In January of 2000, I got together with local law enforcement agencies, hospitals, drug treatment and prevention centers, business owners, and television stations in and around Medford to broadcast Drug Wars - One Family's Battle on all the TV stations at the same time.  The broadcast was called a roadblock and was a huge success. It had never been done before. The response from the community was amazing. Hundreds of calls, emails and comments came in to me and the television stations. I figured that the audience was somewhere around 150,000 people.

John Kitzhaber the governor of Oregon heard about the broadcast and a few months later presented me with the Outstanding Media Award for Improving Alcohol and Drug Services for the Citizens of the State of Oregon for my contribution with Drug Wars - One Family’s Battle . When I went up to accept the award, I told the governor that I couldn’t’ accept it. I paused for a couple of seconds and watched as he became a little uncomfortable and then I said, “At least I can’t accept the award without acknowledging the contributions of all those who had helped with the film.” I was just messing with him a little. (Hey how often can you mess with the governor of your state?) But once again, receiving this award was kind of empty for me. It wasn’t what I was looking for.

The feedback was amazing and the only complaint I received about the film was from a lady who had lost a child to a drunk driver. She asked me why I wasn’t doing something about the real problem people were facing - teen drinking.  I could feel her pain and knew how she felt and I knew what she was talking about. I didn’t share my story with her but I had already been thinking of another film that dealt with teen drinking. I finally had the courage to make a film about the villain that had taken my boy. In fact, I had already sketched out an outline of a film that I felt would be better than what else was on the market at the time and would bring the point home to teenage viewers.

Drug Wars – The High Times was my third film about substance abuse. This film focused on teen drinking and how it is dangerous and not cool. This time I wrote a screen play and used actors. It was totally acted but based on research I had done. In making the film, I had a lot of help from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and I felt it had a great message. During the casting call, a young kind of goofy character showed up and really impressed me. I thought he could be good as the leading role. So I hired Joel David Moore to play the lead. I also found a knock out super model, Nina Smidt to play another one of the main characters. Gretchen Stout played the lead opposite Joel. I always thought she would go far. She is a terrific actress and put her heart into the film. I know that there were young men all around the country that must have had a crush on her.

In the past, I had hired directors to direct the shots and camera angles. My main function was as a writer and executive producer. I put all the pieces together. We had hired a director and everyone showed up the first night for shooting and no director. The guy we had hired didn’t show and hadn’t bothered to call. I had a whole crew there and the expense clock was ticking about $700 to $800 per hour so after about $200 worth of waiting. I decided to do the only thing I could. “I’ll direct it!” I said. I then proceeded to direct my first film Drug Wars – The High Times.

There’s a scene in the film where one of the characters had too much to drink and became really sick. Sick enough for his friends to take him to the hospitals and during the visit to the emergency room the physician explains the dangers and effects drinking can have on a body; including damage to the liver, brain and sexual performance of the drinker.

In June, rented a convention center for the premiere and invited several hundred people I had connected with during the previous Drug Wars roadblock and everyone else I knew. There were at least 200 people there. I had hired a couple of radio personalities to MC the event. It was a real affair and we all had a blast. The film was warmly received and the kids really liked it.

A friend of mine told me about a conversation that she had with her son Nick on the way home from the premiere. The conversation started with 10-year-old Nick being reflective. It went something like this: “Mom, I think I am going to wait until I am 21 before I start drinking.” Nick said. “Oh Nick, that is such a good decision,” Nick’s mom told him. “How did you come up with that decision?” He looked at her like she was really dumb, she told me later, and then he said, “Didn’t you hear what the doctor said?”

I’ve told that story a hundred times because it perfectly illustrated what I was trying to do with the film – get the kids into the story and educate them about the dangers of alcohol.

I went back to the television stations to see if I could pull off another roadblock and without missing a beat they all agreed. I had about 100 sponsors to help pay the costs and for the second time we had it lined up to take our message to more than a 150,000 people. In order to enhance the sponsors return on their investment, I produced a comic-book discussion guide to go along with the film and distributed it through the distributors.

I received a call from a group in Eugene Oregon called NARC an organization with the mission to deal with illegal drugs in the area. They had heard about Drug Wars – One Family’s Battle and wanted us to do a roadblock in Eugene . I told them how difficult it was and how expensive. They told me that they would do most of the work and help get the word out. After much consideration, I agreed to do it. I had a man named Les Couch working for me at the time that was a gifted salesperson. He did a lot of the initial set up work and I was out talking to potential sponsors. I first contacted all the television stations and got a preliminary agreement to go forward.

The cost of the air time was huge and I committed to it. I wasn’t worried because I had support of the group. Due to one of the stations not committing to the broadcast until the station manager had everyone convinced that it was his idea to do the roadblock I got a real late start in the sales of the sponsorships. I had a real hard time getting sponsors to help save kids from drug abuse. I used some pretty high pressure tactics to get the attention of the people in Eugene . There were a few that helped but the sales were real low. When I finally ran out of time for the broadcast I realized that we were about $20,000 short to pay all the expenses. I decided to go ahead anyway because I told them that I would get it done and I knew that I was going to do well in Southern Oregon.

In the summer I was contacted by Oregon Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking (OCRUD). They were formed to curb the problem of youth drinking as the name indicates. I met with them and after several discussions; I laid out a plan where we could put a copy of Drug Wars - The High Times film, a High Times Comic Discussion Guide and a Drug Wars - High Times Teacher’s Guide into every 5th grade class in the State of Oregon and teach every Oregonian fifth grader, like we taught Nick and so many others, that drinking alcohol when you are young is dangerous. I estimated that we could do it for less than $60,000. About the same as it cost to house one prisoner for one year. They thought the task was too daunting and didn’t want to get involved. I told then that I felt the children of Oregon was worth us taking on a daunting task. I hated to hear that word.

It was fall and I had to get busy with the roadblock broadcast. There were sponsorships and details with the film that I had to take care of. I couldn’t waste too much time working with people who were willing to sit on the sidelines while our kids were being killed and going down a destructive path by using alcohol. If you see the film, you will understand why children should not drink. It isn’t just the dangers of drinking and driving it is the physical damage that could be caused.

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