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Breaking Bad Wins Emmy for Best Drama; Edgy Video Asks ‘What Does Breaking Bad Reveal About the War on Drugs?’


Provocative Clips from the Hit Show Highlight the Harms of Drug Prohibition

NEW YORK—(ENEWSPF)—September 23, 2013. Breaking Bad won an Emmy last night for best drama. Last month, the Drug Policy Alliance and Beyond Bars teamed up to release an edgy and thought-provoking video pegged to the final season of AMC’s runaway hit show. The video, which purposefully mimics the look and feel of Breaking Bad, opens with the question: “What Does Breaking Bad reveal about the war on drugs?”

The answers are spliced between a montage of clips from the series. The message is that the war on drugs doesn’t stop drug use, but instead promotes crime and enriches drug lords.   Graphic clips of people using meth and other drugs are juxtaposed with images of violence, murder and tons of cash.

“We wanted to create an entertaining video for Breaking Bad fans to illustrate that the drug war is a failure when it comes to reducing drug use and fuels a vicious cycle of violence ,” said Tony Newman, director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance.  “The orgy of death and destruction depicted in Breaking Bad is the result of drug prohibition.”

“Breaking Bad is about a guy who’s in too deep and causes more and more damage to the people around him. That sounds an awful lot like the War on Drugs,” said Jesse Lava, director of Beyond Bars. “Our country has dug itself into a trillion-dollar hole with a drug war that’s devastating communities and creating more violence than it’s stopping. It’s time to stop digging.”

The video ends by asking viewers to help end the war on drugs by sharing the video on social media and getting involved with the Drug Policy Alliance and Beyond Bars.

The Drug Policy Alliance is the nation’s leading organization promoting alternatives to the war on drugs.

Beyond Bars produces videos and engages social media to fight mass incarceration. It’s a project of Brave New Foundation, which was founded by the activist filmmaker Robert Greenwald and uses media to champion social justice issues. For more information please visit beyondbars.org

Source: http://www.drugpolicy.org/

 


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