Drugs, addiction & the war on drugs

August 7th, 1980. Geraldo Rivera for 20/20 news takes a trip to that summertime American tradition, the carnival, an industry worth 10s of millions that has touched all of our lives.

"...these rides in fact, are just a lure. The real purpose of this place is gambling. Well that's not exactly accurate because when you legitimately gamble, you expect to have at least a chance of winning..."

In the language of the carnies a flat store is a store where the game is totally rigged with no chance of winning. Do carnival owners target ghetto neighborhoods with games that no one could possibly win?

We meet at the carnivals visitors and personnel, those whom were willing to talk, throughout this segment.

The continuing investigation into carnival activities looks at bribes to public officials, called 'the patch', interviews with police officers and investigators who have worked related cases and even speaks to safety inspectors about how things work.

This day, Geraldo's television history.

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1980s. In this exclusive stock footage we meet a woman with crack pipe in hand, occasionally smoking.

"They take your pipe and they throw it up against the wall...when the police come into your home...it's not about you basin' in your home, it's you basin' in the hallway.."

The freebasing woman goes on to describe how she's happy with her life, and when she gets tired of it she'll just leave it alone. The other crack users in the room are briefly shown.

Exclusive 'B-Roll' content courtesy of Geraldo's television history.

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1999. Geraldo Rivera is at a Mexico-California border crossing for firsthand looks at the tactics used by U.S. customs in checking cars, and the smugglers trying to outwit them. In 1998 33 million vehicles passed this border crossing, and 7 million persons on foot. We speak with the lead inspector at the facility, hear from world-traveling smugglers on their mindset and even see the 'spotters' hired by the cartels to watch operations from the Mexico side.

Later in the clip we watch a smuggling plane making drops and see the Domestic Air Interdiction Coordination center, at Marks Air Force base in California. Despite the high tech tools customs always seems to be playing catch up. We hear from a smuggler about how they work around these tools.

In 1998, 2 million pounds of Marijuana, 2 tons of heroin...at this time it is estimated only 5-10% of the drugs being smuggled are discovered. The endless stream of arrests and seizures gives an idea of how much is really being smuggled into the country from Mexico.

Organized smuggling by cartels remains an issue for the country in 2025, and was mentioned frequently during President Donald Trump's campaign.

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1978. Geraldo Rivera for ABC news with a segment on PCP, better known as Angel Dust. We speak with a doctor who has experience dealing with the overdoses and patients that use the drug.

"It may be, that in ten years, we'll come up with a lot of...mental invalids."

The substances used to make PCP can be purchased legally, making it an easy choice for drug pushers.

Later in the segment Geraldo visits an East Los Angeles school, where students as young as 13 are using the drug. He speaks with some, one claiming to have smoked earlier in the day.

PCP, or phencyclidine, is illegal and listed as a Schedule II substance.

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1987. Geraldo Rivera in this exclusive stock footage brings us an interview with a former cocaine smuggler who eventually claims getting busted saves his life.

"..we went down and we bought a house, up in the growing area...it moved from there."

The man remains somewhat tight-lipped on the details, but talks about the how and why he became a drug smuggler, claiming at one point to be generating 50 million dollars a month in revenue. After admitting to using up to 18grams of cocaine a day within his immediate circle, he claims getting busted saved his life.

Exclusive 'BRoll' courtesy of Geraldo's television history.

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July 5th, 1970s. Geraldo Rivera for ABC news investigates two facilities housing pregnant mothers addicted to heroin, exposing how it is the children who suffer most of all.

"In New York, the city that has the worst heroin affliction in the world there are only two special programs caring for less than 150 pregnant addicts and addicted mothers."

We visit a branch of Odyssey house, a building donated by the city but with no money to equip the facility for child care. The other facility is also visited, and we learn how methadone, the primary treatment for heroin addicts, does nothing to alleviate the issue for babies born addicted. Mothers are interviewed who upon learning they were pregnant tried to access a facility to better themselves, were not allowed in due to being pregnant.

This expose and others like it were the some of the first of their kind, shedding light on social issues that few other reporters dared to discuss.

While New York City has improved it's "ranking" since 1979, heroin addiction and related deaths remain a prominent issue in society.

This day, Geraldo's show history.

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It's even worse when those who have committed to doing no harm are stoned out of their minds with lives on the line. 1989.

An introduction into the problem brings us up to date and into Dr. Martha Morrison, a recovering adict who has written about her 17 year struggle with drugs. She describes beginning to take large quantities of drugs in college, during pre-med. She took her final comparative anatomy test stoned.

She describes how easy it was, she knew drug dealers before her medical training and after she became one there were more connections than ever. Dr. Martha brings us to her rock bottom and becoming suicidal because her life was almost destroyed, and she did make an attempt. At first she really liked what the drugs did but continued to use long after they had lost their novel effect.

Dr. W. Robert Gehring is also recovering from substance abuse, and he brings the picture into context. During medical training you learn that doctors are not allowed the luxury of making a mistake. As a delivery doctor he describes a traumatic experience when he elected for a surgery that nearly killed the patient. After that experience he began using all manner of drugs, blacking out sometimes while walking and talking to people -- not even remembering.

Dr. Lyman H Boynton is a recovering alcoholic, and he is pressed on whether courses on drug and alcohol abuse are mandatory due to the high stakes. Dr. Boynton admits they are not, and it's only recently they've been offered in medical schools. He believes the issue is being addressed actively.

Dr Harvey Wachsman is a malpractice attorney says 30-40,000 physicians are alcohol or drug impaired in the United States at this time. Yet the AMA and other organizations don't admit there is a problem.

Dr. Boynton's response is that addiction is a disease, an inherited disease. Dr. Gehring mentions that hospitals take the liability. If a doctor comes in to work noticeably inebriated, he Must be suspended until he recieves treatment -- a change from 10 years ago.

But has enough been done? Can doctors still get away with being high, drunk, or both? Dr. Wachsman thinks so, and after the break Dr Gehring gets a chance to voice her disagreement. She doesn't think the AMA should be penalized for not doing enough, addiction can happen to anyone. Part of the reason for being so public about their problems is to spread that message -- it's happened to these doctors.

Dr. Anne Geller comes on towards the end of the show, as an addiction expert she has treated many doctors. She says after they are referred, the doctors are under very strict monitoring. Usually they have access to prescription pads with little oversight but after being caught under the influence the rules change.

A lawyer can rob you, but a doctor can kill you.

This day, Geraldo's Television History.

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July 9th, 1990. Geraldo Rivera on his namesake talk show with 'Married to a drug dealer'. We meet Rene Nunez, a self-proclaimed former 'pistolero' or gunman for the cartels south of the border. His wife is also on the program and stuck with him throughout his borderline lifestyle.

"I used to carry a bag of grenades all the time, and...I wouldn't hesitate to use them."

We also hear from Arturo Carrillo Strong, a former narcotics agent, and his wife Josie of 39 years, about how drugs almost destroyed their marriage, despite both being on the right side of the law. Arturo talks about how he dealt with pistoleros such as Rene.

Discussed are ingress points for drugs into the country along the 2,100 mile southern border, techniques and the weapons used. What is it like to be married to a drug dealer?

This is an interesting insight into some interesting lives. Drugs and the southern border continue to be a hot button issue today, in 2025, although presumably law enforcement techniques have changed.

This day, Geraldo's television history.

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December 11th, 1980. Geraldo Rivera introduced on 20/20 ABC news with his special report on heroin proliferation; where, why, and how.

"What you're about to see is the product of a six month investigation that took us 20,000 miles, to 3 continents, 2 dozen cities and into the lives of hundreds of people..."

After synopsis concerning rising heroin use, we get to part 1 of Geraldo's investigation beginning with junkies talking about why they use. Visiting the desperately poor, we learn how shooting up also seems to be entering the mainstream.

Geraldo is then in the golden crescent of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran seeing where the drugs originate and details how they get to the United States. The clip ends with statistics from Mathea Falco, Assistant Secretary of State Narcotics.

This day, Geraldo's television history.

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