New DVD and Booklet Help Parents and Educators Talk With Kids About Prescription Drug Misuse

“I’d ask myself, How’d I get into this? I can’t live like this anymore. Five minutes later I’m in the car on my way to buy another OxyContin® pill.”

These are the words of Joel Levine, 20, describing his addiction to a powerful prescription painkiller. Joel, his parents, and sister take viewers into the world of denial, addiction, and recovery in the new 28-minute DVD, Drugs: True Stories. The 56-page booklet, Words Can Work®: When Talking About Drugs, recounts young people’s struggles with drugs. The DVD and booklet give families strategies and the words to talk about drug use.

On the DVD, H. Westley Clark, M.D., Director, Center for Substance Abuse and Treatment, SAMHSA, and Howard Shaffer, Ph.D., Division on Addictions, Harvard Medical School, address the affect of drugs on the brain and how to help kids stay drug-free.

According to Partnership for a Drug-Free America:

40% of teens and 37% of parents think abuse of prescription painkillers is safer than abuse of “street” drugs.

Nearly one in five teens has used prescription medication to get high.

Only a third of parents report talking with their kids about the risks associated with prescription medicines misuse.

“Drugs: True Stories illuminates essential issues: there are real hazards associated with using drugs; drugs can adversely affect the brain; and it’s possible to prevent drug misuse. The program demonstrates the powerful denial that can surround drug abuse. This resource will help families and communities prevent drug misuse.”

Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S.Director, Division on AddictionsHarvard Medical School

Drugs: True Stories and Words Can Work: When Talking About Drugs were produced with research assistance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addictions.

To interview producer Jeanne Blake, or review Drugs: True Stories and Words Can Work: When Talking About Drugs call Blake Works. For more information, visit www.wordscanwork.com

Blake Works Inc. produces research-based media (DVDs, Words Can Work booklets, and wordscanwork.com) to help young people and families talk about challenges kids face growing up. Blake Works is certified as a Woman Owned Business. Jeanne Blake, president of Blake Works, is a television medical reporter and an affiliated faculty member of the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School.