DRUG ADDICTION

[Music] too youth is a happy time and a carefree time a time of auto rides and double dates it's a time of fun pranks and jokes of ice cream cones and chocolate sodas youth is a time for getting a job for finding one's place in the world but sometimes in these troubled days the very thoughtlessness of youth has led to a living nightmare addiction to drugs too often acquired with tragic carelessness may take control of a life and force actions not dreamed of before to these addicts life's only work is to find money for drugs in their desperation no means is too foul their only goal in life is to keep the deadening chemicals forever in their hearts blood [Music] the cause of this living death is a white powder innocent looking but deadly once this was a poppy growing in italy or turkey or some other hot land [Music] the dry juice of this plant produces opium a powerful drug contained in opium is morphine used by doctors to relieve severe pain [Music] from morphine comes heroin outlawed even medically from the united states these and other derivatives form the group of drugs called opiates opiates are classed as depressants an overdose causes unconsciousness then death a smaller dose taken into the bloodstream inhibits all the functions of the body by its action on the brain and the central nervous system but the body gradually builds up a tolerance to the drug [Music] illness until the body can make a readjustment another depressant is marijuana derived from the hemp plant it inhibits and distorts the action of the brain and nervous system in a manner somewhat different from opiates a third drug cocaine is derived from the leaves of the coca plant its action is different from that of the depressants when cocaine enters the body it has a strong effect on body functions by acting as an irritant on the brain cocaine causes unusual and often unpredictable feelings and actions instead of physical dependence marijuana and cocaine cause profound mental and emotional disturbances [Music] a large overdose of cocaine causes convulsions then death government agencies charged with the enforcement of narcotics laws have been able until recently to decrease steadily the number of addicts in the united states these addicts have included persons in every walk of life some are petty criminals who will remain drug addicts all their lives many addicts come from teeming slum areas where human misery runs high but the grim specters of heroin marijuana and cocaine are not confined to any area or to any group wherever there is a troubled personality no matter how hidden or unrecognized there may be a seed bed for drug addiction so unpredictable is this habit that occasionally even one who knows the dangers may become addicted before he realizes it sometimes the addict may come from a wealthy family for drugs respect neither riches nor poverty such a victim doesn't have to steal to support his expensive habit but the degrading effects are the same [Music] in recent years there has been a shocking increase in drug addiction among young people often in their teens who take up the habit without the slightest understanding of the living nightmare they are so unthinkingly walking into to get the illegal drugs they are forced to deal with criminals who prey on those least able to defend themselves and to find money for their expensive habit they often turn to crime [Music] themselves [Music] then i looked down under his foot and i found this envelope with six caps in it there's a chemical lab report on it it's heroin what do you have to say them alone let's see your arms how long have you been taking heroin well i speak up about two years again what about before then i smoked marijuana for a while how long four or five months i guess how did you get started on this well i don't know a friend of mine he started me started by a friend an off told story for drug addiction is contagious one addict can make five five can make twenty five marty's story is like many of the others it started two years ago with marijuana cigarettes come on it's my turn now gee duke where'd you get him i uh i know a guy free for a buck let me try gee i feel awful funny me too i feel kind of sick come on marty pass it on marty got kind of sick too but he wouldn't let on he was determined to be one of the gang if it killed him and it almost did several weeks later after smoking reefers marty's before brain hit on a clever way to open puff bottles [Music] later stan went to the hospital for swallowing broken glass marty badly cut the inside of his mouth though he didn't even know it at the time duke was the one who got marty on the habit it was just a business matter to duke though marty didn't find it out till later hey marty okay here what's that h h what's h that's a lot it's heroin but make me sick like the reefers did go on and try it i dare you how much does it cost this one ain't gonna cost you nothing it's free go on i dare you in his ignorance marty took that dare little knowing the eventual horror that lay in the deadly white powder those first capsules were free but when marty started asking for the price came high a dollar and a half a piece that's right kid 15 bucks this oughta hold me for a while i hucked my camera to get this though where's my cup you don't get one this kid's hooked go and get some new kids if you want to cut but he's still snorting it so what snorting our main liner what's the difference he's hooked hey look little guy hi i gotta have my cut it's costing me more than ever now that i'm on speed balls that cocaine comes high that's your problem kid so you're snorting it huh yeah well don't be a sucker you're wasting it that way use a needle is that what you do louis listen kid i ain't on the stuff don't ever think i am yeah sure like i'm doing it see mainline in it don't it hurt yeah sure some i guess that vein will give out someday but the stuff costs too much to waste it that's right kid you ought to go on the needle ah i don't want to punch myself full of holes like that but he did use the needle despite his fear of it at first he shot the drug under his skin then directly into the vein as his body gradually built up a tolerance he needed more and more of the drug there was no pleasure in it for marty it was a bodily demand he was using four or five caps a day now they cost him seven and a half dollars 52.50 a week it was more than his salary at the store could pay for [Music] he thought old barston would never miss a few things here and there [Music] but he was wrong barston didn't prosecute but marty no longer had a job drugs were becoming marty's whole life he was abnormally sleepy losing weight cross irritable fearful that the puncture marks on his arms would be discovered his former friends now let him strictly alone but with a false sense of loyalty they didn't report him to the authorities they would have done him a favor if they had the only associates left for marty were other drug addicts like duke it didn't matter nothing mattered but the ever-present craving for the drugs he had given up interest in everything else marty's family saw all of these symptoms and others too but didn't understand them often in the morning his pillow would be wet from perspiration his mother knew something was wrong something marty have you seen the thinking shears i bought last week can't seem to find them anywhere how should i know mom marty you don't seem right son i'm worried about you i'm all right mom just leave me alone there's something wrong i'm going to take you down to dr bleakers this afternoon for a checkup no no i'm all right i love you don't act like it son i don't know what it could be ever since you lost that job at mr barston i don't know i'm all right mom i'll snap out of it i hope so you've lost weight you don't have dates you don't go out with the fellas anymore like you used to there's something wrong i know there must be well boys go through all kinds of stages dr bleecker can tell us if there's anything wrong i hope it isn't anything serious marty marty marty was hooked physically dependent on heroin when he was without the white powder too long his whole body revolted in dreadful protest sweat poured from it he got the shakes he had cold kills his nose ran and his eyes ran he was doubled up by piercing cramps plagued by sudden attacks of vomiting and of diarrhea nothing could stop these attacks but more of the white drug in his veins all right kid feed him i don't want you hanging around here okay okay give me a chance hitting the top huh none of your business okay that's the way you feel about it i was just trying to help you out that's all yeah you wouldn't help your mother out of a rat hole how would you like to make a fast couple of bucks doing what oh it's easy nothing to it i could use some new customers customers you mean suckers i'll give you the same cut i gave duke what happened to him oh he's brought in everybody he knows i get a branch out well i i could use the door with that fine set them out on reefers it's easier that way then it's cheaper yeah that's the way i started you got them sure for you two bits apiece well give me two for now that's all the dough i got right now so marty went out to spread his contagion and louis well it was just business to him the capsules of heroin so necessary to marty were only so much stock to louie that stock had reached him through a series of well-organized underworld transactions some months back smuggled ashore in a box of fresh-caught fish were a number of small tubes of pure heroin a kilogram in all a little more than two pounds originally bought for one thousand dollars it was resold after being smuggled into this country for seven thousand dollars it was mixed with a similar looking white powder milk sugar and sold again for thirty thousand dollars these were big transactions possible only by organized criminal syndicates message syndicates in a cold-blooded scheme to create a market for their drugs are directly responsible for the sudden growth of drug addiction among young people by the time louis legte got it the heroine had been cut many times passed through many hands he cut it again and put it up in capsules it was less than three percent heroin in those capsules the underworld made more than a quarter of a million dollars on the original one thousand dollar investment big stakes worth taking a few chances for especially when pusher lou rap but even louie wasn't taking much of a chance he had junkies dope addicts working for him like marty demillo marty had to keep going somehow to bring in the daily flow of money necessary to keep his habits supplied with drugs [Music] when there were no new customers for louie marty worked at any job he could find but the jobs didn't last long often he had to turn to petty thieving and shoplifting to get the money he so desperately needed before long he became fairly well known to the police mrs demalon do you have anything to say yes judge marty he isn't a bad boy i wish you could have seen him before he started this poison he always made good grades at school he was doing so well at mr barston's grocery judge he's a good boy i understand demalon i believe you acquired the drug habit through ignorance if you knew then which you know now you probably never would have touched that first marijuana cigarette well there's no way of undoing it now i'm going to sentence you to one year in the municipal jail however i'll suspend sentence if you're willing to be committed to a hospital for the treatment of drug addicts and stay there until medically discharged you mean to try to kick the habit that's right they know how to get you over the physical dependence with the least amount of withdrawal sickness do you agree yes sir all right so ordered next case for those already addicted to drugs the first step in rehabilitation must be commitment to a hospital where they will be under medical guidance for the addict willing to be committed or sent by the courts there are federally operated hospitals adequate local hospitals would help to cope with this problem [Music] the treatment itself lasts for months but withdrawing the drug takes a comparatively short time the major problem is helping the addict achieve a workable psychological adjustment to life a life which doesn't include drugs it's a difficult procedure no hospital no doctor can be sure of success in trying to change long-time attitudes back in his old haunts the former addict still finds himself shunned by all but the addicts and peddlers who were his associates before for effective treatment there must be a long-term community-wide program to help the former addict and his family make an adjustment be it duke i want no part of you no don't be a square what's it getting you i don't know yet duke i took plenty to kick the habit it's my chance and i'm taking it chance you ain't got no chance you're just a junkie to everybody around here i know i know but they're helping me get a job in here and they went to see ma and the doc says that a box says what does he know listen i'm telling you against such pressures local outpatient clinics social agencies the church all are needed if drug addicts are to adjust to a new life without intensive effort by all community forces very few drug addicts can ever expect to return to a normal useful life in society it is important in the overall problem of drug addiction to do everything possible to stop the sale of the drugs one step would be to increase the staff of enforcement agencies not only federal but state and municipal agencies too criminal syndicates might give up drug traffic entirely if nationwide laws provided for stringent penalties to counteract the tremendous profits and if these laws were energetically enforced certainly such laws would restrict the actions of non-attic peddlers like louis lechty make it harder for him to reach his victims basic to everything else is a wider knowledge especially among young people of the grave danger involved in any kind of experimentation with drugs they should understand the thoughtless curiosity about what it feels like to smoke marijuana or take a shot of heroin can lead to a lifetime of pain and torment constantly faced by the horror of being without drugs much can be done to stamp out this vicious practice if each person who knows of a drug peddler or a drug addict reports him to the authorities immediately as a deadly menace to himself and his friends [Music] for every person must take some of the responsibility for preventing the growth of drug addiction he must face the possibility that he himself may be a potential drug addict only by avoiding these drugs completely can he be sure that he will remain forever safe from a vicious habit which enslaves not only one's body but the soul as well you