Drug Stories

For as long as I could remember, the older members of my community have continuously told me to abstain from non-prescribed drug use. Ecstasy will fry your brain, heroin is dangerously addictive, and marijuana is just a gateway drug to a life filled with hurt. Drug Stories: Narcotic Nightmares and Hall is a vintage-style edit that uses second-hand drug footage to enhance the “completely warped view of the world, brought to you by the people who made a business of ruining it”.

The 81-minute film is a compilation of many old-school anti-drug shorts, followed by a speech from ex-addict, motivational speaker and 60s cult-figure, Florrie Fisher. The poorly written and acted films at the beginning are bizarre to watch, providing an almost satirical shift to the overall tone, instead of a serious one. I thought to myself – on more than one occasion – surely they don’t expect kids to be this dumb right?

Right?!

Wrong. Ignorant comments about the use of drugs themselves, alongside even poorer depictions, truly showcase the lack of understanding, and knowledge theses propaganda films had under their belt. I mean, there’s a part that’s narrated by the menacing voice of “LSD-25” himself apparently … which just pushed me further into the atmosphere of strange and unintentionally hilarious.

The only section that spoke to me on a ground level was the speech from Fisher, despite her over-zealous attitude and outrageous tales. Her words were the only ones powerful enough to sway my thoughts. She spoke from experience, and that packed more of an impact than seeing some underpaid actor pretend to have a bad drug trip.

So what are the facts? According to statistics in Australia for 2018, teenagers are actually consuming less alcohol, and instead it’s the older generations that seem to enjoying a nice glass of red every night. The most used illicit drug is – unsurprisingly – cannabis, followed by cocaine and ecstasy, but with overall low levels of drug and alcohol use here in Australia in young adults. However, what’s really changed is our accessibility to information, as technology and science grows, we’ve be able to personally research this data instead of being spoon-fed through others.

Drug Stories is a film that has portrayed to me how far we’ve grown as a society. From the days where we had feared the unknown devastations of long-term drug and alcohol use in adolescences to now. Looking back, these types of corny films would never sit properly in the stomach of youth’s today and it’s clear to see why.

Satirical, sarcastic and sardonic, the collection of clips is edited together with this concealed intention. The manner in which it was cut provides viewers with an inversed image of reality, and allows us to see how convoluted information had truly been only a few decades back.

Drug Stories: Narcotic Nightmares and Hall
Recently played at the Paracinema Fest 2018
lidocinemas.com.au/movies/para18-drug-stories-narcotic-nightmares-and-hall