73 Years Ago American Teens Were Warned About The Dangers Of Pot

In the pantheon of anti-drug films The Terrible Truth (1951), a ten minute short, holds a special place in my heart.

Not because of its low production values. Not because its message is totally alarmist. But akin to many stag films of the same period, no one wanted to be identified with the film except producer Sid Davis and “star” Judge William B. McKesson. Davis specialized in teenage transgression films, shown in the classroom, warning youths of avoidable dangers, concentrating on sex, drugs, alcohol, rape and gangs.

In The Terrible Truth we are told that using “pot, that’s jive talk for marijuana” can lead to heroin addiction.

That’s the premise of the film which might strain credulity to its limits.

Although inversely, it is likely that all heroin addicts did, at one time, smoke marijuana.

Here is The Terrible Truth.

There are five things for viewers to note:

1) Before we meet pot addict turned heroin addict Phyllis Howard, a photo is shown of what she looked like just six months ago. Phyllis is described as “A senior in high school. Pretty as a picture.” When we see Phyllis in person, our judge-narrator commenting on her appearance after her “drug nightmare” says. “it is hard to believe that this girl is the same person as the one in the picture.”

My reaction was: WOW. It is hard to believe. Phyllis looks incredibly hot and sexy now.

If she looks like that after being a pothead and druggie, then this is an excellent endorsement for drug use.

Maybe Phyllis is not a pseudonym and we see the real Phyllis Howard. But since there are no credits it appears Phyllis is not in her teens, but more likely an actress in her early to mid-twenties. Surprisingly with the internet, where everything is trackable, no one has ever come forward to claim the credit. If she was alive “Phyllis” would be in her 90s. You’d think that someone would write in to say “that’s my mom.”

2) Judge Mckesson either had a terrible speaking voice or more likely Sid Davis kept expenses down never using synchronized sound film. All of McKesson’s lines are dubbed (poorly and out of synch) by actor Griff Barnett.

3) The chart displaying the number of juvenile addicts committed to the two U.S. government hospitals for treating drug addicts is something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Neither axis is labeled, but it’s supposed to be showing over a period of time (we’re not shown exactly how long) the number of teens in the hospitals, also not shown clearly, but numbering about 500.

The approximately 500 teens in the nation’s only two rehab hospitals is today dwarfed by the number of adolescent overdose deaths, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of teens hooked on hard drugs

In the United States from July 2019 – December 2021, 2,231 adolescents (age 10-19) died of an overdose according to the CDC.

4) Chuck, the heroin dealer who Phyllis gets involved with, appears conservative, well dressed and prosperous, even by 1951 standards. If you saw Chuck the peddler on the street he could easily be taken for a professional accountant or UCLA graduate student.

5) For propriety’s sake Phyllis slips in a line that makes no sense except to pass the censor. After Phyllis admits she’s hooked on heroin she says hadn’t been home in weeks. “Chuck and I were married but it didn’t matter very much.” What???? Married? You weren’t allowed even in educational films to live together unmarried..

Chuck may be good at providing dope but he is not going to make a great spouse. Even strung out junkie Phyllis should recognize that spiffy looking Chuck is not good husband material.

So there you have it. Viewers learn a valuable lesson with the narration resonating in our impressionable ears: “Phyllis’ case is typical. Most teenagers start off with marijuana. Then they decide to see if heroin has any kick. It does.”

Then as now, there is a huge gulf between “most teenagers” turning to from pot to heroin and reality.

Beyond the film’s cheap production values, campiness and conclusions, there are gateway drugs and a timeless truth is present here. Teens experiment. Whether it’s alcohol, acid, pot or pills. Some teens go on to try hard drugs and or go for bigger highs. And then some get hooked. Some die.

It may not be a red conspiracy as suggested, but as we’ve seen in the twenty-first century, the drug problem is not going away, it’s getting worse.