The Narcotics Story

Over footage of an average American city, a narrator explains that the police are aware that drug abuse is a problem that knows no boundaries, social or geographical. In the case of a young woman arrested for drug use, a normal childhood gave way to a troubled, lonely adolescence that encouraged her to experiment with alcohol. At a party, the girl hesitantly tries a combination of amphetamines and barbiturates known as a "goof ball." Later, the girl's mother berates her for her drug use, but the girl finds that the "doped" effect lessens her sensitivity to her mother's anger, and to her overall loneliness. Statistics indicate that more than sevety-five percent of street crimes are caused by drug abusers in desperate need of money, yet the girl naïvely goes in search of other types of drugs to expand her experience. Seeking cannabin, or marijuana, which when smoked like a cigarette cause an effect similar to inebriation, the girl links up with a "grass," "weed" or "Mary" pusher and tries her first marijuana "joint." Meanwhile in the same neighborhood, the policeman on the beat watches for changes that might suggest drugs have infiltrated the area. When a local malt shop is purchased by a stranger, the policeman visits the shop and overhears several patrons using slang associated with drugs. After the policeman's departure, the marijuana pusher arrives and soon makes a clandestine transaction with three teenagers. The policeman observes the teens depart the malt shop and drive a few blocks away to a deserted alley. Noting that the car windows are rolled up despite the warm day, the policeman presumes that the trio is smoking marijuana and leaves to summon backup. Meanwhile the young girl meets the pusher at the malt shop, where, hoping to lure her into a dependency on the marijuana, he slips her a joint, then advises her to join the others in the alley. The girl approaches the alley just as the policeman and his partner confront the teens and, finding marijuana on them, arrest them. Back in the malt shop's basement, the shop owner prepares heroin for sale. The manufacture of heroin in America has been banned since 1925, resulting in the substance being smuggled from abroad. The shop owner-dealer "cuts" or dilutes the heroin powder, mixing it with lactose milk powder, enlarging a half-pound of substance to a pound. The dealer then makes up a number of "caps," or capsules, and larger packets filled with the cut heroin, all of which may be cut again by smaller dealers before being sold. After the girl returns to the malt shop to tell the marijuana pusher of the arrests, the pusher seeks out the shop owner who is outside the back of the shop in discussion with an addict and street dealer, or "hype." The men worry that someone has informed on them. Before departing, the pusher advises the girl to hide from the police. While the shop owner hides his heroin stash, the street dealer offers to help the nervous girl, who agrees to go with him. The street dealer takes the girl to his shabby, run-down apartment and offers her some marijuana to "relax" her. A typical small-time dealer, the man lives in as inexpensive a place as possible in order to spend money on drugs to use himself and to sell. The street dealer's main source of income is young women whom he turns into drug addicts, then forces into prostitution to pay for their habits. At police headquarters, after the frightened teenagers admit purchasing the marijuana from the pusher, a bulletin goes out for other officers to remain on the alert. As the pusher prepares to leave town, a policeman spots the pusher discarding his stash of marijuana and makes an arrest. In the street dealer's apartment, the man prepares a hypodermic needle filled with heroin for injection to show the girl the ease of getting a stronger "high." When the girl hesitates, the dealer assures her that it is impossible to get hooked with one "pop," and she agrees to inject the drug. At the local jail, the pusher confesses to leaving the girl with the street dealer, sending the police off in search of the "hype," who is identified from a previous arrest photo. Back at the dealer's place, another of his "girls," in desperate need of a fix, arrives. Realizing the woman is in early stages of withdrawal and unwilling to have the novice witness this, the street dealer takes the girl away. Shortly after, the police arrive and in a thorough search of the apartment, find a sizeable amount of drugs, but can offer little help to the addict who slides into the agony of withdrawal. A stakeout is arranged to capture the street dealer, who, fearing his own withdrawal, resists arrest. Hoping for a minor sentence, the street dealer directs the police to the malt shop dealer, who is promptly arrested with his stash. Despite these arrests, the girl continues her downward spiral into drugs and eventually, addiction and prostitution. When she is at last arrested, she faces the certainty of a degrading and agonizing withdrawal.