WARNING: THIS DRUG COULD KILL YOU, made by HBO documentary, is a harrowing portrait of four families in crisis. They have all fallen victim to the ravages of opioid addiction, an epidemic that has devastated entire communities in the United States.
Abuse of prescription opioids is increasing rapidly across all races and classes. The outbreak started with the full support of the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Initially, opioids were promoted as a non-addictive solution to chronic pain and doctors were encouraged to prescribe them widely. We see hard evidence of this early in the film, through promotional material produced by Purdue Pharmaceuticals in 1999. “Less than 1 percent of patients who take opioids become truly addicted,” a company spokesperson said. Today, even Big Pharma cannot deny the damage done by their disastrous publicity.
At age 16, a teenager in Illinois took OxyContin for pain from kidney stones. She quickly became addicted. When her drug addiction became too costly to maintain, she turned to heroin. After a huge struggle, she managed to overcome her addiction and rebuild her life over a longer period of time. Her older sister grew up feeling the need to follow in her footsteps, but wasn’t so lucky.
Another profile shows a mother taking opioids for the first time after her third difficult pregnancy. Once loved for her driving and fun-loving nature, drugs quickly turned her into a shadow of her former self. She fought her way through eleven separate rehab sessions. Her doctor continued to fuel her addiction with larger prescriptions. Eventually she died of disease. Her dead body was found by her children.
Other portraits show an upper-middle-class family burying their son after a heroin overdose, and a father grappling with the pain of his daughter dying to a similar fate.
Stories like this happen every day. WARNING: THIS DRUG MAY KILL YOU Filled with overwhelming stories of loss and grief, each memory shared by these families is emotionally resonant and resonant. The film also calls for awareness among families and medical professionals.
Directed by: Perri Peltz
