BIOLOGICAL
This neurotransmitter pathway is hijacked by opioids, reinforcing drug-taking behavior.
What is the dopamine reward pathway?
In West Virginia, decline in this industry contributed to economic despair and higher addiction risk.
What is coal mining (or decline of coal industry)?
This class of medications (including methadone and buprenorphine) is used to reduce cravings and prevent withdrawal.
What is medication-assisted treatment (MAT) or opioid substitution therapy?
NOVA calls the opioid crisis this, in part because of its scale in U.S. history.
What is the deadliest drug epidemic?
In some U.S. states, these clinics distribute clean needles and provide overdose prevention tools.
What are harm reduction clinics / needle exchange programs?
Long-term opioid use causes this state in the brain, making normal rewards less effective.
What is tolerance?
This factor, present in rural or poor communities, increases stress and risk for substance use.
What is poverty / unemployment / social stress?
A U.S. program the documentary cites that immediately offers medications after overdoses.
What is the “start treatment immediately” or “post-overdose initiation of MAT” program (Boston program)?
Around this many Americans died in one recent year from drug overdoses (as cited in the documentary).
What is ~ 64,000?
In Canada, this facility provides supervised injections and associated services (mentioned in the film).
What is Insite (Vancouver)?
When someone stops opioids after dependence, they may experience these physical symptoms.
What is withdrawal?
The documentary describes how doctors prescribing opioids contributed to addiction. This is an example of this environmental influence.
What is medical or prescription exposure?
This is the controversial, harm-reducing approach where individuals can inject under supervision with medical oversight.
What is supervised injection / safe injection site?
In Vancouver, introduction of supervised injection sites reportedly led to this percent reduction in overdose deaths.
What is 35 %?
The documentary highlights that medication-based treatments are often unavailable because of this kind of barrier.
What is limited access / lack of coverage / broken treatment infrastructure?
The documentary argues that addiction changes brain circuits, making this type of control impaired.
What is self-control / executive function?
Exposure to other drug-using peers, or living in areas with high drug availability, is part of this broader influence.
What is peer influence / social environment / drug access?
The documentary notes that abstinence-only programs (e.g. 12-step) without medications tend to have this approximate failure rate.
What is 80–90 % (failure rate)?
The documentary mentions that a baby is born dependent on drugs every this many minutes.
What is “every 22 minutes”?
This public health leader in West Virginia travels with a mobile clinic to offer services in rural counties.
Who is Dr. Rahul Gupta?
This biological concept describes how some individuals may be more vulnerable to addiction due to genes or brain structure.
What is biological susceptibility or vulnerability?
The film shows that children of addicted parents may suffer from neglect or instability, illustrating this aspect of risk.
What is adverse childhood environment / family dysfunction?
This life-saving drug is used to reverse opioid overdose.
What is naloxone?
Fentanyl is particularly dangerous because it is much more potent than this other opioid.
What is heroin (or morphine)?
The film argues addiction care should be integrated into this kind of regular health setting.
What is primary care / emergency rooms / in the “house of medicine”?