Drug Addiction (1951)

1951-01-0120m

Marty, a "good boy," experiments with marijuana and experiences "profound mental and emotional disturbances." As in all anti-drug films of this vintage, marijuana leads straight to "H," and Marty's decline continues until he is busted, rehabbed and reformed. Drug Addiction's stilted view of the urban drug culture and unrealistic portrayals of stoned slackers make it entertaining viewing today. It belongs to that little-known "second wave" of anti-drug films, the postwar scare stories about middle-class kids overcome by junkiedom. What this wave of films reveals is that drugs were an issue for white adolescents long before the psychedelic Sixties, and that the official response to the threat expressed a general, not specifically targeted paranoia.

Related Movies

10505-thumbnail

Run for Your Life! (2008)

He lived the junkie's life as a heroin addict. Triathlon transformed him. Biopic of the record breaking Ironman Andreas Niedrig.

581575-thumbnail

DJ Punk: The Photographer Daniel Josefsohn (2018)

Nobody captured the atmosphere of 1990s Berlin better than German photographer Daniel Josefsohn, who died in 2016 at the age of 54, leaving his mark in advertising with his irreverent aesthetic and punk sensibility. It was his spontaneous, imperfect images shot for an MTV campaign in 1994 that first made him famous.

434064-thumbnail

On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone (2017)

One man's search for the prolific funk legend, Sly Stone.

427909-thumbnail

GrassRoots: The Cannabis Revolution (2016)

'GrassRoots: The Cannabis Revolution', explores the medicinal use of cannabis, the patients involved & the campaign to change UK law.

431137-thumbnail

Nichts für die Ewigkeit (2011)

A sister shares an apartment with her heroin-addicted brother. Over the course of twelve years, she records the constant struggle and the constant losing.

1108862-thumbnail

Safe Place (2024)

A Southern Indiana man endures a fatal night of torture after being arrested for a routine traffic stop.

763569-thumbnail

Moments Like This Never Last (2021)

Dash Snow rejected a life of privilege to make his own way as an artist on the streets of downtown New York City in the late 1990s. Developing from a notorious graffiti tagger into an international art star, he documented his drug- and alcohol-fueled nights with the surrogate family he formed with friends and fellow artists Ryan McGinley and Dan Colen before his death by heroin overdose in 2009. Drawing from Snow’s unforgettable body of work and involving archival footage, Cheryl Dunn’s exceptional portrait captures his all-too-brief life of reckless excess and creativity.

594799-thumbnail

Iboga Nights (2014)

Once again, David Graham Scott examines how some addicts use the plant medicine iboga to detox rapidly—and how, sometimes, the conditions in which they detox put them at risk.

25366-thumbnail

Methadonia (2005)

Shot over the course of 18 months in New York City's Lower East Side, METHADONIA sheds light on the inherent flaws of legal methadone treatments for heroin addiction by profiling eight addicts, in various stages of recovery and relapse, who attend the New York Center for Addiction Treatment Services (NYCATS).

22010-thumbnail

Grass (1999)

Marijuana is the most controversial drug of the 20th Century. Smoked by generations to little discernible ill effect, it continues to be reviled by many governments on Earth. In this Genie Award-winning documentary veteran Canadian director Ron Mann and narrator Woody Harrelson mix humour and historical footage together to recount how the United States has demonized a relatively harmless drug.

752390-thumbnail

The Self-Destruction of Gia (2003)

Filmmaker JJ Martin explores Gia Carangi's life through rare home movies and photos, previously unseen interviews with Gia, and contemporary interviews with family, friends, and associates.

751162-thumbnail

Children (2020)

The painful personal stories of five Palestinian kids, ages 7-17, open a window into the world of Palestinian minors under Israeli occupation - trapped within the violence, humiliation, and daily confrontations with soldiers and settlers - while remaining children in every way. Each child finds his or her own way to cope and to construct emotional and political worlds in an impossible situation.

420723-thumbnail

Huxley on Huxley (2009)

Italian-born Laura Huxley, a teenage violin virtuoso, played for European royalty and made her American debut at Carnegie Hall before leaving the concert stage to become a renowned psychotherapist and author. In 1956 Laura married Aldous Huxley, author of BRAVE NEW WORLD, literary giant and prophet of the 20th century.

14236-thumbnail

Super High Me (2007)

Determined to find out the true effects of marijuana on the human body, stand-up comedian and former Stoner of the Year Doug Benson documents his experience avoiding pot for 30 days and then consuming massive amounts of the drug for 30 days. More than just an amusing story of one man's quest to get superhigh, this documentary also examines the hotly contested debate over medical marijuana use.

14761-thumbnail

Cocaine Cowboys (2006)

In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago - and it put the city on the map. "Cocaine Cowboys" is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen.

256168-thumbnail

The Police Tapes (1977)

The Police Tapes is a 1977 documentary about a New York City police precinct in the South Bronx. The original ran ninety minutes and was produced for public television; a one-hour version later aired on ABC. Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond spent three months in 1976 riding along with patrol officers in the 44th Precinct of the South Bronx, which had the highest crime rate in New York City at that time. They produced about 40 hours of videotape that they edited into a 90-minute documentary.

928016-thumbnail

Escobar by Escobar (2022)

The true story of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar through the eyes of his son, Juan Pablo.

743479-thumbnail

Karalahti (2021)

Documentary movie about a Finnish professional ice hockey player, Jere Karalahti. More than 50 people have been interviewed for the documentary film, such as Jere's family, coaches, journalists, fellow players and childhood friends. A profound documentary consists of archive material and dramatized scenes in addition to interviews.

1843-thumbnail

Dig! (2004)

A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.

741699-thumbnail

OG: The Harry Jumonji Story (2017)

'OG' is a film about a legendary, Brazilian born, NYC skateboarder, Harry Jumonji. In the course of telling his story, through his triumphs and travails, Jumonji emerges in this portrait as an adolescent innocent, much like skateboarding itself. He is irrepressible, manically energetic and ultimately, pure. He has a transcendent presence, well beyond charm or charisma, of such unalloyed joy that nothing he does is unforgiveable. This is fortunate because, as a drug addict, unsurprisingly, he lies, cheats and steals. Harry is rendered as the poet, the sprite, the artist and the street saint he is.