Drug Dependency: The Early Warning Signs (1984)

Director	Richard Crenna
Producer	Aims Media
Contributors	Sidney Cohen M.D., Amir H. Reyyes M.D., Murray L. Firestone P.h.D.
Length	22 Minutes
B&W/Color	Color
UO Library Catalog description:	Dramatically illustrates ten signs which indicate that a person is becoming dependent on a drug. Emphasizes that the solution to this problem begins with recognition. Hosted by Richard Crenna.
Call #	Mb288
Genre	Educational
Rare	No
Online	No
Copyright status	Never Registered, Public Domain
Physical condition	Good
Oregon-related	No

Notes: Typical 80’s drug scare movie. Over the top dramatizations of the consequences of drug use ranging from things as benign as marijuana to as destructive as heroin. Despite the clear differences in the potency of the drugs, pot, cocaine, alcohol and heroin are all presented on the same level in terms of consequences and side-effects. Good for scaring people away from drug use, bad for presenting legitimate facts.

The notable thing about this film is the host, Richard Crenna. Crenna was a television and movie actor, as well as a director who played Colonel Trautman in the first 3 Rambo films. Crenna’s involvement in this film is unlisted on his profile on IMDB and I could find no mention of any other public service projects that he was involved in. Ironically enough, Crenna has played both drug addicts and drug dealers in his film career. Drug Dependency was never registered for copyright and has been public domain since it was released in 1984 as far as I can tell. Therefore, it is surprising to me that there are no versions of this movie available online. However, I was able to find a VHS copy which was the format I viewed it on.

Another interesting tidbit is the way I was able to identify exactly what type of film this was. During my evaluation and projection of the film I noticed that there is notable color fading that gives way to a green tinge. I looked up the most common causes for this green tinge and found that Drug Dependency was most likely recorded on Ektachrome X film. When stored in unfavorable conditions, Ektachrome X developed a green tint. This type of film was used between 1963 and 1984. That means that this movie was released on Ektachrome X in the very last year it was manufactured. Other than the greenish hue of the film, the contrast is nice and sharp and it is overall in pretty good condition.