride which is found in both tablet and powder form marketed under the name methadrine its slang name is meth or speed it is extremely dangerous and it is no exaggeration that speed kills while these drugs do have proper medical uses under the care of a physician their unchecked abuse has many bad effects that may lead to disaster in serious cases a drug psychosis resembling the metal disorder paranoid schizophrenia can result here white on the house puts you way out there and he is reluctant he's never tried anything before come on man you can hear that and he's flattered and he's anxious to be accepted to beloved to be respected by the end crowd what's the matter dude chicken who's chicken well everyone else is doing it and andy doesn't want to be different he drops his first pills [Applause] [Music] during the following weeks andy became a steady customer of mike and it wasn't long before he bragged that he popped every pill on the market and then some but andy began to change in school his grades dropped noticeably he tried to imitate his new friends and adopt their ways [Music] [Music] and he began to identify with a special anti-social group and shut out the world of reality his behavior caused quarrels at home and to andy it seemed as if his parents were always nagging it never occurred to him that he might be giving them good reasons for calling him down and that they were only showing their concern for him soon he began to exhibit the typical symptoms of the stimulant pill popper he lost his appetite he became overactive excitable and argumentative [Music] by now andy was psychologically dependent on the drugs he became a heavy user he often became confused and acted unpredictably and irrationally [Music] [Applause] [Music] he became tired to the point of exhaustion but was unable to sleep in order to get some rest he began dropping downers at night [Music] uh [Music] and when he did doze off he'd wake up suddenly from terrible nightmares [Music] he had seemingly little control over himself and was quick to unreasonable violence [Music] andy had friends real friends who tried to warn him of the consequences of his habit but like most of the drug oriented young people he maintained a silly ostrich headedness about the dangers of drugs he kept on dropping pills until for him it was too late [Music] [Music] haha chris comes from a nice pleasant home she's an only child and she's left pretty much to herself her father works long hours and her mother has a part-time job to help out there's little home life for chris to depend upon in her fathering search for identity for acceptance she's fallen in with a certain group of schoolmates they'd gotten into trouble occasionally nothing serious cutting school fighting but they were headed for bigger trouble [Music] [Applause] [Music] reds brand name seconal one of the most potent of the barbiturates a drug that depresses the central nervous system psychobarbital sodium a downer barbiturates are the opposites of amphetamines and even more dangerous when used without the supervision of a physician there are several barbiturates on the market all their brand names end in a l this is nimbutol sodium pentabarbital yellows widely used as a sleeping pill along with other barbiturates such as amital slang name blue heavens also available in small white tablets and tuinol called rainbows or double trouble in the street trade because it is a combination of amabarbital sodium and secobarbital's sodium barbitus are known to drug abusers as barbs candy goofballs and other slang names they usually come in capsules but are also made in many other forms barbiturates are the drugs most commonly used to commit suicide more people commit suicide with barbiturates than with guns barbiturates not only create a psychological dependency but a physical addiction as well your mind and your body get hooked and the user quickly builds up a tolerance to the drug and requires regularly increased doses making an overdose a very real possibility and if the drug is not available the user will suffer withdrawal symptoms often more dangerous than those resulting from narcotics continued and excessive use of barbiturates will result in drowsiness slurred speech staggering loss of balance and falling the user will become quarrelsome and increasingly unstable he may fall into a coma he may die large doses of barbiturates taken in conjunction with alcohol is particularly dangerous producing a synergistic effect synergistic means the combined effects of the two depressants alcohol and barbiturate plus the effect of the combination how hard it will hit you is kind of a chemical russian roulette it wasn't hard to get chris to take her first reds a little coaxing a little flattering and chris was too eager to be one of the crowd to let reason interfere [Music] it's easy to build up a barbiturate habit addiction comes quickly for chris it did not take long and from then on if she did not seek help she had only one way to go down her schoolwork suffered her grades dropped but she was not interested at home she seemed always at odds with her parents and her personal habits and grooming became increasingly lacks [Music] soon she required ever larger doses of the drug to satisfy her needs because of the tolerance her body had built up money to support her habit became a problem she traded her wristwatch for a few rolls telling her parents she'd lost it and finally she began shoplifting adding yet another grave risk to her future her first theft netted her a few bucks an air drop in the ocean of thefts muggings and burglaries committed by drug users to support their habit in one metropolitan city alone in one year this amounted to 140 million dollars [Music] [Applause] by now chris lived only for her drugs she'd left and lost her real friends but she didn't care her parents were at a loss to reach her to communicate with her and she did not seek their help nor the help of anyone else and soon the downers alone were not enough for chris she needed the added kick of alcohol [Music] that night chris did not come home that night she died od overdose of drugs chris was dead but she was not alone the police department listed two more deaths that same week all three victims had something in common all three were 16 years of age all three died of an accidental overdose of barbiturates besides chris there was one other girl she died in an apartment where five of her friends were lost in the unreal world of drugs oblivious to the very real presence of death among them they all took drugs for kicks the drugs offer more than kicks much more like for instance death [Music] this is mark mark's father left home when mark was only nine his mother married again but mark never could feel close to his stepfather mark is bored with his home especially since his younger brother had an accident and seems to get all his mother's attention all she ever does for him mark feels is nag nag nag mark feels a certain dissatisfaction with life as if something is missing [Music] [Applause] mark is well aware of the fact that several of the kids in school dropped pills so far he hasn't dropped himself but maybe it would make him feel [Music] and when lou offers him a couple of reds he accepts the drowsy peaceful on the edge feeling mark experienced on his first trip was most pleasant so pleasant in fact that when he saw lou again he decided to score a few more downers from him and stock up pinks escape from problems and unpleasantness the key to a groovy carefree high [Music] or nagging in the back of mark's mind are a lot of things he'd heard and seen in school on tv and magazines about the dangers of dropping pills probably a lot of scare propaganda he thinks but still anyway no need to make up his mind now later is soon enough all right [Music] mark was usually a good player but today seemed preoccupied he didn't seem to have his mind on the game mark knows willie from school even though he is a few years older and he knows something else about him something important willie was busted for possession of drugs he's the guy to talk to he ought to know and willie does know i'm through with the drug scene i put down for good this time you're nothing special man everybody's got problems at home in school your friends you name it everybody's got hang up but no pill is gonna make them go away make them easier to take though that's the bummer your problems don't get smaller only bigger i'm telling you like it is there's trouble waiting in every one of those pills at home your family the man and most of all you yourself it's your health it's your life you're fooling around with no man dropping pills isn't where it's at freaking out getting hooked or busted that's not my scene [Music] so [Music] so mark was intelligent and strong enough to win his battle he'll make it i know him personally i never knew andy no chris i didn't have the chance the tragedies of andy and chris however shattering to those close to them are only a tiny fraction of the total picture there are only two among many thousands we're well aware that their cases the truth about dropping pills may be scorned and ridiculed by some young people who are themselves among the pill poppers already hooked who hear only what they want to hear drugs are in the end an enormously disappointing experience and most students are beginning to realize it therefore we're confident that the majority will want to learn the facts and thus be able to decide their own course of action with reason and understanding and the grim fact is that in new york city alone one boy or girl one young woman or young man dies every day from an accidental overdose of drugs and across our continent in los angeles the same terrible fact holds true pills the innocent looking often cheerfully colored little pills are responsible for the lion's share in this unreasoning needless slaughter [Music] you