Juvenile: The Little Pusher (1969) User Reviews (2)

Poisoned Youth

[hellraiser7 · 10/10 · 5 December 2019]

Warning do not read unless seen episode.

This one is a favorite episode, what's interesting is this episode can now be viewed more as a history lesson on how drug awareness in schools started to come into fruitation, and the harmful effects drugs truly have not just on the users but the people around them. It's starts out rather disturbing as we see a 12-year-old clearly tripping out as both Joe and Bill were escorting him for immediate treatment. Thankfully the kid will be okay, but you know the cause of what put him in that state in the first place.

Really liked the meeting scene at the school and we see both Bill and Joe give out the facts on each pill and the fatal effects they have. Bill and Joe find out a 9th grader being the drug dealer, but what really disturbing is the fact this drug dealer's moral compasses is absent been brought up in a household with no rules and restrictions and he can do whatever he wants. But also, he wrongfully thinks drugs are fun and aren't really harming anyone.

The drug dealer is dead wrong, it then comes down to the raid on the drug dealers homestead, and the place is just a total craphole; dishes unwashed, trash everywhere, it's a place I wouldn't want to go though even with a Hazmat Suit on.

But worst one of all is seeing two kids that are dirty, sitting at the table eating nothing but a can of beans unsupervised because their parents and everyone else in the house is using drugs; I'll admit seeing the sight of those two kids was heart sinking and it gets really disturbing once we hear one of the drug users in the house has just died.

This episode just goes to show how youth aren't safe form drugs and that we must take action now to protect their health and innocence.

Rating: 4 stars

A great episode...and proof that drugs are for losers.

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 27 November 2009]

I am sure that some out there might find this entire episode funny--thinking how quaint it is that Joe Friday and the rest are so narrow-minded about drugs. However, the show is great proof that drugs are for total losers and it really does not go too far in its portrayal of drug abuse. Plus, unlike a show in the first season, the information here is right on target--while pot may or may not be worse than liquor--it sure ain't good--especially for kids! The show is about an epidemic of drug abuse in a school--a junior high school! It begins with a 12 year-old who nearly dies after overdosing on barbiturates. When they talk to the principal of the school, he, too, is upset about the drug problem and wonders out loud how to educate his faculty. Friday and Gannon offer to do a drug seminar--which does a lot to improve the teachers' ability to recognize the symptoms and sings of drug use.

Later, the pusher in the school is identified--a 9th grader. He seems to think his life and family is great, as they have no boundaries and his parents encourage him to use drugs. However, when the detectives make a raid on the home, what they find is discouraging and sad. In addition to two small children living almost like animals among the filth, a dead older sister is found upstairs. So much for "recreational drugs".

Regardless of exactly how bad you think drugs are, you can't help but be affected by the final scenes in the drug raid. It tears you apart to see such cute kids living among the garbage in the kitchen--it can't help but get your attention. If this show isn't a great example of why drugs are stupid, I don't know what is.