This Is Your Town On Drugs

Sean Dunne’s documentary Oxyana depicts the rise of opiate addiction in the town of Oceana, West Virginia:

In a matter of 15 years, a normal community where people felt safe raising their kids has become a town where it is common for teenage girls to prostitute themselves for money. Oceana was a place where you didn’t feel the need to lock your doors. Now, it is tortured by violence. One of the most unforgettable people we meet in Oxyana is an Oxy dealer (and addict) who says bluntly, “It’s an epidemic around here.”

Frum sees the film as an argument against more lenient drug policies:

Many people can experiment with drugs, then quit without excessive trouble. Some people can use drugs for years and remain more or less functional. But more of us – most of us – can’t. I haven’t seen Oxyana yet myself. But I’m looking forward to seeing somebody speak up for those who need their ability to “say no” to be supported by the law, not undermined by it.

Warren Jason Street argues that Frum misses the point:

Opioids, and Oxycontin in particular, are dangerous, addictive substances. You cannot prescribe them to people and then just cut them off. The law is incapable of handing the social ramifications of legally putting people on an addictive substance that then requires them to break the law–and destroy their own lives–in order to keep getting that substance.