Sam’s experience of taking illegal drugs

Sam describes how his life dramatically changed through his involvement with illegal drugs. He reflects honestly about his experience and explains how what started out as fun eventually led to reliance, with severe physical and psychological consequences.

Sam, now in his early twenties, reflects on how a cocktail of drugs devastated his teenage years. An addiction to ketamine, a powerful general anaesthetic, severely damaged his kidneys, and caused him to pass blood in his urine, as the lining of his bladder was destroyed. He recalls the downward spiral in which he took more and more of the drug to try to combat the pain. Eventually Sam was thrown out of university and went into rehab. “You feel so far apart from that world of hard drugs when you are young…” he admits, “…that you tend not to listen…”

Sam’s story is interspersed with graphics, which explain in detail the chemical and biological processes that were taking place in his body as he was taking drugs. The film also highlights key statistics in relation to young people’s drug taking, confirming the fact that only a very small minority of young people have ever tried them.

Contains content that discusses illegal drug taking by teenagers. Teachers are advised to view it before showing it to their class, to determine suitability.