Scarface (5 Stars)

"Scarface" is a story of the American dream. You can come to America with nothing, but if you work hard you can move to the top fast. That's what Tony Montana wanted. He came to America on a boat from Cuba in 1983 with nothing in his pocket. It wasn't even certain that he'd be allowed to stay in America. But he worked hard. He was a criminal, but crime in a business like any other. With hard work he became the biggest drug dealer in South Florida.

Even though Tony is the bad guy, people have sympathy with him. That's probably because they value his work ethic. They respect him as the underdog who came out on top.

But he fell from his top position. Was it his morals? Was it because he refused to kill children for the Bolivian drug lord? I don't think so. He could have worked around it somehow. He was already acting erratically. The problem was drugs. Not the ones he was selling, the ones he was using. "Never get high on your own supply".

When a man has cocaine piled up on his desk, he's dead already.

The actress Jenna Presley gave up her career in pornography, blaming porn for ruining her life. She was wrong. Appearing nude in films ruined nothing; her drug addiction ruined her. She was the highest earning porn star in America, but she was always broke because she spent her money on drugs as soon as she earned it. Without drugs, she'd still be making high quality pornographic films today.

It's been argued that many things are a drug, even coffee and alcohol. I can see the problem in making clear definitions. I shan't attempt to define the word drug itself. I'll just talk about which drugs are harmful and should be outlawed. A drug is bad if you can't stop taking it. For instance, I drink coffee every day, but I've had times when I did without it for weeks, mostly when I was taking blood pressure medication in England. I missed my morning cup of coffee, but I didn't feel like I was suffering without it. Alcohol is a borderline case. Most people, including me, can take it or leave it, but there are many who need alcohol every day.

What about cigarettes? Nicotine isn't usually considered a drug because it's legal, but it's highly addictive. Despite warnings about negative effects, nobody who smokes can do without cigarettes.

An interesting case is marijuana. For years people have been saying it should be legalised because it's harmless. I've never used it myself, but I've had a lot of friends who smoked it, and I've made interesting observations. People who use marijuana like to talk about it. They become obsessed with it without noticing. It's a medically proven fact that it brings on psychotic episodes in people with a tendency to psychosis. The figures from studies vary between 10% and 15%. The normal marijuana users deny this. They make excuses or just say it isn't true. But I witnessed it myself in my second wife Nicola. She didn't smoke marijuana often, but whenever she did she became suicidal. I knew that and she knew that, but she still made mistakes. One afternoon we were sitting with Pete, a friend of mine in Birmingham, who regularly smoked marijuana. He offered her some, and she turned it down, saying it was bad for her. So he started a long monologue about how good it is. Eventually, despite my protests, she smoked a joint. When we went home Pete said, "Look how good it's made you feel". Later that evening I had to take her to hospital after she cut her wrists.

Cocaine is considered a helpful drug by many. It keeps people awake, and it helps them function. It's often called the drug of intellectuals. Maybe, just maybe, it can be helpful in small quantities, but how easy is it to remain with small quantities? I have no experience.

Heroin is a destructive drug. Whoever takes it is incapable of functioning in society. It's so addictive that a person's only interest in life is getting more heroin. I knew several heroin addicts, and they were all wrecks. Subhuman. There was only one exception. There was a girl called Maisie, the girlfriend of a drug dealer called Alexis Thomas. One day when I met her she said, "Mike, everyone told me that heroin is bad, but I take it and it makes me feel great".

I asked her how long she'd been taking it. She said "One week". I wonder if she's still alive today.

It's obvious that drugs (and I'm talking about illegal drugs) feel good when you try them. If they didn't, nobody would want them. But there's a sting in the tail. The negative effects come later. Maybe it doesn't feel as good any more, or maybe you realise that you're spending too much money on them and ruining your life. When you realise you can't stop, it's already too late. I wonder how many how many weeks Maisie needed to realise this point.

Success Rate:  + 0.6

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