Dying in Vein: an Upcoming Documentary on Heroin

A new documentary from Jenny Mackenzie and Academy Award Winning Producer Geralyn White Dreyfous about the dangers surrounding heroin use is currently in production. This moving film, Dying in Vein, is an “intimate and deeply personal exploration of heroin addiction in two friends who meet in middle school.” It documents their own friendship, the family relationships they had, warnings and signs that should have made them stop heroin use, and the things they ignored. The film shows how these two friends, who seemingly “had everything” (opportunities, family love and support, etc.), continue in their heroin addiction until ten years have passed and one friend is alive and one is dead. Following the funeral, the film shows how recreational teenage drug use went to heroin addiction. The two families of the friends share their powerful and raw stories hoping to help others understand the reality of America’s fastest growing health tragedy. The powerful documentary reveals that heroin addiction is a “wrenching, poignant disease that can destroy the lives of even the most promising and privileged teenagers.”

A recent study reported by drug-rehabs.org, indicates that in many states across America, the increase in heroin use is astoundingly on the rise. For example, at Ohio State University, “administrators noticed that overdoses from heroin were up 25% between 2008 and 2009, and these numbers continue to rise. Cowlitz County, Washington had an extraordinarily pure batch of heroin that killed seven individuals in only five days. In St. Louis, Missouri, county city officials reported that over 300 people in the last two years had died from using heroin.”

Further, information from death certificates from 2009 (the most recent accessible year) shows that heroin killed almost 3,500 individuals in the United States that year, up twice as much from 10 years ago. Also, the information generated indicates that more and more people are dying from heroin overdose under the age of 30

Once believed to be a “hard core drug” used only by individuals characterized as such, heroin is showing up everywhere – with people from all different background using the drug. Findings indicate that heroin users are found in rich and poor communities; they can be young or old, or any age in between. Drug-abuse.org also reports that, “Federal hazard surveys from 2011 reveal 2.9% of high school students have used heroin, and over 345,000 Americans of various ages are addicted to it. A nationwide observation network of hospital-emergency rooms calculated that out of almost one-million visits for illegal drug abuse in 2009, over 200,000 were for heroin.”

This new documentary, Dying in Vein, illustrates the struggle many are fighting across the US. It shows that none of us is immune to heroin effecting and impacting our lives. No matter what our neighborhoods are like, or our socioeconomic status is, or our values or ideals, heroin is creeping into every situation and is spreading across the country. The powerful new film, Dying in Vein, with it’s personal stories about two dear friends, will hopefully help continue raising the awareness of heroin use and overdose that is becoming more and more commonplace.

Watch the Dying In Vein trailer.

To learn more about Dying In Vein, visit dyinginveinmovie.org.