Drug Addiction 1951 Anti-Drug Film by Encyclopedia Britannica

Drug Addiction (1951) Producer: Encyclopedia Britannica Films, Inc. [source]

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.

Part 1 of 3

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.

Part 2 of 3

This film chronicles the decline and fall of "Marty", a "good boy" who becomes a junkie. Marty’s experimentation begins with marijuana, which produces "profound mental and emotional disturbances". Marty is caught, sent to a drug rehab center (where he cuts down dead corn stalks and plays checkers), and reforms. The scene where Marty and some of his stoned friends drink out of broken Pepsi bottles is memorable. As in all anti-drug films, the marijuana sequences are the most entertaining. "Thoughtless curiosity can lead to a lifetime of pain and torment!".

Part 3 of 3

Some how our world at large still thinks in this mindset. Is it not time we though with our own minds in every choice. Sense should dictate right, not power. We are the people and we are the law. Choose decide and make it real.

Tagged: drug-war, marijuana, 1951, britannica, video