Drugs In Our Society
Original release: Cathedral Films (box set with 4 LPs, 6 filmstrips,
and booklets), 1968
Written by: Richard S Scott, MD
Director: Jack L Tyler
Producer: Edward D Eagle
Comments: A generous and fairly early (1968)
educational package from Cathedral Films, delivering the typical anti-drug
and pro-Christian message. The religious propaganda has been relegated to a
special section ("The Real Trip"), while all the other programs
contain supposedly objective information about those nasty dwugs. Probably
due to the early date, the tone is pretty aggressive as various chemicals
are put on trial by the producers. If there's a bad rumor about a drug
they'll make sure to include it, while the more liberal and realistic
approach is largely missing. Beyond this bias, the contents are fairly
generic, with no interviews or specific anecdotes. The odd "Rx"
heading refers to uppers & downers, an abbreviation I haven't run across
before. The "marijuana" program also features various
hallucinogens, as heard on this MP3 soundclip.
These guys were hardcore -- booze & even cigarettes are considered evil
too. And dig those ancient graphics on the box -- looks almost like it's
from the 1950s.
I haven't checked out the filmstrips, due to lack of proper equipment.
Oddly, one of the programs ("Narcotics") has no filmstrip, even
though there is a spoken word recording for it. The filmstrip isn't missing,
because there's only room for 6 strips, and they're all there.
Below are clickable scans from the booklets for the teacher/counselor.
©
Patrick The Lama 2007