Top 10 Best Films About Drugs

Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant is an uncompromising portrait of moral decay. Harvey Keitel plays a corrupt police officer who is completely destroyed by drug and gambling addiction. The film shows his daily self-destruction without condoning it. Zoë Lund's screenplay and Ferrara's raw style make this one of the most confrontational drug films ever.

Brian De Palma's Scarface, written by Oliver Stone, became one of the most cited films ever. Al Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who works his way up to become a drug lord. His cocaine empire grows rapidly, but paranoia and violence ultimately bring his downfall. The film became a cultural icon and a permanent reference in pop culture.

In his book, Hunter S. Thompson described a drug-fueled trip to Las Vegas. The goal was to find the American dream, but that search was completely derailed. Terry Gilliam managed to film the chaos and madness convincingly. With the help of Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro, a delirious film is created full of hallucinatory images and black humor.

Gus Van Sant based Drugstore Cowboy on James Fogle's autobiography. When the film was released, Fogle was still in prison and the book was unpublished. The film follows a group of addicts who rob pharmacies to finance their use. When an overdose disrupts the group's lives, the main character tries to break with his past. William S. Burroughs appears in a memorable supporting role.

Ken Russell's Altered States is a distinctly cult film. William Hurt plays a scientist who investigates different states of consciousness. He goes further and further through isolation in water tanks and the use of hallucinogens. The experiments get out of hand and lead to extreme visions. The film is known for its progressive special effects and intense images.

West Berlin was hit hard by heroin use in the 1970s. The teenage girl Christiane Felscherinow became one of the most famous victims. The film follows how fourteen-year-old Christiane falls deeper and deeper into addiction and eventually ends up in prostitution to finance her use. The use of unknown actors and a sober style makes the film feel raw and authentic.

Dazed and Confused is one of the lightest drug films ever. The film is set on the last day of school in 1976 and follows several groups of teenagers. The joints are constantly being passed around while classic rock provides the soundtrack. The film is mainly an atmospheric sketch, populated by young actors such as Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck and Mila Jovovich, who would later become big stars.

Irvine Welsh's debut painted a raw picture of a group of friends in Edinburgh with an obsession with heroin. Director Danny Boyle managed to translate this into an energetic and unexpectedly successful film. Despite the humor and iconic soundtrack, Trainspotting does not shy away from the dark sides of addiction. The death of a neglected baby and Renton's later hallucinations show how deep the misery can go.

The book of the same name by William S. Burroughs was known for a long time as being unfilmable. Yet David Cronenberg used it as a starting point for a quirky and hallucinatory film. Naked Lunch follows writer William Lee in a bizarre world full of drugs and paranoid fantasies. Traditional means make way for exotic substances and talking typewriters. The film constantly exudes an alienating buzz in which reality and hallucination merge.

In the 1980s, cocaine use reached epidemic proportions in the United States. The Boost tells the familiar story of users who are slowly ruined by their addiction. James Woods is perfectly cast as a nervous businessman who wants to get rich quick. First, cocaine is used to celebrate success, later to numb problems. The film was one of the first to explicitly show crack and serves as a realistic warning.