MTV'S 'TRUE LIFE' IS A STRONG DOSE OF REALITY

Eric, 22, plunges a needle into his arm and is briefly jazzed by the heroin
taking hold.

"I like it," he says. "It sort of makes your lips kinda purse a little bit.
And it makes your hearing really intense."

His friend, Allen, 19, initially gives a needle the back of his hand. The
veins on his inner arm are already messed up from too many sharp pokes.
He's soon bleeding from the needle's dirty work while Eric is sounding like
his own grim reaper. "I kinda feel like I'm already dead," he says.

MTV reporter Serena Altschul and a cameraman are on hand to capture every
ugly second for a new series titled True Life. The first episode, subtitled
Fatal Dose, hits home with a double pow. It deglamorizes drug use with
unsightly depictions of same. And it originates from prosperous Plano.
Thirteen young people with ties to the city have died from heroin overdoses
in the last 26 months.

This isn't exactly a state secret. Plano's bouts with teen suicides and
heroin-induced death have been making national news for the past year. But
the stark nature of MTV's half-hour, and the hope that its young target
audience will wise up from watching it, make Fatal Dose some of the
strongest medicine yet.

It will be followed by a live panel discussion from MTV's New York studios,
says Ms. Altschul, the 27-year-old daughter of a former New York Times
reporter turned investment banker.

Ms. Altschul says she spent three weeks in Plano becoming "sort of a
confidante to the kids," none of whom are identified by their last names in
the program. The teens otherwise will be readily recognizable to their
parents and friends. No effort is made to digitize or obscure their faces.

Drug experts, Plano Police Chief Bruce D. Glasscock and parents of children
who died of drug overdoses also are interviewed. But it's the teens who
take center stage. The program has a particularly compelling interview with
young Brent, who helped his girlfriend, Mary, shoot up on the night she
died of an overdose.

"I was really amazed at how willing they were to talk to us," Ms. Altschul
says. "I know MTV is a conduit for them to speak their views. But I was
surprised at how much they wanted to share."

Eric and Allen shared to an extraordinary degree, but without any prompting
from MTV, she insists.

Mainlining heroin was a "regular event for them that continued before and
after we left," she says. "One day they called and asked, 'Why don't you
come along with us today?' "

They took MTV to a dank public restroom for a chilling shooting exhibition.

"I had prepared myself mentally and emotionally, knowing all along this was
an element we might get if they let us film it," Ms. Altschul says. "But it
was horrifying to be there. They were completely human, just like so many
of the kids I went to high school with. Just to watch them do this to their
bodies and their lives was devastating to me."

Eric and Allen are both in rehab at the moment, Ms. Altschul says. After
appearing on camera, Eric voluntarily told his mother about his heroin
habit, she says.

Fatal Dose later introduces viewers to Richard, an outwardly cocksure
19-year-old who snorts heroin on-camera at a Jan. 24 party in which
numerous other teens will be clearly visible to their parents. Richard, who
has agreed to participate in Tuesday's live panel discussion, later is
busted for alcohol possession by police. He's released, though, and tells
MTV he'll be snorting his last remaining heroin capsule before the night is
done.

"I think for the most part, the kids who are on-camera shooting or snorting
signed releases [giving MTV permission to film their activities], and
obviously were sober . . . when they signed them," Ms. Altschul says. "They
wanted us there. There wasn't a 'sneaky cam' or whatever you call these
things. Everyone was quite open to talking to us, but there may be
repercussions for people who were on-camera."

One kid, cradling a beer, describes heroin as an acceptable "party drug."

"If a heroin dealer walked into a party right now," he says, "I guarantee
you about 10 to 15 people would buy heroin right now. Including myself."

Another teen says the drug is easier to buy than beer or cigarettes,
because "you don't get carded."

Travis, 19, whose best friend, Rob, died from a heroin overdose, estimates
that "probably about half" of his senior class tried the drug.

Such candor, or braggadocio, raises questions of whether teens might
posture for the camera.

"I hope that's not the case, and I personally don't believe that," Ms.
Altschul says. "It wasn't just about being glamorous and wanting to be on
MTV. For many of them, it's a cry for help. They're saying, 'Please, look
at what we're doing. Will no one notice?' And I think we can't turn our
back on that."

MTV plans to repeat Fatal Dose on Friday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 8 a.m.

A sobering experience is all but guaranteed. This is powerful stuff
intended to make viewers cringe and take notice.