Through the personal and emotional stories of people on the front lines of the opioid epidemic in the U.S., Warning: This Drug May Kill You takes an unflinching look at the devastating effects of addiction through the stories of four families whose lives have been decimated by addictions that all began with legitimate prescriptions to dangerous painkillers. Featuring startling data alongside humanizing home movies and photos, Tribeca alum Perri Peltz’s film is a personal, eye-opening dive into the terrifying and widespread epidemic that is devastating communities across this country, and the toll it has taken on its victims and their families.
—Cara Cusumano
After the Premiere Screening: A conversation with Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research Collaborative Brandeis University, Gail Cole, film subject and co-founder, Hope and Healing After an Addiction Death, , film subject David Cayce, and producer Sascha Weiss. Moderated by the film’s director Perri Peltz.
Perri Peltz is a documentary filmmaker, journalist and public health advocate whose latest film is the HBO documentary Risky Drinking. Additionally, Peltz directed Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro, Sr., and The Education of Dee Dee Ricks for HBO. She is a director with The Conversation Cooperative for New York Times/Op-Docs.
Gail Cole lost her 22 year son, Brendan, to a heroin overdose on January 4, 2014. She co-founded the Hope and Healing after an Addiction Death bereavement group in Bergen County, NJ for those who have lost a loved one to the disease of addiction. She is passionate about sharing Brendan's story to educate parents and students about the dangers of opiate pain medication as well as to help remove the stigma and shame associated with addiction.
Sascha Weiss is an Emmy® award winning documentary producer. Drawing on her background in public policy, Sascha has worked on numerous social issue documentaries for HBO including Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert, Which Way Home, Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2015, and The Weight of the Nation for Kids. A graduate of Wesleyan University and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin, Sascha was a Fulbright fellow in Mexico.
Perri Peltz is a documentary filmmaker, journalist and public health advocate whose latest film is the HBO documentary Risky Drinking. Additionally, Perri directed Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro, Sr., and The Education of Dee Dee Ricks for HBO. She is a director with The Conversation Cooperative for New York Times/Op-Docs.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny is Co-Director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University. He is also the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. Dr. Kolodny previously served as Chief Medical Officer for Phoenix House, a national nonprofit addiction treatment agency and Chair of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Kolodny began his career working for New York City's Health Department where he developed programs to improve the health of New Yorkers suffering from substance use disorders, including city-wide buprenorphine programs and naloxone overdose prevention programs.