History DrugsAreBad / LiveACtionTV

* Averted in ''Series/TheDefenders'' episode "Fires of the Mind", first aired in 1965. Creator/DonaldPleasance plays the Leary Expy here, on trial for murder after one of his students suicided. Instead of "drugs are bad", the Arnold Manoff screenplay showed both sides. The older lawyer is so disgusted that he quits the case; the younger lawyer, his son, tries LSD to see what it's like and testifies that he had a positive experience.

* ''NoahsArc'': Played in with in a counterintuitive way in the movie. When Brandy crashes Noah's wedding we get to see her enjoy a variety of drugs, and its all PlayedForLaughs with no real consequences. On the other hand, Alex's addiction to caffeine pills is taken seriously by Noah, and that's where the DrugsAreBad aesop is played out.

* The U.S. government paid TV networks to make sure that anyone using drugs was portrayed as a loser. ''{{ER}}'', ''BeverlyHills90210'', ''Chicago Hope'', ''TheDrewCareyShow'', ''SeventhHeaven'' and other shows had their scripts reviewed by the government and changes made so the network could pocket some cash.
** This started with the Nixon Admin. in the 1960s, as related by HarlanEllison among others.

* ''HawaiiFiveO'' brought us "Up Tight", the sad tale of a young woman who jumped off a cliff and the Timothy Leary {{Expy}} (Ed Flanders) who gave her the stuff... said to be "speed" all the way through the episode, but it was clearly acid. Also from this show, "Two Doves & Mr. Heron", which isn't about drugs per se, but a friend of the "two doves" dies of an overdose.
* ''TheNameOfTheGame'' had "High on a Rainbow", featuring a deadly shootout with stoned school kids, a cafe used as a drug supply center, and a MushroomSamba.
* ''MarcusWelbyMD'' had "Homecoming", about someone having flashbacks after having been "addicted" to LSD.
* In ''TheYoungLawyers'' episode "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs", Aaron bails out a former fiancee who's become a badly deteriorated heroin addict. Writer HarlanEllison says [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3Vvk62LWyY&list=PLmGQ2g_6CPErlvg14OMw2r1wZUp4-Jh2L the episode as you saw it]] had so much important parts cut or rewritten that it was a farce compared to his original hellish tragedy. (His version is reprinted in ''The Glass Teat'' volume 2.)

* In the ''{{Mannix}}'' episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5MTJv63wgg Warning: Live Blueberries]]", the Leary Expy is Prof. Wilson (Phil Leeds), who runs a meditation center where people "turn on". The blonde chick of the week is shown pleading with a friend to return with her to "the center of the earth" to experience "the taste of blue and the colors of twelve." (Yes, that's [[NeilYoung the Buffalo Springfield]] playing in the nightclub scene.)

* Averted in ''Series/TheDefenders'' episode "Fires of the Mind", first aired in 1965. Donald Pleasance plays the Leary Expy here, on trial for murder after one of his students suicided. Instead of "drugs are bad", the Arnold Manoff screenplay showed both sides. The older lawyer is so disgusted that he quits the case; the younger lawyer, his son, tries LSD to see what it's like and testifies that he had a positive experience.

* Averted in ''TheDefenders'' episode "Fires of the Mind", first aired in 1965. Donald Pleasance plays the Leary Expy here, on trial for murder after one of his students suicided. Instead of "drugs are bad", the Arnold Manoff screenplay showed both sides. The older lawyer is so disgusted that he quits the case; the younger lawyer, his son, tries LSD to see what it's like and testifies that he had a positive experience.

* ''Series/{{Ironside}}'' takes a "[[http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi4176674841/ Trip to Hashbury]]" where lovely Barbara is a clean-cut all-American girl by day and a tripped-out acidhead by night. This was probably a reference to the double life of Linda Fitzpatrick in the infamous [[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/26/home/luckas-fitzpatrick.html Groovy Murders]] which were then [[RippedFromTheHeadlines prominent in the news]]. Like Linda, Barbara is found beaten to death, but in this case her boyfriend, said to be taking "lethal amounts" of LSD, was the culprit. As in many Drugs Are Bad episodes, drug use was ascribed to already-present mental illness or personal trouble: Barbara turned to a hippie life because ''her grades were slipping.'' "Continued failure leads to lack of self respect -- that leads to Haight-Ashbury."

** Further parodied in the episode "Reefer Madness." Red imagines Eric getting convinced to try marijuana by Hyde in a take-off of the ''ReeferMadness'' movie, in which Hyde shoots Donna, Eric goes incurably insane, Jackie dances to really fast music, and Kelso ends up with random laughing fits.

** One episode has a highway patrolman giving the DJs alcohol and then testing their reaction times on-air as a sort of live PSA. Venus is clearly impaired by the booze, at one point stumbling into Arthur Carlson's office and demanding a hat ("Cop's got a hat, I want a hat"), and his reaction times reflect this. However, there's also a BrokenAesop involved because Johnny's reaction time steadily ''improves'' as he gets drunker, which frustrates the policeman so much ''he'' starts drinking.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': the characters smoke pot on occasion, no big deal is made out of it and eventually they decide they are too old for such proclivities.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'': Played straight, and how. Goes into the violence and crime, the desperation, and the screwed up lives of meth addicts. Coke will fuck you up. [[spoiler:Heroin will kill you]]. Even alcohol will make you chuck up your guts if you take a couple of shots when underage. Pot, surprisingly, gets off pretty lightly aside from the (arguably FelonyMisdemeanor) reactions of Walt's family. Although it certainly does come out as anti-drugs, ''Breaking Bad'' is quite even-handed. The show makes arguments for drugs as a personal choice and portrays a variety of characters (among them Jesse) as high functioning meth addicts. The show is much more critical of the criminal industry surrounding drugs than of the substances themselves (except heroin, which ironically does not get off lightly).

* ''GossipGirl'': Averted Trope. Nate and Chuck do drugs on a seemingly regular basis with no ill effects thus far. One of Serena's one-nighters OD-ed in a flashback, but they didn't really overdo the DrugsAreBad point (thankfully).

* As late as 1979, Heather in ''GeneralHospital'' planned to give someone LSD to make them appear insane, only to accidentally take the drug herself.

* ''{{Dinosaurs}}'': Both played straight and played with in this early 90s live-action/rubber suit sitcom. They do a very straightforward DrugsAreBad episode about the characters finding and abusing a plant implied to be marijuana until one of them just accidentally burns the whole thing while high. At the end, they avert the usual PSA segment about how bad drugs are, when the adolescent son begs the audience to not do drugs so sitcoms can stop getting pushed to ''make'' {{Very Special Episode}}s.

* ''TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': The episode "Just Say Yo" has Will being offered amphetamines so he can stay awake, and Carlton takes some from Will's locker thinking they're vitamins and almost dies as a result.

* ''{{Ironside}}'' takes a "[[http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi4176674841/ Trip to Hashbury]]" where lovely Barbara is a clean-cut all-American girl by day and a tripped-out acidhead by night. This was probably a reference to the double life of Linda Fitzpatrick in the infamous [[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/26/home/luckas-fitzpatrick.html Groovy Murders]] which were then [[RippedFromTheHeadlines prominent in the news]]. Like Linda, Barbara is found beaten to death, but in this case her boyfriend, said to be taking "lethal amounts" of LSD, was the culprit. As in many Drugs Are Bad episodes, drug use was ascribed to already-present mental illness or personal trouble: Barbara turned to a hippie life because ''her grades were slipping.'' "Continued failure leads to lack of self respect -- that leads to Haight-Ashbury."

* In the 1970 soap opera ''Series/TheBestOfEverything'', gang member Squirrel takes revenge against now-straight Randy by breaking into Randy's fiancee's house and injecting brownies with LSD. Fiancee's little brother eats one and ''instantly'' goes insane; at the hospital, the doctor states "His system is full of LSD".[[note]]LSD actually takes about twenty minutes to kick in, actually leaving the body ''before'' the effects begin.[[/note]] The same storyline appears later in ''RyansHope''.

* In the ''{{Mannix}}'' episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5MTJv63wgg Warning: Live Blueberries]]", the Leary Expy is Prof. Wilson (Phil Leeds), who runs a meditation center where people "turn on". The blonde chick of the week is shown pleading with a friend to return with her to "the center of the earth" to experience "the taste of blue and the colors of twelve." (Yes, that's the Buffalo Springfield playing in the nightclub scene.)

* ''{{Traffic}}'': The British miniseries, and the American film adaptation, have the message "Drugs are bad, but there aren't any easy answers (possible solutions, but not easy ones)."

* ''{{Ironside}}'' takes a "[[http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi4176674841/ Trip to Hashbury]]" where a murdered girl was a clean-cut all-American girl by day and a tripped-out acidhead by night. This was probably a reference to the double life of Linda Fitzpatrick in the infamous [[http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/26/home/luckas-fitzpatrick.html Groovy Murders]] which were then [[RippedFromTheHeadlines prominent in the news]]. Her boyfriend, said to be taking "lethal amounts" of LSD, was the culprit. As in many of these LSD episodes, drug use was ascribed to already-present mental illness and/or low self-esteem.

* ''{{Ironside}}'' takes "A Trip to Hashbury" where another generic blonde chick is a clean-cut all-American girl by day and a tripped-out "LSD addict" by night; she dies, of course. Her boyfriend is said to be taking "lethal amounts" of the drug.

* In the ''{{Mannix}}'' episode "Warning: Live Blueberries", the Leary Expy is Prof. Wilson (Phil Leeds), who runs a meditation center where people "turn on". The blonde chick of the week is shown pleading with a friend to return with her to "the center of the earth" to experience "the taste of blue and the colors of twelve."
* ''{{Ironside}}'' takes "A Trip to Hashbury" where another generic blonde chick is a clean-cut all-American girl by day and a tripped-out "LSD addict" by night; her boyfriend is said to be taking "lethal amounts" of the drug.

* ''HawaiiFiveO'' brought us "Up Tight", the sad tale of a young woman who jumped off a cliff and the Timothy Leary {{Expy}} who gave her the stuff... said to be "speed" all the way through the episode, but it was clearly acid. Also from this show, "Two Doves & Mr. Heron", which isn't about drugs per se, but a friend of the "two doves" dies of an overdose.

* ''Series/GrowingPains'': In "Thank God It's Friday", Mike, Boner and Eddie go to a [[APartyAlsoKnownAsanOrgy college party]] where all of the party guests are doing cocaine. The three boys are then [[PeerPressureMakesYouEvil pressured to do coke]] by the [[BeautyIsBad hot chicks]] who want to experiment with the drug and have fun.