By Tom Dare
A HILARIOUS public education film from the 1960s which attempts to educate children about the dangers of drugs has resurfaced this week.
The film, titled ‘Drugs are like that’ and narrated by famous 1950s singer Anita Bryant, sees two young children being taught about the ‘perils’ of drugs through relatable everyday situations.
The narrator explains that while things such as riding in a fast car or trying not to tread on the cracks in the pavement are fun, they can quickly turn dangerous, with the film also featuring a catchy song:
“One you start some things you just can’t stop, and drugs are like that too.
“You pick it up, and it’s hard to drop, and drugs are like that too.
“Like a baby going through a phase, and like a player playing in a daze.
“Yeah yeah, you break a rule and you have to pay,
“It may not hurt but then again it may,
“Drugs are like that too y’know.”
The video was originally aimed at young children in America, and was produced during the cultural revolution of the 1960s.
The ‘Swinging Sixties’, as it was often referred to, saw an almost complete upheaval of the traditional family values on which America had been built after the Second World War, with young people experimenting more and more in terms of both culture and substance use.
LSD, marijuana and heroin all became prevalent during this period, with lawmakers and parents alike desperate to do something to stop their children from falling into the pitfalls of drug use.
Anita Bryant, the narrator of the film who became famous in the late 1950s and early 1960s for a string of top 40 hits, was well known in Hollywood for her ultra-conservative views.
In the 1970s she became known as an outspoken opponent of gay rights in the US, and in 1977 ran the “Save Our Children” in an attempt to overturn a Florida law that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Her involvement in the campaign severely damaged her reputation in showbusiness, meaning she faded from the public eye following the campaign.
