Drug Talk: Some Current Drug Programs (1971)

I had six people that I counted friends who use marijuana and they too they never did graduate to heroin. You know why? Because on marijuana they committed crimes of passion and were electrocuted before they got a chance to get hooked on horse. I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S GOING TO DO. GET AWAY FROM ME. YOU GET AWAY FROM ME. DO YOU HEAR ME? BECAUSE I DON'T CARE ANYMORE. NOBODY LOVES ME AND NOBODY cares about me. We have marijuana odor tablets. This throws off the aroma and you can identify the marijuana with this. And we have the marijuana plants for identification purposes and they're used in the schools and also in the police departments. We have three sizes a 28 in, 38 and 48 in. Throughout the United States, schools are being pressured into responding to the unprecedented problems of drug abuse. Many schools have reacted by inviting independent drug programs into the classroom. These programs are often presented from a point of view which many students find difficult to accept. I got to listen to him lecture to you. There will be questions and answers while there. Okay, I'll introduce to you Sergeant Oldham now. Oldham, I'm sorry. Oldham, I'm sorry. Police officers are frequently invited to speak in the classroom. These lectures, which often stress the dangerous and illegal aspects of drugs, reflect law enforcement attitudes. It uh must be taken into consideration, I think, that we police officers are citizens, too. We're merely doing a job full-time that your parents can't do because they have to go out and earn a living to support you. So therefore we must have the respect and the confidence of the community and your support in order to protect your lives and property. Now, I mentioned that we gather facts and give information. It's in the vein of giving information that police officers and other people, teachers, many people go in the community and give lectures and give programs on drugs. Okay, if we can have the lights turned out, please. I'll turn the slides on. Can anybody tell me what they call these? What are they? What? No, that's not a roach. Something else. We're looking at What is it? Joint. That's right. Can anybody tell me what those things are? What are they? What? Clips? Right, roach clips. That's what they are. Hairpin. Somebody said a hairpin. That's right. That thing in the bottom there is a hairpin. That's what they use. They use anything just to hold the the roach with. Now, the reason they use the roach clips, they like to smoke marijuana down as far as they possibly can. Okay, this one, I don't know if you recognize you can tell who that guy in the red and brown shirt is or not, but that happens to be my picture there and that just happens to be the a large seizure that we've made of this type of drug. Okay, now we're going to talk about something else and what do they call these? Anybody know? Downers. That's right. Now, anybody know what a downer is? What's a downer? Well, it's something that slows you down. Okay, what is it? Makes you sleep a lot. That's right. This is one of the things there. They're sleeping pills. And now, the blue one. Can anybody know what they call all those? Blue heavens and blue angels. That's amobarbital. What about the red and blue one? What is it? Rainbow. Rainbow. That's right. Now, when they take the drug, they will look very much like they're asleep. They're they're drunk. They're intoxicated under alcohol. But the trouble of it is they can take one or two. Then they may like it. You might like one if you take it. That foot you see there is of a dead person. You see what happened? They burned the complete sole off of his foot. All the skin. Because they didn't realize that he was actually under the influence of this drug and was dead at the time that they were burning his foot. They thought they could wake him up. Now from the opium poppy plant we get the narcotic drugs that are given to people when they suffer from pain. Say you break a leg. Now this is what they use to prepare their heroin with. You say, "Well, how do they fix it?" Well, they put a little bit of the heroin in a spoon. Little bit of the powder, like the brown powder you saw, into the spoon. Then they place a little water with it. Well, it won't mix up because the uh it's not water soluble, so they have to heat it. They use like the matches you see here on the uh on the screen. They use these matches till it gets heated to the way they want it. Then it becomes liquid. Then they will put it in the syringe. They place the cotton in the spoon. Now that cotton is supposed to remove the impurities in it. How come if a doctor prescribes it to you, it don't it helps you? Yeah, when you take it, um without the doctor's prescription, you get um ill and taking things like that. Now we got to realize that drugs are are good. Drugs are not bad. It's what they're used for. Now it's the symptoms of the drugs, which could be the abuse of the drugs. This is a symptom. The drugs themselves are good, and they manufacture these things to be used for good. Unfortunately, there's people that find that they can get different reactions from them, and they abuse them. Now there's something that we haven't even talked about about drugs. The illegal drugs illegal use of drugs are against the law. Now this is something we all should realize. This is one of the biggest problems and it could affect you. You're in a a group and somebody takes some pills and they pass out from the drug run, don't run. Tell the police, if it's the police that come, tell them the type of pills they take. This is why so many young people die from overdoses because a person will take a bunch of pills and the group that he was with will get scared and run away. I would think that it would be better for any of us to suffer a little bit of trouble a little later on than for that person to die. I hope that I've answered some of the questions and I'm going to give you back to THE TEACHER NOW. ANOTHER LECTURE APPROACHES TO USE EX-ADDICTS. GINA, a former heroin addict, is able to involve the students in an atmosphere of free exchange by being totally candid about her past. I was a prostitute for about 3 years and uh I could not do it unless I was loaded. You understand? Like uh the periods like if I cleaned up and I was on the natural state, you know, and if I needed money, you know, nobody could give me enough money to do something like that. But when I was on heroin, like I told you before, it it kind of insulates you so that you don't feel, you know, your true feelings. Uh things are kind of removed from you. So, I'm just here to say, "Look at me, you know." Yes. When you were 14, did you ever ever have anyone talk to you like you're talking to is, when I was 14, did anybody come around and talk to me like this? Somebody came around to our school and told us the most fantastic stories. They said uh "Never accept an orange from somebody at a football game because it might have dope in it and if you take one bite, you know, you're hooked forever. I'm telling you, I was so much against heroin until I saw, you know, my fellows that he didn't fall apart. I was surprised, you know, that he didn't just crumble and drop at my feet. And then I said, you know, they're they're lying. It's all lies, you know. I I wish really maybe it would have helped if somebody had just, you know, told the truth. Do you feel that like by smoking cigarettes or drinking marijuana, that made you try all the other things? I'll tell you, there are some people that started smoking grass 20 years ago when I did and today they're still smoking grass. Or some of them don't even do that anymore. In other words, they did not progress. You understand? But then there's other people like me that maybe have some kind of personality problem, some hang-up, more or less like we're more we're more disposed to using dope. You understand what I'm saying? So, like I say, if you can make like a a really final commitment, no on dope, that's going to include marijuana, acid, you know, speed, dope, everything. You kind of just save yourself a whole lot of bother, you know. Maybe some people can smoke a few joints, take a few pills, and that's going to be all they ever do, you know. But then there is people like me. I guess in a way it it's kind of like alcohol. This This is not a professional opinion. This is just something that occurs to me. That like, you know, some people can be social drinkers and other people, you know, got to jump in the bottle, you see? So, it's it's hard to say. Did I use acid in between? Uh no. Uh-uh. I was I I in between using heroin. I was afraid of acid for a long time because uh you know, I I had heard that uh you know, you you really dig yourself on acid. You'll you know, you'll take a peep at yourself. And I didn't want to see me. I have I have since tried acid and uh it was very pleasant, but uh you know, if I were going to use anything, I'm afraid I'd still go for that smack. Lord have mercy. Yes, I was in San Diego this weekend. I met this little sweet girl down there. And some girl was telling me about she'd smoked some weed before and she started hallucinating. Yeah. Like really bad. Like she was just starting there. Like she's having rushes and everything. I I was just wondering if you could think of what would be The only thing I can do is relate it to like what I know what people do when they make speed or or acid, they'll mix strange mixtures into it just so people will get a rush, you know, and think, "Oh, this is great." like these girls were putting pure acid Yeah, or or have you ever heard of putting strychnine in speed? Cuz it gives you a rush. Strychnine's a poison. It's enough to scare me. What else? How about uppers? Are people still cranking it away? And No. No. It's not like it it used to be. I know everybody for a while was into a big speed thing, you know. That was the most prevalent. And downers? I don't know how anybody could even dig a downer unless it's mixed with drugs. Yeah, isn't it an ugly Does it like ugly pills? People get mean and stupid and sloppy. Why are people so dumb? I sure wish I knew. Cuz it's taking me years and I still don't know why. Why? We could no more tell our parents that like hey you know I've been flipping out or whatever and I need some help. I mean I could no more tell my mom to be out called on the floor if I said something like that. Have you ever really tried I mean Yeah I believe you. Come on it's like I actually surrendered everything. Beautiful thing and Well that is that's tough. That is. But you know what? If you if you really like want to save yourself and you really feel uptight like there are places call where we are man call and talk to us. As a matter of fact we're trying right now to to try and get like a counseling thing going. Like if somebody really does feel uptight you call us and just rap on the phone or come down and me or you know one of the fellows or the girls just talk cuz I know it it is it's important you got to have somebody. It's been a pleasure. Okay, thank you. Okay, it's been a pleasure cuz like I say you're you're all beautiful. Stay that way. Goodbye. Well thank you very much baby. I have to go home. Often private organizations go to the schools offering packaged programs in the hope of deterring drug abuse. Students are encouraged to create local drug clubs with the help of a national representative. Sit down and maintain. You're going to have to talk louder. The reason I am here I am national team director for the only effective narcotic education and prevention organization in the United States for and by young people. These young people are doing something. This is the now generation and they're proving it. As we say those that leave have the disease called apathy. Let them go. The organization was started primarily as a challenge. And And challenge was nothing could be done about the drug problem. We only offer as a national organization suggestions. You run the chapter or club. You would have to have a teacher advisor. But they work in an advisory capacity only, not a dictatorship. What you would do at the meetings would be primarily up to you. We have suggested methods like I said. But the only people that have anything to do with having these suggested methods work would be you. And this is why I'm down here. To give you an idea that there is a program like this. It is available to you if you want to do it. Or like I said before, you can use the excuse called apathy. Apathy is the disease that it can't happen to me. It can't affect me. It's somebody else's problem. Why worry about it? Because I love myself so much I haven't got time. That's uncool. You may not realize it, but we've just played a ball game. I've just passed a ball to every one of you. You can sit there and suck your thumb and drool all over yourself and be a bunch of little sniveling idiots. Or you can catch it and tuck it under your arm and do something. Get involved. Quit passing the buck. Help your other friends and peers get rid of the problem called drug abuse so you can go on and have a better and bigger problems to challenge you next time. Yes. Well, don't you think a lot of the students who are really taking drugs are going to think that it's a big best to not come to any of these sessions? You've just got to make sure that word gets around that you're not junior narcs. You're not. You haven't got the training, the ability, or the intelligence. Sharon Lanham certainly is able to get down to the level that these kids understand. She talks their language, does it very effectively. Hardly any kids pay attention. They were just talking to their friends. Well, I think it was enthusiastically received by most of the students that were there. About half the people just walked out and just left. How come? It it was just disinterested to them. They just started getting bored. Despite their efforts, most independent drug programs lack genuine student interest. Others have found that a successful approach depends on the initiative of the students themselves. In a three-day seminar at a rehabilitation center, high school students met with ex-addicts to discuss drug abuse, current programs, and possible alternatives. You see it everywhere, you know. You see posters about drugs. Psychedelic shops are in every neighborhood. And they're advocating the use of drugs. Now, how do you see it? Now, I've told you that it it does create a problem. Now, what problem do you see through the use of drugs? Can you have that much foresight? Well, we've already got the problem. We're stuck with it. We've got to find some solution at this point. Some program that we can set up at our schools. Does everyone agree with that? It's just like you have your own program here and and it's fine, you know, but like you're really I mean you were you were addicted to you know, like heroin and everything, but people at school like they're on pills and they're just starting. And you know, I mean you have to catch this thing before they get there. And you have to make sure that any presentation that's made is always factual. Because, you know, you just start telling people if you say like, you know, well, marijuana definitely leads to heroin, then you you've turned off 90% of the people right there and they don't give a crap what else you're going to say. I've seen it, you know, on TV. I've read it so many times, you know, speed kills and all of that. The pictures of the men, you know, with their arms all, you know, needle marks. But I'm still interested in it. When you see these these pamphlets put out by the police department, your child at this very moment may be on the the brink of a whirlpool of death, you know, insanity. And and parents read this type of [ __ ] and that's all that it is. Because it Well, but it's just You can't tell me that that from from smoking marijuana, you know, that it's a whirlpool of death that you're going to be sucked in. It's It's put in such a melodramatic way that people can't look at things objectively. I feel that any effort to combat the use of drugs is good. Now, it's not going to reach everybody, but nothing is going to reach everybody. It takes different methods, different techniques to reach people. Basically, you know, you've said and that if you need you needed someone to set you straight, you know, when you're maybe eating downers or smoking weed. And I think what we need is people in there who are willing to talk, not not willing to talk, but willing to listen. The room which we have established here, which has become known as the rap room, was developed as a growing awareness last year that the drug problem here on our campus was not yielding to the usual counseling methods or educational methods traditionally carried out. We try to develop a concept of some sort of a way in which we can help these young people. And the room grew out of this. When I went in the counseling office once to discuss a problem I had. Second day next day later my parents found out about it. I go in there and talk and counselor said Danny has a problem, you know, it's got to be straightened out. And I mean, you know, I didn't want my my people to find out just yet, you know, I didn't want to get, you know, wrapped about it and see what I could do with myself. You knew it because you thought you had a problem. Yeah. I didn't know what the problem was exactly, but I realized what it is now. What is it? Well, it's like drugs were a big ego trip for me cuz like I'd always been hanging around with people that were older than me. Like they were doing it in order to prove to them I was just as good as they were, if not better. I had to use just as much drugs as they did, if not more. So, I did it. I've been doing it for quite a while. What are you trying to do for one thing? Uh I'm trying to get my friends to put down on drugs too because For yourself, you know. Oh, for myself. Well, that's what I'm doing. It's for myself because my friends quit, it makes it just that much easier for me to quit. Yeah, what you just trying to Well, it became known around the school that we were even considering setting up a room like this, that we were recognizing the severity of the drug problem with some of our young people, I found a lot of the drug users they had uh saying hello. Uh the atmosphere of the school seemed to experience a change just because we were trying to do something even though uh even now what we're doing is a rather minimal thing and still an experimental thing, but I believe it did have a positive effect upon the the total feeling in the school. They're living kind of a state of truce, you know. I think the best thing to do with kids that are in this situation which is no use badmouthing, there's no use raising hell, and then there's no use pretending they don't belong. They're all citizens of the United States. They aren't going to be sent to Devil's Island, they're going to become citizens one way or another, and the best we can do is help them get into a mood to to get out of this thing, you know. Mhm.