Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street

This is the best anti-drug movie ever. Unlike the many movies that have been made about drugs, that can't help ladling pyrotechnics and playing up the "glory", this movie shows hard drug use for what it is - thoroughly dehumanizing. Enter at your own risk.

After seeing this documentary, I, like most people, wondered what the fate of those featured was. WELL, surprisingly enough, I was at the dog park today in Portland, Oregon and noticed a familiar face. It was none other than Alice, the punk rock girl from the movie! I found it hard to believe that it was really her, so I went up and talked to her and sure enough, it was! I guess she moved here 6 years ago and has been clean ever since! She told me that they were talking about doing a 'where are they now?' follow-up, but it never happened. I guess the lesbian girl who was working as a sex worker with HIV has since died, but most people are up to the same old. . .sad, but nice to know at the same time. People make choices, you know. Seeing her gave me hope. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Alice, wherever u are.

xo sigrun

It was hard to watch the needles in the beginning. Needles in the arm. Neddles in the foot. In the neck. Then the needles stopped mattering. It got hard to watch the users. You end up realizing that these addicts are people, not just dirty bodies walking the streets. You can figure out why these people cannot stop. You see that they made a mistake a long time ago and that mistake held on. All of their friends are part of that mistake. Who do you go to when your trying to fix a mistake? Your friends. Notice how this won't work. This film makes you see these people as people. The types that have to sleep on sidewalks. Find this film and watch it.

If anyone is wondering about updates for those who were filmed, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBhDnVY0f08

I am a documentary lover and while I do not do drugs myself. Docs about different drugs have always fascinated me and is probably a good reason of why I will never try them. I think Black Tar is a great documentary for teens to watch. I live in Montana and meth has been a huge problem for us. Many highschoolers are now doing meth at parties instead of smoking pot or drinking. They need to be educated about all drugs so that they make educated decisions about what they are willing to "try" that could and most likely will lead to addiction and/or death.

This documentary came on HBO at 3:45 in the morning, and having skipped it in the past when I had other things to do, I decided to forego sleep for the night in order to see this. I was expecting it to be depressing, but no one could really be prepared for the horrible stories and images of the lives these young people have lived and are currently living. They resort to prostitution, robbery, anything to get their costly daily fix(es), and we are right there watching them follow their downward spirals to what we sadly know will inevitably be a slow, lonely, painful death, whether it be on or off camera. I agree wholeheartedly that this movie is too disgusting to look at at points, yet one that everyone should see, just don't expect to come out of it in too good a mood. If you found yourself affected by the plight of the characters in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream,check out the even more saddening (I know it's hard to believe) stories of some real, live addicts.