Confidential file. Barbiturates (1955)

I think every American over the age of 12 must be conscious of the word narcotics I think it's a scare word as it should be we know what heroin morphine and cocaine can do to the human body and the human personality people who are hooked on these drugs are seldom hooked in the dark but there's a strong possibility that at this moment in your medicine cabinet you have a drug that can hook you just as completely injure you just as terribly as heroin or morphine I'm speaking of barbituates sleeping pills tonight I'm going to tell you the story of the thousands of Americans who suffer the agonies of barbituate addiction the tragedy of these people is that their plight is a terrible accident they started out taking legitimate doses of a legitimate medicine and suddenly there was a monkey on their [Music] backs [Music] confidential file a report by Paul coats one of the nation's distinguished news reporters brings you a factual report on America today its people and their [Music] lives to buy heroin you have to have a connection no decent doctor would prescribe morphine in significant amounts without a thorough knowledge of the patient's history but unfortunately it's different with the barbituates they seem to be considered pretty harmless and as a rule they are but the exceptions are awful exceptions this story doesn't begin in a back room dope den and it doesn't begin with a crazy bunch of young Thrill Seekers it begins in a perfectly respectable business office and it concerns a perfectly respectable woman who's quite a distance away from her Carefree teens every person who lives is subject to stresses pressures from outside some of us at sometimes the pressure seem almost too much to bear that's the way she feels right now as if the entire world were concentrating its aggregate energy into harassing her picking at her sniping at her she'd like to scream throw a typewriter through the window she'd like to cry of course she can't throw a typewriter through the window she can't cry she needs the job but there's another way to gain relief she's been to a doctor and he's prescribed M sedation to carry over the rough points and at works oh not immediately but once she's gotten these little pills inside her she knows that help is on the way half an hour from now she'll be as calm as a Supreme Court Judge the office ordeal is out of the way for today but that doesn't mean her day or her problems are over she comes home to another even greater responsibility and to her responsibility means stress and stress means Panic Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy it's important that you realize this the woman we're talking about isn't necessarily a weak woman or an irresponsible one and the actual nature of the stresses shown here are arbitrary her office could have been a bridge club the worrying she does about a child could have been about an overdue bill or an imagined insult what I'm trying to say is that every human being has a danger point this woman is reaching hers and she knows it when she screams shut up she's not talking just to the boy she's talking to the entire world she's screaming for Relief and she knows where to find it now but the bottle's empty empty much too soon the doctor told her to be very careful to never under any circumstances increase the dosage but she believes they work twice as well if you dou the number you take of course you run out twice as quickly and the doctor might catch on to what you're doing but she's got that figured out too you just go to two doctors and then three and then as many as you can Weedle a prescription out [Music] [Applause] of [Music] first she grabs a tube of toothpaste she wants to make the druggist believe that she just happened to think of the prescription in her purse one of the first and almost invariable signs of addiction is the victim's anxiety to keep his drug consumption a secret the addict will manufacture complicated stories to justify his use of the pills most often the stories will involve very serious illnesses which require the drugs as analgesics because of her great dependency on the pills she's afraid he won't sell them to her actually there's no reason he shouldn't a prescription is perfectly legitimate and the Doctor Who wrote it is probably a perfectly legitimate doctor it's just that she's been seeing too many legitimate [Music] doctors a few hours and a few pills later she finally seems to be in the clear boys in bed the hous work's done and nothing now until morning but she won't think about morning yet just sleep it's all she wants and there's only one way to get [Music] sleep [Music] now she's at ease nothing to fear 7 hours of cers purchased with two little pellets of expanding Darkness inside of her this is the one time she really feels relaxed just after she's taken the pills it's the one time when if you asked her she'd tell you sure she could stop taking the pills anytime she wanted to she'll insist she isn't hooked and if you aren't convinced she'll probably hold out her hand to show you how steady it [Music] is how could she be hooked there she is going to sleep like a baby and she's only had a couple of dozen pills [Music] today 11:15 sound asleep 4:35 miserably [Music] awake she can't figure out why she's so restless and then suddenly it occurs to her she must have forgotten to take her pills before she went to bed she'll soon fix that [Music] it happens every day check an emergency hospital log any emergency hospital you take an overdose of barbituates and you go to sleep then you wake up a few hours later and you forgot how much you've taken she's so groggy she can hardly stand up but she's convinced a sleeping pill will fix everything well maybe two sleeping pills better make it three three more pills for three more hours of [Music] sleep [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'll tell you something you don't play with barbiturates that way and get away with it you end up dead or in a hospital getting your stomach pumped down out or you end up Hooked real bad you end up not being able to take care of your job or your home not being able to take care of yourself you take pills to knock you out you drink coffee to pull yourself together and after a while neither one really works you can't go to sleep and you can't wake up and you don't have that feeling of sweet relaxation anymore you know now that the pills are killing you but you don't know how to stop you find it hard to care now about the things you used to care for most facing your responsibilities was difficult before now it's impossible some people are mothers and Breadwinners and [Music] homemakers but now you're not any of those things you're about picture an [Music] addict confidential file will be back in a moment first here's a message from our sponsor may I have your name please Clinton henus and your age I 58 and your occupation sir I am a director of The Institute of Medical Research of the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and how many years of experience have you had doctor over 30 years tell me Dr Theus what are barbituates barbituates are um synthetic uh materials uh which are derivatives of malonic acid and uh Ura and what's been their principal use uh to uh cause sleep and to relieve nervousness are they addicting yes they are addicting drugs and how do barbituates differ from narcotics in their effect in general barbituates are uh more sedative they have practically no stimulating action whereas morphine heroin and the Opium derivatives usually stimulate as well as depress are the symptom symptoms of withdrawal the same they're nearly the same um they um the muscle pains and the sweating the nausea and vomiting are not quite so severe as with the Opium derivatives but uh there is more tendency to Insanity uh during the withdrawal period with the barbituates if barbit rates are so dangerous why are they so readily obtainable doctor well legally they are not uh so readily obtainable it requires a physician's prescription in this state in fact uh a recent federal law now requires a prescription throughout the United States but isn't it easy for addicts to circumvent the law I don't uh really know no the answer to that um I understand that those who wish barbiturates can get them but uh they have to um pay good siiz prices for them what treatment is available to a barbituate addict um there is good medical treatment uh it should be sanitarium treatment preferably and with a psychiatrist well suppose a strong whe person tries to Shake The Habit by himself is that possible without any help it is possible and it has been done but it isn't a safe procedure for occasionally they will die uh when they stop taking the drug and quite a number of addicts um will become insane I want to thank you very much Dr thus for your cooperation tonight it's been a pleasure to be with you sir thank you in the film we showed you the case of an adult addict it doesn't always happen that way sometimes it's worse may I have your name please Hazel Martis and your age 52 and your occupation housewife I understand Mrs Martis that you have personal knowledge of problems involved with drug addiction yes I do I have a son who is in a mental hospital due to the habitual use of badine how old is your son he's 28 now and when did this benzidine addiction begin I think at about the age of 16 how did it begin well um he was a pianist and he used to play at parties settlement houses and so on with a high school band and I do believe that that's when it started well did you try to get him any medical attention at that time oh yes I did I uh took him to a medical doctor and um he talked to him but he told me that it was for a psychiatrist really did you take him to a psychiatrist I took him to a psychiatrist I got him to go several times and then he says mother there's no use taking me there he says I won't do it anymore and there's nothing he can do for me he says I'm just going to quit taking that stuff but he didn't quit did he no he didn't quit uh-uh and later on he uh started chewing the Baton in benad inhalers that he could buy at any drugstore for a quarter chew it like gum and chew it just like gum uh-huh how did he act when he had done that well he get very wild acting very peppy MH and very happy and did you keep trying to find medical he for him yes I did it was the same thing A variation of a psychiatrist M and he didn't follow through with any of the psychiatr no he didn't uh-uh I think perhaps at the time probably at the time I took him he may have been a little too far gone too that he just seemed like he had to have it when he was working mhm and things kept getting worse then worse and worse and then you had him committed did you to a yes uh-huh how long was he there he was there 10 months he had a series of shock treatments and they released him as being well and then what happened to him and he was out 2 years he worked during the two years and was fine until uh he evidently started taking them again or using the inhalers mostly now he's back in the hospital he's back in now he's been in 3 years and do the doctors feel that he might be released soon no he will not be released they've told you that definitely that's right he's had all the shock treatments that they can give him and the occupational therapy everything they can do for him but uh he'll always remain the same well thank you very much for appearing here with us tonight Mrs Mar the addict who hopes to overcome his habit has a tough fight the odds are not favorable but it's a fight that can be won I have your name please just your first name Margaret and your age 42 your occup occupation I'm a housewife do you have any children I have three sons Margaret how did you start taking barbituates I was an alcoholic and I had been off drink for about 90 days and I was going through a particularly nervous period and a well-meaning friend of mine gave me two little yellow capsules and she told me they would relax me if I took them mhm and did the pills seem to help yes they uh they help me in a great deal I like the way they made me feel how did these pills make you feel Margaret they made me feel high and I was floating and all my troubles and my problems seemed remote and I was seemed unattached and um when did you know that you were addicted well three or four four years after I first started taking them I I really knew that I couldn't do without them but I I never would admit it what problems did barbiturates cause in your personal life well my whole life became distorted everything revolved around getting these pills and protecting my habit my friends would uh ask me why I was acting strangely and I was defiant and would insult them and tell them I wasn't taking a thing and it was obvious that I that I wasn't myself and I I just became a pathological liar and I suppose the pathological lying was always applied to your methods of obtaining the barbit yes I used many dishonest means to uh satisfy this craving I would go to a strange a doctor that didn't know me and uh ask him tell him I was a stranger in town just here for a very few days and I had forgotten gotten my sleeping pills and I would ask him if he'd give me a prescription for six and I was never turned down and of course the six was easily made into a 60 so after seeing two or three doctors in one day I could build up quite a supply for myself and uh when I was a guest in people's homes the first thing I would do would excuse myself and go to the bathroom and I would raid their Medicine Chest I'd take everything that looked like it might have barbit in it and all this time while you were raiding the medicine cabinets of your friends and doing everything else to get sleeping pills you were had no desire to drink this satisfied your need this uh completely I didn't have a drink at all how many pills did you take in let's say a week I would I'd take at least 100 or 150 a week you go on binges with them I start out when I first started out I'd go on binges they would last 3 or 4 days I'd go to bed and stay completely under the influence of uh barbituates the binges became closer and closer together till they almost merged into one big binge and I became terribly frightened what happened when you tried to break the habit I uh would start perspiring from every por of my body my leg muscles would crank and I'd be very very sick at my stomach and I'd be terrified I don't know what I'd be afraid of but I'd hear strange noises and uh shadows and even the movement of a window shade would throw me into a complete uh state of Terror and when you're lying there so frightened and you know there isn't a pill in the house to relieve your Agony you and and you know you can't get out to get any the the Panic you feel it's Indescribable you it's awful and you always failed to break the Habit by yourself didn't you yes I always failed to break it by myself did you get medical help yes I uh there at the last the last few years I go to a a doctor and tell him my problem and he would put me in the sanitarium and uh keep me there from 3 to 5 days and withdraw me and uh they would feed me uh give me an intervenous feeding and build up my strength and taper the barbits off till I be completely off of them and how well did the medical withdrawal work physically I would leave the sanitarium feeling pretty good and saying never again i' I've really had it but deep down I knew that eventually there would be there' come a day when I would be angry or depressed or there would be some excuse for my taking a pill again and then I'd be right back where I started and you were correct in that deep down feeling weren't you yes I was did you find barbit your addiction to be as tough as the fight against alcoholism for you for me it it was much tougher would you explain that to me well barbit trats don't uh smell on your breath you can get by with it easier or for a while and you they're easier to conceal and to carry around with you and then you always have the wonderful excuse that you're using them as a medication Margaret how did your addiction affect your family I couldn't uh be a a mother I couldn't be a wife I couldn't be a homaker I was completely useless to myself and everyone around me my will was just completely gone are you still taking the pills no I'm not taking them and I hope I never never do how did you stop and how long ago did you stop I finally went into a sanitarium where I received Psychotherapy along with the physical treatment and it was there that I admitted and faced the problem squarely that I was a barbiturate addict and secondly I knew that I wanted to quit more than I wanted anything else in the world are you still taking treatment yes I I still see a psychiatrist twice a week is the treatment very expensive well to me it's very expensive it cost me $30 a week how does that compare with the cost of the pill habit you had it's about the same mhm are you still bothered by a desire for barbits I'm still afraid of them I I don't think the obsession has completely left me for example if I see a little red bead on the floor immediately I'll start thinking of a second off uh capsule and as long as I have this fear I I know that I'm going to have to be constantly on guard who or what do you think is at fault for your addiction to barbits in the last analysis I am at fault for my addiction however I think that they're too easy to get I think that doctors give them out much too freely they don't find out the patient's background and uh I think that the law are too LAX I think they should be treated just like a narcotic because barbit trates are just as dangerous as narcotics and it's much easier to overdose yourself with arbitrates because after you've taken a few you you don't know how many you've taken well thank you very much marget you're a remarkably Brave woman and I appreciate what you said here tonight thank you barbiturates and the other drugs we've discussed tonight are valuable medicines the purpose of this report is not to discourage their use under proper medical supervision but when you use them use them exactly as the doctor has instructed don't increase the dosage just because you think you'd sleep twice as well and don't use them any longer than the doctor says is necessary violent death and Insanity are pretty ugly words but they're good words to remember now here's a final message from confidential file [Music] sponsor you have just witnessed another authentic report by Paul coats disting colonist and news reporter these factual reports are brought to you each week by this station sily reflect those of station or [Music] sponsor