Fight Addiction Stigma, Not Addicts; My Senior Year Documentary

During January 2020, my senior year of high school, a few friends and I set out to make a documentary on the current state of opioid addiction and homelessness in Seattle. Every member of our team had a personal connection to someone they know battling addiction, so we decided to make a more empathic coverage of the topic. At the time, the local news station released a documentary called "Seattle is dying," directly blaming homeless people for the drug issues consuming Seattle. I learned a lot during this project. While cinematically speaking, it's not Emmy award-winning or anything, it helped further my understanding of how addiction doesn't pick or choose. It could be any of us. I think there is still lots of work to be done on this topic; however, leading with empathy and humanizing addicts and homeless individuals is the first step in the right direction.

Watch it here: