people. we are financially sound. we have good support for me cable companies. we can keep it going. this weekend, we are featuring the history of harrisburg pennsylvania. learn more about harrisburg and other stops on her cities tour at www.c-span.org/city tour. watching american history tv on c-span three. announcer: each week, american history tvs "real america" brings you archival films that brings you context for today's public affairs issues. prescription opioid and hair -- heroine killed more than 33,000 americans in 2015, more than any year on record. the report calls this an opioid overdose epidemic. up next, "subject, narcotics,"

intended for law enforcement officials. the film uses a question and answer format you described the dangers of narcotics and heroin addiction. >> is a symbol of narcotic

addiction, poisoning the blood of our country. this is a result. it occurs when the addict is deprived of his narcotic. he's experiencing withdrawal symptoms. >> and if he can't get his narcotic? >> he lives from fixed to fix, and if he is lucky, he dies early, maybe from an overdose, maybe from an infected needle. he lives from fix to fix. the addict must have his drug, and to get it, he must have money. that much money comes hard. >> and this girl? >> the same. always the same.

vice feeds on vice. in the end, life has been a tortuous search on day today. >> but can't we help them? >> we tried, but he is long past the point of no return. >> then we will stop narcotics from entering the country. we will arrest the peddlers. we will educate our young people. we will put a stop to this. >> yes, we will try. but if you want to defeat your enemy, you must first know him. ♪ >> this is a shooting gallery, a room where addicts come to

inject their narcotics and must wait their turn to use the needle. >> then all these people are addicts? >> some are, some aren't. all will be. for one, it may take five shots, for another, 50. but the narcotic will be master. >> what are these narcotics? >> lets take it from a scientific viewpoint. there are three general classifications of narcotics as defined by law. the opiates, the synthetic drugs, and the cocaine marijuana group. the opiates, grown and processed almost exclusively in foreign countries, include opium, morphine, and heroine. the second is a result of science awesome attempt to

produce a nonaddictive narcotic. attempts have failed. all synthetic narcotics are addictive. cocaine is derived from the peruvian coca plant. it is strongly addictive. marijuana is easily grown in many countries, including the united states. the plant can be identified by a soft tooth to lease which always has an odd number of fingers. the underside of the lease has a sticky feel to it. it is the leaves and flowering of this plant that contains a narcotic. this is nonaddictive. >> what do you mean by nonaddictive? >> it is meant to that the user of marijuana, when deprived of the drug, will not experience the agonies of withdrawal. it is habituating, but its use can be discontinued. >> than what is its danger? >> it produces unpredictable emotional results, but its

greatest danger lies in the fact that it is a stepping stone to the harder drugs such as morphine and heroin. 95% of narcotic addicts again -- begin with the use of marijuana. classified as dangerous drugs as distinct from narcotics are the barbiturates, the sleeping pills known also as goofballs. there are a proximately 400 varieties on market, and all are highly addictive. in most states, the position without a doctor's prescription is illegal. among the most common are yellow jackets and red devils. all narcotics and dangerous drugs have legitimate medical uses. many are indispensable for painkilling and sleep reducing properties. in the hands of the addict, their use is perverted to secure an escape from reality. >> how about this man?

what narcotic is he addicted to? >> all the people in this room are heroin users. heroine is the strongest, most devastating opiate that exists. heroin is the strongest, most devastating opiate that exists. this apparatus usually includes an eyedropper, a hypodermic needle, and a spoon with a bit of cotton at the bottom, and is known as an outfit. the heroin in powder form is placed in spoon, water is added, and the narcotic is made to dissolve. this process is called cooking. after it has been cooked, the heroin is drawn into the eyedropper through the wad of cotton to strain some of the impurities. it is then ready for injection directly into a vein. >> aren't they careful to sterilize?

>> no. either because of ignorance or to save time. no precaution is taken. any communicable disease may be directly transmitted into the bloodstream of another. for other narcotics, there are other methods of administration. for instance, black opium is usually smoked. five or six puffs, a dreamworld beckons. reality is left behind. but problems aren't solved. marijuana is also smoked. the reefer is smoked differently. large quantities of air are in held simultaneously with the smoke. marijuana is the most prevalent narcotic among juveniles. the pattern of escape is established. many of them try heroine. the step two narcotic addiction

is short. the barbiturates are usually taken orally. this group is classified as the dangerous drugs, and so classified so as to remind the user that they are addictive. through continuous use, physical damage to the brain, kidneys, and liver can occur. but there is no drug as degrading and enslaving as heroin.

>> look at those marks. >> yes, these scars on arms and legs are one of the few clues of heroin addiction. they will shoot a vein until it collapses, and then move on to the next. >> how do they get the stuff in the first place? >> most narcotics are smuggled into the country on ships or across borders. customs men are constantly on the lookout, but it can't all be intercepted. a great deal gets through. [car horns]

narcotics are a multimillion dollar business. an ounce of heroine costing $30 in europe is worth $300 upon crossing the united states border. then the profits really start. as the narcotic is passed from the big dealers to the smaller dealers and finally to the retailers, it is diluted until finally, from the original ounce of heroin, anywhere from five to

10 ounces have been produced. this process is termed cutting, and is usually done with milk sugar. ounces are cut and made up into gram packages and sold to retailers who recut the bundles and package the narcotics into capsules. these capsules containing a low percentage of heroin can bring from three dollars to five dollars a piece. the price is not decrease proportionately. the original ounce of heroin has a possible retail value of $3000. marijuana is both taken across and grown within the united states.

the leaves ground to the consistency of pipe tobacco are sold. the cigarettes are rolled in a double wrapping of brown paper, though the more fragile white paper is sometimes used for the purpose of camouflage. because marijuana is not as profitable as heroin and because it is only habit-forming, pushers try to convert the youthful marijuana user to the addictive, expensive, profitable heroin. >> who are the addicts? how do they start? >> they usually start out young. many start with marijuana and the pattern of escape is established. they then moved to the addictive drugs for bigger kicks, and soon they are hooked. five dollars, $10, $20 a day. >> how do they get the money?

>> narcotics breed a desperate race of men. >> can this girl be an addict? >> this is her third shot, and possibly her last chance to escape addiction. >> than what?

>> the need for drugs is the need for money. no method is too degrading. >> there may be 10,000 women and 30,000 men in this city who are drug addicts. each, perhaps, will initiate one new person to the use of narcotics. >> what are we doing about it? if we can't prevent narcotics from entering the country, we've got to crack down on every peddler. >> sure that's what we should do. we are often hindered by weak laws, apathetic judges and juries, and by narcotics forces. each case requires time, money, and men.

>> standby. ok, let's go. >> the law states that the possession of narcotics means that the suspect either has the drug on his person or that it

was directly under his control at the time of arrest. here, both officers saw this man throw the suspected narcotic. suspects are searched on the spot, and all evidence gathered is placed in envelopes in the present of the arrested man, and data related to its seizure is recorded on the outside. there must always be at least two officers on an arrest so that there will be a corroborating witness. these officers, however, cannot testify in court that the suspected substance is a narcotic.

the confiscated material must be examined by a chemist who will later testify as to its findings. so we catch the pushers, but the problem doesn't end there. there is a still the addict who,

without a will of his own, has a continual craving for narcotics. while under the influence of the drug, he acts almost human. without it, he becomes a desperate, tortured animal. >> but can these people be cured? >> physically, yes. mentally, there is no known cure. deprived of narcotics, they will undergo withdrawal symptoms for about six weeks. at the end of this period, his body will no longer need drugs, but the psychological need remains. elaborate precautions must be taken to prevent the passage of narcotics into prisons. double fine mesh screens and a careful search of all articles intended for prisoners do much to discourage smuggling.

clothing intended for narcotics prisoners is soaked in water to dissolve any narcotic the articles might be saturated with. >> now that the suffering is over, doesn't he realize the hell that awaits him if he slips back? >> yes, he realizes it. and he will fight. but the addict is not fit for such a fight. narcotics have weakened his character, deteriorated his will. he may stay off the day, a month, a year, or more. but 99 out of 100 slipped back to one capsule of day, to

capsules, four capsules, back to five dollars a day, $10, $20. back to prostitution, armed robbery, jail. back to the desperate race of men. ♪ >> then there is no hope. quek the hope lies in prevention. our enforcement agencies must be enlarged. be warned of the compelling, habit-forming danger of marijuana and the addictiveness of the opiates. it is a social as well as a police problem.

the people must be [captions made aware. copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this weekend on american santa claratonight university professor nancy unger looks at the role of gay bars in american history. >> many closeted gays go to their first gay bar. outhese bars, they find that they are not the only one. there are lots of people who are a typical sexually. when the war is over, they don't want to return to their small towns. many settled in the cities where they first experienced some acceptance. >> government policymakers talk

about the 1921 act establishing the process of dismantling and destroying soviet nuclear and chemical weapons. >> what we found is that the russians, the nuclear complex was not an inheritance from hell. forhem, it was the means the revival of a great russia. fdr presidential library archivist and national archives motion picture archivist are preserving his most important speeches. >> we selected films based on historical significance, how often they are requested, and the quality of the footage. >> i have seen one third of the clad, ill housed, ill

>> mcgill university history professor looks at u.s. israeli relations from harry truman to barack obama. house of the representatives i would commit political suicide if i did not support the state of israel. >> for our complete schedule, go to www.c-span.org. >> american history tv is joining our cable partners to showcase the history of harrisburg, pennsylvania. visit c-span.org. our history ofh harrisburg. >> we are in the stora