# Realistic drug use in movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2004, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869 "2004-12-20T22:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mottpot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Mottpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mottpot)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/41 "2004-12-28T19:54:19Z")
I have seen a lot of people act like Brittany Murphy or John Leguizamo in _Spun_ while high on meth. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/42 "2005-01-14T20:49:10Z")
> [@ggurl](#): > > _Cheech & Chong’s Up In Smoke!_\ > > Except the scene where they accidentally snort Comet off a paper plate is probably a little exaggerated. OOOOOFFFFFFF ooof ooof 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/43 "2005-01-14T22:05:55Z")
…however, the ECT administered to mom in Requiem was grossly out of date, and the diagnostic and treatment aspects of her experience are exaggeratedly bad (I have worked on the psych service in city hospitals). ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/44 "2005-01-15T01:13:48Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Now, if you mixed it with something, like heroin, you might get that kind of effect. Which would mean that you were spending hundreds of dollars to make yourself straight. :dubious: I beg to differ. Mixing cocaine and heroin does not make you straight. it just leaves you awake enough to enjoy being on heroin 🙂 . I’m getting lost here…it seems like every drug related movie out there has been sited for being realistic in some respect. What movie, aside from Reefer Madness, should we consider implausable? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/45 "2005-01-15T02:42:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Me** _ > One annoying characteristic of marijuana use in popular media is that nobody ever clears the chamber after taking a bong hit. That’s a party foul. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **betenoir** _ > …it seems like every drug related movie out there has been sited for being realistic in some respect. What movie, aside from Reefer Madness, should we consider implausable? _The Butterfly Effect_ comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/46 "2005-01-15T02:43:03Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > I’m getting lost here…it seems like every drug related movie out there has been sited for being realistic in some respect. What movie, aside from Reefer Madness, should we consider implausable? Well, supposedly Frank Sinatra’s _The Man With the Golden Arm_ was realistic, given the limits of the era. One element confused me for the first half-hour, though. Sinatra, fresh out of prison/rehab, keeps getting called “Dealer” by the crooks in his neighborhood, and they seem eager to get him back to “dealing” and forget any effort to go straight. Natch, I thought this mean Sinatra’s character was a _drug_ dealer, which would fit in perfectly with him being an addict as well, but it turns out he’s a highly-regarded _poker_ dealer, complete with all the snappy patter (“Two ladies” / “Busted flush” / “Lookin’ at a Straight” etc.) Now why the crooks are so eager to get him back to card table, when the job doesn’t really look so difficult that anybody could do it, is something you can probably only understand while stoned. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/47 "2005-01-15T03:05:09Z")
> [@poeticyde](#): > > I just wanted to add that Homer Simpson’s experience with insanity peppers was frighteningly like my own experiences with acid. How very strange. “In your face, space coyote!” ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/48 "2005-01-15T04:15:36Z")
Growning up really square, and having never even tried pot, is [**21 Grams**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315733/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9MjEgZ3JhbXN8aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=3;fm=1) realistic? I liked it quite a bit, but whadda I know? ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/49 "2005-01-15T04:52:41Z")
No mention of stoner Jeff Spicoli as portayed by Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High? He was a perfect double for some of the stoners in my high school, right down to his dialog with Mr. Hand. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/50 "2005-01-15T11:52:24Z")
There’s a british film called “the football factory” that has cocaine use down pat. They get the whole over-confident and paranoid at the same time thing spot on. Mind you that film didn’t just use actors - so who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/51 "2005-01-15T20:26:11Z")
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: “Did I _say_ that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?” The number of times that’s run through my own head, though due to different substances (I’m not even sure what he’s meant to be on at the beginning of the movie/book). ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869/52 "2005-01-15T21:40:40Z")
When Homer Simpson thinks the golf pro shop with the high steps is an Egyptian pyramid, that’s a damn good portrayal of an acid/mushroom type thing. Frank Zappa’s movie 200 Motels (or some number, I forget) is good at catching the pace and momentum of such a trip. Trainspotting captures the lifestyle and desparate-ness of heroin. And Cheech and Chong do a good job on pot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realistic-drug-use-in-movies/280869.md?page=2)