I'm a health teacher and am ...

• Mar 9, 2006 03:00 AM ET
• by Maitland McDonagh

Question: I'm a health teacher and am looking for some good movies about drug addiction or abuse. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer: You don't say how old your students are, so I feel I should warn you that all these movies contain material that many people would consider unsuitable for younger teenagers. But frankly, the drug life is full of material that's unsuitable for younger teenagers, so that just goes with the territory. Please also be aware that this isn't a definitive list, but these are films that have stuck with me. These titles deal vividly with life as an addict:

• The Man With the Golden Arm (1955). It's old-fashioned, but it was a pioneering look at heroin addiction.
• Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
• Jesus' Son (2000)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• The Panic in Needle Park (1971)
• Trainspotting (1996)
• The Basketball Diaries (1995)
• Another Day in Paradise (1998)

And these are terrific movies about recovery:

• Little Fish (2006)
• Down to the Bone (2005)
• And both the original U.K. Traffik (1989) and the 2000 Steven Soderbergh remake, Traffic, are excellent examinations of the larger social and cultural issues that surround drug use and drug dealing.