Starring Brendon Lunney, it was directed by Chris McGill and written by John Baxter who researched real cases from the Langdon Clinic and the Police Drug Squad.
[1] The Age Teletopics column said although a "little pretentious" it was "an honest and, for the most part, realistic presentation of cause and effect in drug addiction.
"[2] The Sydney Morning Herald's Valda Marshall wrote that ""No Roses for Michael" is not only a remarkable film, it is a milestone in television history.
"[4] John Pinkney in the Age called it anti-drug propaganda saying it "was a lurid appeal to emotionalism whose loaded arguments would be rejected any intelligent 10-year-old.
"[5] In an Australian Medical Journal article Dr. Allen A. Bartholomew also called it propaganda saying that some of his patients had started taking drugs after watching the film.