“FACE OF AN ADDICT” 1968 DRUG ABUSE & ADDICTION AMONG MEDICAL DOCTORS EDUCATIONAL FILM XD46574

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This short film takes a look at addiction and whom it affects, specifically those in the medical profession. It was sponsored in the interest of the medical profession by Winthrop Laboratories Limited (:12) and produced by the Canadian film production company, Crawley Films (:29) founded by Frank Crawley and wife Judith in 1939. The film uses pseudonyms in order to protect the actual identities of those a part of the true story. It opens with the office of the man whose story is to be featured called Dr. James Carter Stone (:41). The title screen appears shortly after (1:08). Robert Wright narrates the film and points out Canadian doctors have a history of addiction (1:18). Dr. Stone approaches his office and new practice as he was to be full partners with a Dr. Kelso (3:10). Film then shows Stone meeting with various patients who more often than not are not suffering from emergencies (4:07). The pressures of being a doctor are explored as Stone struggles to measure up to his own and to his partner’s standards as well as competition from other doctors in the area (5:57). While working 70-hour weeks he also must keep up with the ever-changing developments in the medical field (7:07). He visits more patients (7:30) ending with a woman who loses her baby during the birthing process (8:36). Although this incident affects him, he must continue to work and is seen checking Xray’s of a man’s chest (9:03). The doctor is then pictured in bed unable to sleep (9:26) even though he had already taken barbiturates. He then succumbs to pressure and sticks himself with a syringe pulled from his own medical briefcase (11:18). When the phone rings in the morning the man is left groggy from the drug use though he must return to work and keep going (12:51). As his partner becomes more absent, Dr. Stone continues to use in order to maintain his pace at work (13:23). He writes a prescription for the same narcotics he himself had been taking for another patient to whom he dictates that they must not take more than he had prescribed (13:48). In between visits, he shoots up and the needle falls breaking on the floor (16:25). In order to keep his own supply of narcotics he takes fake prescriptions to out of the way drug stores (17:00). While a patient is in his office, Stone begins to experience withdrawal symptoms and cannot focus on the patient (17:25). His behavior becomes more erratic and irritable (18:01). Dr. Kelso appears to inquire about an inquiry into their office by the Health and Welfare office over the rise in narcotics (19:02). As Dr. Kelso seeks to solve the problem immediately, Stone slips into further withdraw and inevitably falls into his seat (19:43). Dr. Kelso notices the syringe in Stone’s open desk drawer (20:21). The narrator returns to inform viewers there is no such thing as a ‘stabilizing dose’ and that continued use will inevitably lead to addiction (20:45). While Stone did break the law, the courts did not prosecute him to the full extent of the law and he is able to receive psychiatric treatment (22:14). He is then pictured a year later, sober and heading back to work (22:41). In the office he receives a call from the same woman whom had lost her baby while giving birth in the beginning of the film (23:18). The pressure and trauma from the first incident which led him to drug use return and the doctor pulls out his briefcase and relapses (24:30) this time over dosing and dying in his office chair. The film had been a representation of a true case (25:51).

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