April 24, 2025

Painkiller: Inside the Opioid Crisis in Canada

Nominated for Canadian Screen Award, this documentary covers the opioid crisis in Canada. “It features interviews with families who have lost loved ones, as well as healthcare workers and policy experts who question a health system that favors corporate profits over patients.” For example, they talk about the overprescribing of prescription medications, and how little to no punishments have been handed out. This documentary also advocates for harm reduction as a crucial way to combat this crisis.
April 24, 2025

State of Addiction: What Families Need to Know About Opioids

This news special by NBC 6 South Florida discusses the opioid crisis with several individuals, including Mark Wahlberg’s brother Jim Wahlberg. You’ll be introduced to a brief history of opium and quickly realize that this addiction crisis began with easily accessible prescription medications. Drugs are now cut with fentanyl, which is extremely dangerous and lethal. People are losing their lives and law enforcement can’t seem to keep up with the massive influx of drugs coming into the country. You’ll also learn some strategies for talking to children about drugs, which is crucial to do given the sheer impact that opioids are having on youth.
April 24, 2025

Bryan’s HOPE: The Heroin Epidemic – Prevention & Education

Bryan’s HOPE was founded by Jeannie Richards after she lost her son, Bryan, to a heroin overdose. Richards was hopeful that she could raise enough awareness and money to begin purchasing naloxone kits to hand out to local addicts and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. “Bryan, I’d like to think, was just like any other boy growing up, active, happy, healthy,” she says. “It wasn’t until he starting taking prescription Vicodin that he morphed into somebody that I didn’t know” (source). Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and passed away a year later in 2019. As a result, it appears that Bryan’s Hope is no longer active. However, the messages in this documentary still stand. You’ll hear from Richards herself as well as other parents and family members who have lost loved ones to heroin and other opioids. You’ll also listen to the stories of recovering addicts who have made it out of addiction, and professionals who work in this field. It’s an hour of simply listening – there’s nothing flashy about this documentary, it’s a straight shooter, so to speak. Everyone has something unique to offer, their own personal insight into the opioid crisis, the addictive strength of prescription medications, and the easy move from pills to heroin.
April 24, 2025

HookedRx: From Prescription to Addiction in Arizona

This documentary covers the opioid crisis in Arizona. You’ll hear from frontline workers, policymakers, and counsellors, as well as parents who have lost a child and those who made it to recovery. This video focuses on the route that people take to becoming addicted, starting from being prescribed a prescription medication to suffering from a full-blown addiction. It also discusses the ease at which people are able to obtain the pills, as well as some stories about medical professionals who abused their prescribing powers.
April 24, 2025

Hope After Heroin: The Epidemic in Our Backyard

This WQED documentary explores the opioid crisis & heroin use in Western Pennsylvania. People who have experienced addiction, either themselves or through a loved one, share their stories of struggle, stigma and loss. But they also show how they’ve managed to use their pain as a catalyst for change, providing hope for others. Heroin has a hold on this country, and Western Pennsylvania hasn’t escaped its grip. There isn’t a community, a town, a county in our region that doesn’t have a major heroin problem today. It’s cross-generational, it crosses ethnic lines. The problem is so pervasive that people are literally overdosing on the street. Stigma keeps people from talking about it. But now, people are stepping out of the shadows. Sharing their stories, inspiring others. Recovery is something that anyone can do at any point.
April 24, 2025

Opiate Addiction: Strategies for Creating Long-Term Sobriety

This webinar provides an in-depth exploration of the unique challenges individuals with an opiate addiction encounter on their journey to achieving and maintaining sobriety. It will examine the physical, emotional, and social barriers that often complicate recovery efforts, including stigma, relapse triggers, and gaps in access to effective care. In addition to outlining these obstacles, the session will present a range of evidence-based strategies designed to support sustained, long-term recovery. Participants will be equipped with practical tools and interventions aimed at improving treatment outcomes, fostering stronger engagement, and building resilience among clients. The webinar will also address critical methods for reducing the risk of premature treatment dropout, emphasizing the importance of early intervention, individualized care planning, and ongoing support systems. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how to better serve individuals struggling with an opiate addiction and contribute to more successful recovery journeys within their communities.
April 24, 2025

Kids Are Dying: Addiction in Youth

This documentary is a must-see for anyone wanting to learn more about addiction and youth drug use and how the overdose epidemic / opioid crisis is affecting children and young adults.  You can also watch Michael’s second documentary – An American Epidemic – where he details how this problem is not only happening locally in Camden, but also nationally.
April 24, 2025

The Opioid Crisis: An American Epidemic

After making his first documentary – Kids are Dying – Michael DeLeon, who runs Steered Straight, travelled throughout the U.S. to nearly 40 states to talk to people about the opioid crisis. He speaks with parents who have lost a child, professionals in the field, addicts in recovery, as well as celebrities to create this eye-opening film. It seems that everyone shares one common belief: the opioid crisis is an epidemic that has gone on for far too long.
April 24, 2025

Opioid Nation: An American Epidemic

This news investigation by Click Orlando covers the opioid crisis and “explores the lives of those faced with addiction.” They talk with several recovering addicts who provide a grim and honest look into the realities of opioid addiction, and analyze fentanyl specifically and its extreme potency and profitability. There’s also a very emotional part about babies born with an Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) and the impact addiction has on children. Additionally, the importance of Narcan is highlighted as a relatively cheap way to save lives, but not everyone in society agrees. You’ll also learn about a controlled environment that uses virtual reality to help addicts recover – an addition to traditional therapeutic treatments – and other ways of practicing recovery principles.