At a glance
As part of the Rx Awareness campaign, this testimonial-style advertisement seeks to raise awareness of the danger of addiction to prescription opioids. Jeni shares how her prescription opioid use caused her to back away from her culture and explains how she reconnected with her culture through recovery.
Additional versions
Transcript
- Candidate: Jeni
- Length: 2 minute and 21 seconds
On-screen text: Prescription opioids can be addictive and dangerous. Jeni: I was abusing prescription opioids.
Audio description: Jeni looks down and picks up a photo of her younger self. Jeni: I had backed away from my culture and I had pushed away from my family because I knew I was doing wrong. Audio description: Jeni looks down and strokes a piece of tribal clothing.
Jeni: I had hit my bottom. I come from a big Tlingit (pronounced CLINK-IT) family. I had learned our traditions at an early age as you do in a small village. I remember all of the things that my grandmother had taught me about being traditional.
Audio description: Jeni plays a tribal instrument.
Jeni: When I was 14, I was raped. I had immediately buried that and became the good child. I wanted to be the perfect child so that I was never left alone.
Audio description: Jeni picks up a photo of her younger self.
Jeni: So I became excellent in sports. I joined all the committees I could at school. The first pill was the problem. I remember thinking that it was from the doctor, so it was okay because the doctor is not going to give you anything that's not going to heal you.
Audio description: Jeni stands outside and looks at the snow-capped mountains.
Jeni: After the first initial time that I did it, I was like, man, I don't feel really anything. I don't feel any pain. Like it masked the problem.
Audio description: Jeni stands outside, looks at the snow-capped mountains, and closes her eyes.
Jeni: And like anything, it starts to not work over time. It was no longer—I'm taking this for fun. It was, I need to have it to function. That's when I essentially knew that it was a problem.
Audio description: Jeni walks along the edge of a lake and looks out at the snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Jeni: And it took me a long time to figure out that from when I had started using to understanding fully that it was an addiction to realize how bad it was.
Audio description: Jeni looks out at the snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Jeni: I had everybody fooled that I wasn't an addict. My biggest thought when I was in active addiction was, that's how I was going to die.
Audio description: Jeni is stands on the edge of a lake looks out at the snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Jeni: I didn't know where to look. I didn't know how to ask for help. I didn't know who I could trust. I had made this point that I was going to reach out for help, and something kept pulling at me, and the little voice kept telling me keep asking, keep asking.
Audio description: Jeni dances with a group of women at a tribal celebration.
Jeni: I had given up at one point and was like I don't want to practice my culture anymore.
Audio description: Jeni dances with a group of women and plays music at a tribal celebration.
Jeni: And then, when I had fully become in my recovery is when I was, like, this is who I am, this is me. This is my culture and I'm going to practice it. There was a lot of healing with it. And I'm going to carry it on and teach it to whoever I can teach it to.
Narrator: If you or someone you know is struggling, there is hope. Recovery is possible.
On-screen text: There is hope. Recovery is possible. cdc.gov/RxAwareness