Through personal stories and community perspectives, the film examines the stigma surrounding addiction and the damage caused by shame, judgment, and misunderstanding. People in recovery, health-care professionals, law enforcement, and advocates discuss prescription opioids, heroin, overdose, and the barriers that can prevent people from seeking treatment. It also explores decriminalization and different approaches to recovery while challenging the idea that addiction is simply an individual problem, asking communities to reconsider how people with substance use disorders are treated and what meaningful support should look like.
Families across Texas share the devastating impact of fentanyl as overdose deaths rise and increasingly affect young people. Through grieving parents, advocates, survivors, and law enforcement, the investigation explores the dangers of counterfeit pills and the trafficking networks bringing illicit fentanyl into the United States. It also follows parents and organizations who have turned personal loss into advocacy, raising awareness about the risks facing their communities and working to prevent further deaths while law enforcement confronts the challenges of disrupting the fentanyl supply.
Fentanyl has transformed the overdose crisis in St. Louis, where the synthetic opioid has become a leading contributor to drug-related deaths. Through people in recovery, families, advocates, and treatment professionals, the film explores the human impact of fentanyl while examining where the illicit supply comes from and how the opioid crisis reached this point. It also looks at medications for opioid use disorder, naloxone, relapse, racial disparities in overdose deaths, and local efforts to expand treatment and recovery support throughout the community.
After years of reporting on addiction and the opioid crisis, journalist Angela Kennecke experienced the crisis personally when her 21-year-old daughter, Emily, died from fentanyl poisoning. She shares her family’s story while continuing to investigate the issues affecting other families across South Dakota. Through personal stories and expert perspectives, the special explores fentanyl, overdose, stigma, Good Samaritan laws, drug courts, medication-assisted treatment, and recovery. It also follows Kennecke as she turns the loss of her daughter into advocacy through Emily’s Hope, an organization dedicated to prevention, awareness, and recovery.
Personal stories of prescription opioid and heroin addiction reveal how quickly substance use can take over a person’s life and affect everyone around them. Individuals and families share experiences of withdrawal, relapse, overdose, grief, and recovery, while professionals discuss the progression of opioid addiction and the risks facing young people. Several stories trace the transition from prescription painkillers to heroin, showing how tolerance, dependence, cost, and the pursuit of a stronger high can lead people down increasingly dangerous paths.
Families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl share their experiences alongside people in recovery, medical professionals, and advocates working across Virginia. Their stories explore counterfeit and fentanyl-laced drugs, the realities of overdose and grief, and the different paths people take toward recovery. The program also visits organizations providing treatment, peer support, and other recovery services while highlighting efforts to raise awareness about fentanyl and help families better understand the risks surrounding an increasingly dangerous drug supply.
Families, frontline workers, advocates, and experts share their experiences of Canada’s opioid crisis and the failures that have allowed it to continue. Their stories examine prescription opioid addiction, stigma, drug policy, and the enormous toll of overdose on families and communities. The film also looks at harm reduction and decriminalization, questioning decades of punitive approaches to drug use while highlighting the people and organizations pushing for a public health response that focuses on keeping people alive.
Personal stories, expert insight, and practical prevention strategies come together in this examination of the opioid crisis and its impact on families. Medical professionals, law enforcement, parents, and recovery advocates discuss prescription opioid addiction, the growing threat of fentanyl and counterfeit pills, and the importance of educating young people about substance use. Alongside stories of addiction, trauma, and loss, the program looks at what parents can do to build trust, encourage open communication, recognize risks, and help protect their children.
Real stories of heroin addiction, overdose, grief, and recovery reveal the devastating impact of the opioid crisis on individuals and families. Parents who have lost children share their experiences alongside people in recovery and professionals working in addiction treatment. Their stories explore the powerful effects of prescription opioids, the progression from painkillers to heroin, and the realities of treatment and long-term recovery. At the center is a mother who turned the loss of her son into an effort to raise awareness and help prevent other families from experiencing the same tragedy.
Arizona's opioid epidemic is explored through the experiences of people whose addiction began with legally prescribed painkillers. The film follows patients, families, healthcare professionals, and individuals in recovery as they examine how routine injuries, overprescribing, and growing opioid tolerance contributed to a public health crisis. It also highlights the unique risks facing young people, the transition from prescription opioids to heroin, and the efforts of communities, universities, and treatment providers to intervene early and support lasting recovery.
