For Dear Life

Most drugs exert their effects by changing the balance between excitatory and inhibitory signals at certain synapses. This is shown specifically using the examples of amphetamine, cocaine, LSD and heroin, while alcohol and sleeping pills serve as examples of a different mechanism of action.

Alcohol: No substance in the world seems so familiar to us and is so incredibly diverse in its effect. Alcohol is available everywhere and this particular molecule has the power to affect all 200 billion neurons of our human brain in completely different ways. But hardly anyone calls alcohol a drug despite its psychoactive and cell-destroying effect. Why do we tolerate the death of three million people every year? Have we turned a blind eye to the dangers and risks for thousands of years? What role does the powerful alcohol industry play with an annual turnover of 1.2 trillion euros in this on-going concealment? The author, who himself enjoys having a drink, looks into the question why we drink at all, what alcohol does to us and to what extent the alcohol industry influences society and politics.

An intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival held in Bethel, NY in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.

The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba

Children as young as seven are being groomed to sell drugs for 'county lines' drugs gangs in towns and villages all over the UK. This film follows four young people trapped in this world.

Heroin anti-drug educational film

He lived the junkie's life as a heroin addict. Triathlon transformed him. Biopic of the record breaking Ironman Andreas Niedrig.

A documentary about Goran Ivandic 'Ipe', the drummer of most popular Yugoslav rock band of all time, Sarajevo-based "Bijelo dugme" (White Button). Ivandic's fatal jump from the balcony of hotel Metropol in Belgrade in 1994 sparked much controversy around his fate.

Using previously unheard audiotapes recorded shortly after John Belushi’s death, director R.J. Cutler’s documentary feature examines the too-short life of the once-in-a-generation talent who captured the hearts and funny bones of devoted audiences.

A documentary juxtaposing the events of the 20th century with the commentary of stand-up comedians.

Best-selling author Graeme Armstrong reveals his passion for rave, meeting some of the superstar DJs and hardcore party people who created the vibrant and little-explored world of the Scottish rave scene.

This documentary follows three women — a fire chief, a judge, and a street missionary — as they battle West Virginia's devastating opioid epidemic.

In the early 1970s, a group of young volunteers, the Free Youth Clinic of Winnipeg, operated a "crisis bus" to rescue young people experiencing bad drug trips, usually from LSD.

A Finnish Prostitute and four Gangsters expose how the Drug Squad Police Chief commits crimes, rather than solves them. Is this corruption of an individual or a system?

A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.

Quiet towns across rural Australia are in the grip of an Ice epidemic. Major international drug cartels are working with local outlawed motorcycle gangs to push crystal meth to a captive market of children.

Cocaine has always gotten a bad rap, and for a reason. It is a drug used by the rich and the poor legally and illegally, Mexican cartels fought over it with Colombia once associated with the brutal cocaine wars, and a source of tension between the American and Mexican borders on the people who are illicitly bringing in cocaine from one side of the border to another and will do anything to do it. So it can be surprising at times to the viewer throughout the course of the documentary special, that it was never always like this.

This film presents a series of extemporaneous interviews with teenagers and young adults who have taken narcotics for "kicks," "association," or "curiosity." Residents of the California Rehabilitation Center relate how they were introduced to narcotics, why they wished they had not used drugs or narcotics, and what the future holds for them. Film is shot in Hollywood, Calif.

This follow-up to the 1989 documentary ONE YEAR IN A LIFE OF CRIME revisits three of the original subjects in New Jersey during a five-year period in the 1990s. We share in their triumphs and setbacks as they navigate lives of poverty, drug abuse, AIDS, and petty crime.

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the types of narcotic deaths and drugs encountered by Dr. Milton Helpern in his post as Chief Medical Examiner for New York City and to describe internal and external body changes resulting from narcotism. This objective is achieved with the use of photographs of overdose victims and the equipment found and used by addicts. According to this presentation narcotic addiction which has been a problem for many years has increased markedly within the last twenty years. The use of amphetamines and marijuana is discussed briefly and the equipment used by addicts is described and illustrated. Dr. Helpern then shows photographs of overdose victims and describes the circumstances under which the body was found.