Review

Armchair advice

Drugs and the Law
Trigger Videos, 1995
15 minutes

The cover notes describe this video as a 15 minute video about ‘what teenagers, parents and teachers need to know’ about drugs.

Picture the scene: a middle class suburb with a middle class family - three young girls and a young token black teenager sit and wait for a visitor. A knock at the door and mum answers it, letting in her friendly health promotion specialist. He has come to give a simple explanation of drugs and have a cup of tea. Mum departs to put the kettle on while a mechanical debate takes place with the youngsters acting as empty vessels waiting to be filled by the knowledge of the expert.

The expert gives relevant information about drugs and some of the consequences of dabbling in illegal substances but it all feels very staged-managed and naive. Having imparted his knowledge to the potential wrong-doers he leaves them with education leaflets and the video ends with basic facts on substances and the law relating to them.

The whole thing seems out-of-context. Do health promotion professionals working in the drugs field really pop into concerned parents homes to talk about the risks of being criminalised ? How relevant would this be to a group of teenagers in a classroom setting? Would the young peoples’ heads now be filled with a wealth of knowledge, understanding and skills to deal with life in a drug-using culture?

This implied mixture of ‘just say no’, ‘drugs are dangerous and prevent you from gaining employment or travelling the world’ seems far removed from the daily experiences of many young people. I suspect real teenagers would vote with their giggles at such a poorly thought-out and paternalistic approach. Maybe the video-makers should have tried consulting some. Had they done so they certainly wouldn’t have got Mum to answer the door in the first place.