The Reel: Addiction and Recovery

Below are six videos that the Battery Powered team found eye-opening, informative, and sometimes provocative as we explored the issues we cover in our Addiction and Recovery theme.

These videos deepen our understanding of addiction and how to manage it, delve into the experience of people who are addicted and those in recovery, and illuminate the larger forces at work in the current drug crisis. For more, check out our Addiction and Recovery Issue Brief.

Toronto Youth Documents His Life of Homelessness and Addiction | Red button – 7 minute watch

Follow "Rabbit" around for a day as he documents his struggles with opioid addiction.

Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong – 15 minute watch

Johann Harri shares in his deeply personal talk a fundamentally different way to approach addiction.

Jay Z "The War on Drugs is an Epic Fail" – 4 minute watch

Scripted and narrated by Jay Z, this video tackles the history of the war on drugs and its racial disparities.

The Real War on Drugs: America's Opioid Epidemic | Foreign Correspondent – 30 minute watch

Take an in-depth look at the opioid epidemic from Welch, West Virginia to San Francisco, California. 

Ending the Epidemic: The Portugal Solution – 20 minute watch

Learn how Portugal overcame its opioid epidemic after decriminalizing drugs, and whether its solution would work here in the United States.

Vinnie Golden - Young People In Recovery – 3 minute watch

A young man talks from the heart about what it takes to remain drug- and alcohol-free.

Finally, if you have a Netflix account and a bit more time, we recommend Heroin(e) and Recovery Boys. These two riveting documentaries from an Academy Award-nominated director spotlight people working to break cycles of generational addiction and trauma in West Virginia – ground zero of the US opioid epidemic.