Drugs

After watching the footage of the military testing drugs (LSD, I think it was) on soldiers to see if it would be a good way of distracting their enemies it made me realise that drugs are used in lots of different ways that I hadn't considered.

I think that this is because of the way drugs are documented in films, music and the media. It is not often that you see a film that shows drug use for medicinal purposes and more often than not drug use is glamourised, such as in Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas. An example of this in Goodfellas is the way that as Henry (the main character) gets more involved in drugs, his surroundings become more exciting, his clothes become more expensive and his life becomes more exhilerating. I think it is really important that these films show the downfall of the characters that get involved with drugs. A really good example of a film which shows this is Requiem For A Dream. This film still shows the main characters who take drugs having a good time but it shows them also dealing with the horrific consequences in more detail and the ending is really heartbreaking which I think would put anybody off using drugs. This film is also a rare example of using drugs not soley for the purpose of getting high, a sub-plot of the film is about the main character's mother getting addicted to diet pills and although they may not be associated with the danger that class A drugs carry, she still suffers terribly from becoming dependant on them.

In terms of media coverage I think that drugs are highly glamourised. The way musicians such as Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse freely admit to doing drugs worries me because young people will see them doing it and think that is an acceptable and enjoyable thing to do.

I found some useful websites whilst reserching about drugs: http://www.talktofrank.com/home_html.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-rWnQphPdQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKJpWfSHEs4