Kids Are Dying
Introduction
Kids Are Dying is a documentary by Michael DeLeon that looks at addiction and youth drug use through the lens of the ongoing opioid crisis. It focuses on how the overdose epidemic continues to affect children and young adults, particularly in communities where drug use has become deeply embedded in everyday life.
Through its portrayal of lived experiences and community impact, the film highlights how widespread and persistent the issue has become. It also connects to DeLeon's wider work with Steered Straight, a program focused on prevention and real-world education around addiction, and with his other documentary An American Epidemic, which expands the conversation beyond Camden to show that this is not a local issue, but one affecting the entire country.
Michael DeLeon:
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Quotes
"Her battle with drugs began when she was 13 years old. It started off with marijuana use and progressed to doing pills and that slowly progressed to heroin use, which ultimately led to her passing in September. They don’t know what they’re putting into their bodies. How do you know what you’re getting that’s been manufactured by somebody and handed down probably 20 times to the local guy that they’re buying it from."
"Kids will talk about preferring to pop an oxy rather than smoking marijuana because you don’t smell like smoke. You can stash it away someplace so if you’re searched it doesn’t show up. So they have become a popular go-to drug for high school age students in all kinds of social situations."
"There’s pharma parties … where kids go through their parents’ medicine cabinet, pick something, and that’s your admittance into the party. There’s these huge bowls of god knows what, anything from Ritalin to blood pressure medication to Vicodin and Oxycontin. So that’s how these kids are getting started … experiment with prescription drugs and then become addicted."
"People say, oh well, that’ll never be me. I get my drugs from the doctor and they’re prescribed. Well, the day is going to come where you’re going to run out because your tolerance builds and builds. Your doctor is only going to prescribe so many and you’re going to overdo it. One day, you’re going to run out, you’re going to get sick and feel that feeling. You can say that you’ll never do it all you want, but when you feel that feeling you’ll do anything to make it stop. You’ll hurt your family; you’ll steal from anyone – it doesn’t matter. You’ll do anything to stop that pain."
"Do not end up like me, trust me. It’s not the life you want to live. It’s not glamorous, it’s not fun. I’m really dead inside. I’m really killing myself."
"I don’t miss the chaos of the addiction. I think any parent that struggles with a child that’s an addict or anybody that’s an addict, the chaos of addiction is just that. I miss my son, but I don’t miss that."
"If they get a check engine light in their car they go, oh man, I got to take this car and have it checked out. Well, their kids are showing them ‘check engine lights’ and they’re not taking them to check out the problem. There’s warning signs but they may not even know what the warning signs are."
"Over lives turned into inpatient and outpatient rehabs and NA meetings. I would drive them to their meetings and wait in the parking lot for them to finishing … watch them smoking their cigarettes, talking among their peers … I was heartbroken because I should be picking them up from the basketball game, not from this authentic ugliness of life."
"I think parents need to be aware that this is a huge problem … people who are using drugs and alcohol are incredibly creative and good at covering that up and if someone initially answers ‘no’ to a question, you may need to look a little bit further."
"One scary aspect of this epidemic is the age of first use, which is getting younger and younger. When I started in this field the average age and treatment was approximately 52 years of age … now it’s in the elementary schools."
"I found a great deal of trauma and physical and sexual abuse through many of the people that I interviewed. This is something we almost never talk about but it’s something we must face in order to recover."
"When you’re talking about overdose deaths, that’s the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot of other suffering that goes on with people … it tears up families, it really robs people of their self-esteem and their potential, and we see that all the time. Addiction is a disease that affects all areas of our lives. It paralyzes us and it devastates our family members."
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Brenda H.
BA Psych, Grad. Cert. Addictions & Mental Health
Driven by a deep personal connection to these topics, I created AMH Resources to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and everyday support. I watch, read, and summarize a wide range of free resources to help you navigate the overwhelming amount of information available and find what resonates with your journey.