How drug traffic operates, how the drug addict is made, and how this grim social reality may be curbed. From the poppy blowing innocently in the wind to the relationship between addict and pusher, this film traces the strange progress of illicit narcotics. The story of a young first offender, who hears of the joys of addiction while in jail, shows how many people become chained to the habit, their only future a pattern of crime and jail. Different authorities offer different solutions to the complex drug problem--but all agree that for the sake of society, the problem must be …
Warnings: Drug use, drug references, smoking, harmful stereotypes about addiction and sex workers
What ideas and understandings about drug addiction have changed since this film was released in 1948? Has anything stayed the same? Which elements of this re-enactment-style documentary are realistic? Which seem more like caricatures? What was the intent behind these decisions? What stereotypes are present in this film? How might these stereotypes have been harmful to people at the time this film’s release? Is there value in continuing to view films that have stereotypes like these? What might have been the purpose of this film? Who would have been the audience and where would it have been viewed?