Unprescribed: Prescription for Addiction

According to filmmaker Edgy Lee's revealing and frightening documentary on the misuse of prescription drugs—barbiturates, amphetamines, and especially opioids (Vicodin, OxyContin)—the number of prescription-medicine overdoses in the U.S. doubled between 2004 and 2011, and have since only escalated. Victims come from all different demographics (related to age, gender, income, race, and education). What accounts for this shocking phenomenon? Unprescribed, which was largely shot in the tourist mecca state of Hawaii, digs deep into the issue and finds plenty of reasons. First is the easy availability of prescription drugs, including opioids, in a culture where the initial instinct (also shared by many doctors) is to treat a problem—pain, sleeplessness, etc.—with a pill. Second is a thriving black market in pills, particularly among young adults, a group that has been especially reckless with prescription drugs. Third is the problem of prescription opioids being not all that chemically different from heroin, and therefore serving as a gateway drug to an illegal substance that is in plentiful supply. Numerous interviews with recovering addicts put a human face on all of the data and testimonies presented to a Senate committee, and various ideas to help prevent some overdose deaths (such as a “good Samaritan” law that would protect a fellow addict who calls in an overdose) are aired. But the key to ending the epidemic, according to the Obama administration, is to help Americans understand how overuse and illegal acquisition of prescription drugs quickly becomes a slippery slope. With the much publicized recent death of Prince due to prescription drug overdose, this is a timely documentary on a pressing social issue. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)