Prescription opioid dependence can affect people of all ages and backgrounds, including those who first encounter opioids through legitimate pain treatment. Focusing on communities in Ontario, this documentary combines personal experiences with perspectives from healthcare professionals, treatment providers, and community leaders. It examines opioid withdrawal, stigma, harm reduction, methadone treatment, counselling, and other approaches to recovery while exploring the challenges of balancing pain management with the risks of prescription opioids and responding to addiction as a public health issue.
Thailand's 2003 war on drugs unleashed a violent crackdown on suspected drug users and dealers as authorities faced intense pressure to meet government targets. This investigation follows police, local officials, journalists, and community members as blacklists, arrests, and killings spread across the country. While the government blamed much of the violence on drug traffickers silencing informants, critics raised concerns about extrajudicial killings and innocent people being caught in the campaign. The film examines the fear, stigma, and human cost of an enforcement strategy intended to suppress Thailand's growing yaba crisis.
TOPICS: Crime, Drug Trafficking, Law Enforcement, Methamphetamine, Stigma, Stimulants, Thailand, Yaba
What can the United States learn from Canada’s approach to the overdose crisis? ABC7 News reporter Tara Campbell travels to British Columbia to examine harm reduction and the services designed to keep people who use drugs alive and connected to care. Through personal stories and expert perspectives, the documentary explores supervised consumption, fentanyl, homelessness, trauma, stigma, and barriers to treatment. It also looks inside Insite, North America’s first legally sanctioned supervised consumption site, while examining the broader debate over whether similar approaches could help communities struggling with overdose in the United States.
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, 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.
This documentary explores the opioid crisis in Western Pennsylvania through the voices of people whose lives have been shaped by heroin addiction. Featuring individuals in recovery, grieving families, healthcare professionals, and community advocates, the documentary examines how prescription opioids, stigma, and untreated addiction contributed to a growing public health crisis. Alongside stories of loss, it highlights the people and organizations working to expand treatment, support families, and reduce overdose deaths, offering a message that recovery and hope remain possible.
This documentary explores how Orange County, Florida has responded to the opioid crisis through the experiences of people in recovery, grieving families, healthcare professionals, law enforcement, and community organizations. Alongside personal stories of addiction, overdose, and recovery, it examines the role of prescription opioids, heroin, and fentanyl in the evolving epidemic while highlighting the collaborative efforts being made to reduce stigma, expand treatment, and save lives.
This documentary explores the fentanyl crisis in Alberta, Canada, through the experiences of people living with addiction, healthcare professionals, law enforcement, and families affected by the opioid epidemic. At its centre is one young man whose repeated attempts to access treatment reveal the barriers many people face when they are ready to seek help. Alongside his story, the film examines the growing impact of illicit fentanyl, the devastating consequences of the overdose crisis, and the ongoing efforts to support recovery across one of Canada's hardest-hit regions.
This documentary follows people from different backgrounds as they share their experiences with addiction, relapse, treatment, and recovery. Through deeply personal stories, they reflect on the emotional pain, trauma, and life circumstances that contributed to their substance use, as well as the challenges they faced in rebuilding their lives. Together, their experiences offer an honest look at the realities of addiction while emphasizing that recovery is possible, challenging stigma and encouraging hope for those still struggling.
This documentary examines the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, exploring the complex social, economic, and public health factors that have contributed to one of the largest unhoused populations in the United States. Through interviews with experts, outreach workers, policymakers, and people experiencing homelessness, it examines the challenges of housing affordability, mental illness, addiction, and systemic barriers to recovery. The film also explores current approaches to addressing the crisis, highlighting both the progress made and the difficult questions that continue to shape the city's response.
TOPICS: Homelessness, Personal Stories, Poverty, Public Health, Stigma, USA
