Cracking Up: Addiction to Crack Cocaine
Linguae
Part dramatization, part documentary, this engrossing study of crack cocaine makes a powerful statement on the drug’s highly addictive nature. The docudrama profiles “Daniel Preston,” an upwardly mobile user of recreational drugs who gets high on crack as part of an experiment and finds he cannot shake his craving for it. Interspersed throughout this program, a drug counselor, a psychiatrist, and crack addicts talk about how it feels to get high on crack, behaviors and health problems related to crack addiction, why crack addiction is so hard to break, and crack’s role as a gateway drug. In addition, onscreen text gives information on the history of coca use, the extraction and processing of cocaine, cocaine smuggling and distribution, and the manufacture of crack. (59 minutes, color)