An American Epidemic
Introduction
After making his first documentary Kids Are Dying, Michael DeLeon travelled across the United States to nearly 40 states, speaking with people about the opioid crisis. A former addict who now uses his own experience to educate others, he connects with grieving parents, professionals, and individuals in recovery to show how deeply the crisis continues to affect communities.
The film is closely tied to his work with Steered Straight, a program focused on prevention and real-world education around addiction. Through these conversations, An American Epidemic shows that everyone shares one common belief: the opioid crisis is an epidemic that has gone on for far too long.
Michael DeLeon:
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Quotes
"I honestly can’t think of one family that isn’t touched by this disease of addiction … it’s just running rampant and it seems like we’re losing. With all the recovery programs out there and all the community support that their recovery agencies have, it just seems like we’re still losing the battle."
"Specifically with youth, the developing brain is at the greatest risk and sure enough they become addicted much quicker than older people when they use or abuse these drugs. This is the worst I’ve seen it in 17 years because of prescription drug use. It’s now happening in more households than I’ve ever seen it before and now I’m also seeing a generational addiction, where mom abuses and so does son or daughter and so on."
"What’s the main thing that’s going to prevent that child from becoming addicted?
- Purpose in life – there’s something they want to do that they find valuable.
- A belief in themselves – they feel that they’re a valuable person and a capable person.
- Responsibility – of feeling that people can count on them, that they’re capable of doing what they say they can do.
- Competency – a thing that they are able to do with life and situations that they can develop the skills necessary to overcome problems.
- A positive ability to enjoy life – when you have the capacity to really enjoy your experience, you’re not going to go overboard seeing some kind of bogus enjoyment through something which is a temporary or artificial form."
"Almost every aspect of your life starts to dip when you start to include … opioid prescription painkillers. It all clouds your judgment and it’s just not worth it because at the end of the day if you decide to go down that road of drugs and alcohol there’s no telling if you’re going to come back. And if you do come back, are you going to come back yourself?"
"We’re their parents, were supposed to be able to fix them. We’re supposed to be able to put a band-aid on them. We’re supposed to be able to walk them through the doors and hand them over to a treatment center and hope that that treatment center is going to exhaust every single avenue with our addict kids."
"I never thought that it would take him to the place of addiction and certainly that it would take his life because your children aren’t supposed to die before you do, but he did."
"There is an opiate and an opioid. The only difference is one is the natural heroin, and one is man-made heroin, so when people hear the word painkiller, they’re not really tuned in to the fact that we’re really talking about prescription heroin."
"You have a window of opportunity, you have a window of willingness, and that window closes very quickly. So, if you have an individual that is looking for help, it’s very important to take advantage of that willingness and move them in a direction before they have a chance to change their minds."
"For anybody that would want to get into recovery, it’s hard but it’s so worth it. It’s an awesome thing to just live your normal life and feel things."
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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.