Educational Media Reviews Online

This 11-minute film unsuccessfully attempts to help pre-teens understand the biological, psychological, and social effects of methamphetamine usage (i.e. “crystal meth”), and it fails to teach and bolster pre-teens’ prosocial coping and resistance skills necessary for them to navigate through the modern “evils” of addiction. Its depiction of real-life adult and young-adult addicts in worst-case life-scenarios provides a gritty inside view of these individuals’ lives, who often have physical deformities resulting from crystal meth addiction. Graphic depictions of crystal meth usage, bizarre and violent public/social behaviors, and physical injuries and deformities resulting from addiction are just some of the “scare tactics” that, hopefully, may steer some pre-teens away from crystal meth addiction.

The film focuses much more on the “physical” side of crystal meth addiction (i.e. physical symptoms, appearance, and poor hygiene) than the psychosocial effects, only vaguely discussing the impact of addiction on other parts of one’s wellbeing. True—cognitively, pre-teens will identify more with “concrete” imagery than complex discussion of abstract psychological phenomena (such as suicide, emotional imbalance, and brain chemistry changes), but the creators of the film could have tried a more creative approach to communicating and discussing these symptoms.

A doctor is depicted in parts of the movie, and he attempts to provide a medical discussion of addiction. However, these discussions fail in parts. For instance, the doctor’s use of language is quite complex at times; he talks about “deterioration,” “biochemical changes,” and “chronic drug use,” terms which are never defined. In fact, the doctor’s authority and knowledge are called into question when he makes the following statements: “There is a look to any chronic drug user. You can tell fairly quickly when someone has a significant drug habit.” This alarming generalization is clearly misinformative. What about high-functioning alcoholics or prescription drug addicts, for example? Sometimes addiction can be easily observable, but oftentimes it cannot…which is why a discussion of non-observable symptoms is crucial (and, perhaps too, the differences in symptoms among different drug addictions).

The teenage speakers in the film are predominantly Caucasian with very good speaking skills, which may limit the film’s usefulness and effectiveness when reaching out to more diverse pre-teen audiences. Each speaker tells viewers to “just say no” when someone offers them crystal meth. Consequently, the creators of the film reinforced a 1980s, Nancy Reagan-ish “Just Say No” message, which, unfortunately, is the totality of “refusal skills” covered in this video. The effectiveness of abstinence-driven, “just-say-no” outreach and intervention at times has been shown to be ineffective or less effective than other addiction prevention strategies or programs (e.g. “keepin’ it REAL” curriculum).

The film attempts to do too much in too little time and results in a vague documentary of questionable information and intervention. Teachers using this video will find useful parts, particularly with real-life accounts from real people, but they may wish to supplement its usage with handouts, in-class discussions, and comparisons. Caution: some images may be very disturbing, especially to children, and one-to-one emotional debriefing may be a necessary follow-up measure. (One scene of pus seeping from an open wound left this reviewer cringing.)

Recommended with reservations