In the light of recent showbiz fatalities , what would be the movie you urge your kids to watch to steer them away from the dreaded Class A’s.?

Requiem for a dream for me followed by The Basketball Diaries and Trainspotting.

When they’re old enough I’ll just tell then a few tales from work, should do the job.

trainspotting
requiem for a dream

that is all

Requiem for a Dream is a film I’d recommend people watch, but not one I’d want to watch again.

Sid and Nancy

Yup Requiem is fairly brutal and Trainspotting IMO seems to almost makes skag appear to be kinda cool which It aint. That said Irvine Welsh’s books are brilliant at high lighting the good and bad of a High life.

Not sure any film would steer you clear of drugs IME.
Spun is worth a viewing though

Easy Rider.

Requiem for a dream, a grim tale.

Human Traffic is a great film. However, unlikely to achieve the results you’re looking for 😛

However, unlikely to achieve the results you’re looking for 😕

It’s not the drugs killing people by the way, it’s the celebrity they crave. Warn the kids off that, maaaan.

I know the title says drugs, but if count alcohol in that, then maybe take a look at ‘rain in my heart’ you’ll find it on YouTube in chunks

Leaving las Vegas has Nicholas Cage drinking himself to death. Could backfire if your kids see that as a positive positive though 😉

Before a sixth form field trip to Morocco many many years ago we were sat down and made to watch Midnight Express.

requiem for a dream is possibly the only film that doesn’t glamorise drug use it also makes me fear getting old

Amy winehouse was killed by drink a socially acceptable drug that doesn’t attract the same kind of cautionary tale

Bad Lieutenant -put you off most things

Christiane F.

Agree with the comments on Trainspotting as well. The book seems to do a lot better job of showing both sides than the film

Drugstore cowboy? -but maybe matt dillon is to hot in it!

i Was going to say Christiane f as well.

Christiane F

+1 but I only read the book – that was quite enough

Maybe a film isn’t the best way. Maybe take them to meet actual drug addicts? Would that not be more effective if it is in any way practical?

In the light of recent showbiz fatalities , what would be the movie you urge your kids to watch to steer them away from the dreaded Class A’s.?

I think if I wanted to warn my (hypothetical) kids off Whitney Houston’s fate, I’d be putting Spinal Tap or CB4 on. Possibly Sid and Nancy or Kurt and Courtney.

(By the way, if it’s true that Houston died by drowning after ingesting Xanax and alcohol, you’d be wanting to steer the kids away from Class C and unclassified drugs).

The more you try to steer them away from drugs, the more likely they will want to satisfy their curiosity…

So perhaps an educatation into what they are, and how they aren’t really all they’re cracked up to be?

Probably best just side stepping the films altogether and just show them a slideshow of celebrity corpses explaining what killed them, or a before and after.

Just sit them down and make them watch the video for comfortably numb on loop for an hour or so…

Steering them with a Hollywood film will do nothing.

Giving your kids accurate information about drugs will help them make the decision themselves, and if they do choose to take drugs at some point, the education you have given them might just be enough to save their life.

At my school they told me that taking just one ecstasy tablet would probably kill me. Once I had established that wasn’t true, the world was my oyster. I had absolutely NO other knowledge about drugs other than that they are “bad for you”.

Someone should have sat us down and told us the real consequences of drugs, how to mitigate the biggest risks, how to avoid ending up killing yourself and when to identify that you might need help (whether immediate or long term).

I’d start with a good education the dangers of the worst and most harmful drug of all (also the one your kids are most likely to **** up their life with)….booze.

I’d show them a pic of whatsername’s nose – you know, the one who used to be in ‘Enders and rotted her septum away with too much nosebag.

STW Post in Talking Sense About an Emotive Subject Shocka!

Peterfile is pretty much bang on there. Drugs are bad. Just say no kids! What a devastatingly effective message that’s proved to be

Tell them if they’re going to take drugs, at least do it in a [relatively] safe environment.

i.e. don’t go double-dropping, while out on your own, in a foreign country.

Before you know it, they’ll be all grown up, off to University (if they choose) and popping pills every weekend for a few years. Then they’ll grow out of it.

Showbiz fatalities? I can only think of two recent high profile ones; Amy Whinehouse and Whitney Houston*.

I’ve not seen anything that confirms the cause of Whitney Houston’s death yet but Amy Winehouse’s premature death was alcohol related and not class A drugs. Alcohol is easier to get hold of, just as deadly and socially acceptable. But then everyone likes a drink and saying otherwise makes you a bit of a party pooper.

*
There may be others that I’ve missed as it’s not really an aspect of the news that i follow.

Before you know it, they’ll be all grown up, off to University (if they choose) and popping pills every weekend for a few years. Then they’ll grow out of it.

As a side point, given the “weekend” focus of recreational Class A drug use, I’d say that you’re FAR more likely to end up missing university lectures as a result of a hangover than a comedown.

I don’t remember many midweek drug nights, but I can recall plenty of boozy ones which led to me lying in my bed all day 🙂

An interesting strategy, when I was about 13/14 yrs old my mum gave me a Ducados cigarette because my father, a smoker, couldn’t handle them. I smoked for about 20 years before giving up.
I’m just saying that what might seem like a good strategy to you might just backfire.

When I was a youth the main reason I didn’t try anything stronger than cannabis was the fact that I could have no idea what was in what I could potentially buy. I’d certainly have had no problem trying ecstasy though the effects of speed or cocain didn’t really appeal.

When I was a youth the main reason I didn’t try anything stronger than cannabis was the fact that I could have no idea what was in what I could potentially buy

Absolutely. Which is why I think it’s important to give young people the tools to make taking drugs as safe as possible.

To use your example, EZ Test kits are widely available, cheap and completely legal. They will quickly tell you if your pill contains what it’s supposed to. A drawback is that it WON’T detect something sinister in there, but experience and research suggests that such pills are rare anyway, you’re far more likely to buy something which is a substitute. A test kit will tell you whether you’ve bought an authentic pill. The simple fact is that pill manufacturers DO NOT go to the effort of making a pill containing MDMA and then stick something dangerous in it. It’s urban myth and scaremongering. The same way that NO PILL contains heroin. Look at the oral dose one would require for your body to even register the presence of heroin, and then look at the size/weight/cost of a pressed pill. It’s a complete fabrication to scare people away from ecstasy.

There is also a very useful website called Pillreports, which details full reports of pills tested from all over the world. Sure, you can’t guarantee that one which looks like the one you have bought is the same as the “safe” one you are looking at a review for, but like I said, it’s all about providing people with the education and resources to mitigate the dangers as far as possible.

People will not stop taking drugs simply as a result of someone saying “you shouldn’t do this”.

Educate people, reduce harm and risk, provide proper help and information. It’s not rocket science and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than waging a “war” on recreational drug users.

I always feel sorry for the poor sods rotting away in some third world prison being gang raped just so someone in this country can have a bangin weekend man.

I always feel sorry for the poor sods rotting away in some third world prison being gang raped just so someone in this country can have a bangin weekend man.

Again, education.

Show people the effect that cocaine use in Britain has on people caught up in the trade in Colombia etc.

At the moment, it’s like buying beef from a supermarket, people are separated from how it ends up on their table. We like to gloss over anything horrible in this country.

Show people factual evidence and let them make their own choices.

Teach them how to take drugs responsibly if they are going take anything. Most people who take drugs do.

So perhaps an educatation into what they are, and how they aren’t really all they’re cracked up to be?

Problem with that is that its not true. Drugs can be fantastic as well as dangerous. If you are going to educate you need to tell the truth.

I always feel sorry for the poor sods rotting away in some third world prison being gang raped just so someone in this country can have a bangin weekend man.

I agree with your sentiment (broadly speaking). Cocaine and heroin are obviously reliant on third world inputs but cannabis and MDMA etc are increasingly made in the EU (by gangsters).

To be fair I wouldn’t be a hypocrite and deny taking drugs as I was off my tits from the age of 19 to 25. As you say education is the key and If they are to experiment you would hope they will doing backed up with the info they need.