1. Through a Blue Lens
This documentary, set in the Lower East End of Vancouver's downtown core, is a pretty honest account of life on the streets in urban Canada. It is aimed at educating high school kids on the dangers of addiction to hard drugs and is the brainchild of a group of city police officers who videotape their interactions with local homeless personalities.
It has an average vote of 7.2 on TMDB.
2. Megacities
Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.
It has an average vote of 6.861 on TMDB.
3. Dig!
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.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
4. Don't Get High on Your Own Supply
This documentary by Leo Regan follows the life of his friend, photographer Lanre Fehintola, as he becomes part of the hard drug scene through researching it for his book . It shows Lanre as he becomes a character in his own book through his heroin addiction.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
5. Cold Turkey
Leo Regan follows his friend, photographer Lanre Fehintola, as he tries to go cold turkey from heroin in his council flat and without medication.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
6. I'm Dangerous With Love
A haunting, visceral exploration of addiction and one contemporary man's fearless and determined quest for healing and redemption through the ancient wisdom of the Bwiti and their 'magical' plant, Iboga. For those seeking a path out of darkness, this film is not to be missed.
7. Šmejdi (Šmejdi)
(Šmejdi)
It has an average vote of 5.3 on TMDB.
8. Under Blue Skies (Suot tschêl blau)
In the 1980s the breathtaking scenery of the Engadine is the setting of a social tragedy. The local youth rejects the rigid rules of traditional society. Along with juvenile get-togethers, heroin appears in the mountain valley. As more and more die from overdose, society reacts to the crisis by isolating itself and averting its eyes. The film lifts the veil on the stories untold. Can the memories of this bleak past become part of the Engadine’s acknowledged heritage?
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
9. Inside: Medical Marijuana
In Northern California's Emerald Triangle, more than two thirds of the population are employed, in one way or another, by the marijuana business. Meet the rabbi aiming to open Washington DC’s first medical marijuana dispensary. As we follow the players and the pot into this brave new world, examine the myths and the science behind cannabis' purported medicinal properties. Is it worthless, a cure-all, or somewhere in between?
10. Jag vill inte leva detta livet
Swedish documentary from the Gothenburg area about young drug abusers.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
11. The Trip
In this honest and deeply personal account of living with addiction, a young man talks about the realities and challenges of living in the Anishinaabe community of Kitcisakik and the hope he still harbours for himself and his people.
It has an average vote of 6.2 on TMDB.
12. Slavery In The 70's
Heroin anti-drug educational film
13. Use Your Eyes
“Use Your Eyes” is a police training film produced by the Alhambra Police Department, California, in 1970. It is intended to demonstrate to police officers how to search a residence for evidence of marijuana use, and what rights they have to search the property once certain prima facia evidence is established.
14. What Did You Take?
Stresses recognition and treatment of drug abuse emergencies, accurate identification of symptoms, and immediate clinical procedures. Presents scenes of actual cases in the emergency room and adjoining physician's offices of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Viewers observe emergency treatment of patients in the major classes of drugs commonly abused, opiates, depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens. The film demonstrates to health professionals that successful management of drug overdoses can save most lives and avert additional organic and psychiatric complications.
15. Overdose
This program is an overview of best practices to keep a person who has overdosed alive between discovery and hospitalization. Practices include quickly finding or identifying the substance the person on which the person has overdosed and traveling to a hospital or other treatment site immediately. Several simulations of different situations are shown, and the narrator asks the viewer what he or she would do differently. It provides an excellent overview of the basic prehospital approach to an overdosed patient. The initial field management of a patient is covered, accompanied by well-done scenarios illustrating incorrect technique. Although the inclusion of more medical detail would have been beneficial, this is a compelling presentation which is highly recommended for use.
16. Narcotics, Why Not?
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.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
17. North by Current
Filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown following the death of his infant niece and the subsequent arrest of his brother-in-law as the culprit. Using the audio-visual approaches of essay film, first-person cinema vérité, staged actions, and decades of home movies, Madsen navigates a town steeped in opioid addiction, economic depression, and religious fervor, while using the act of filmmaking to rebuild familial bonds and reimagine justice. Posing empathy as a tool for creating a more just world, North By Current does not seek to investigate a crime, but creates a relentless portrait of an enduring pastoral family, poised to reframe and reimagine narratives about incarceration, addiction, trans embodiment, and ruralness.
It has an average vote of 5.3 on TMDB.
18. Narcotic Deaths
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.
19. Woodstock
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.
It has an average vote of 7.527 on TMDB.
20. Phototaxis
“Phototaxis” draws parallels between Mothman, a prophetic and demonized creature in West Virginia lore, and Narcotics Anonymous, the main treatment program in West Virginia’s addiction epidemic.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
