Pills Are Killing Our Kids to Show 'Behind the Orange Curtain'

On Thursday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m., Pills are Killing our Kids will feature “Behind the Orange Curtain” at the Norman P. Murray Community Center and Senior Center. The event is free for parents and for middle-school-aged kids and up.  Please RSVP at 949/470-3062.

“Behind the Orange Curtain” is a documentary that shares the real stories of Orange County children who have overdosed on prescription drugs—OxyContin, Oxymorphine, Seroquel, Xanax, and Vicodin to just name a few. According to the documentary, kids are getting drugs from their parents' medicine cabinets, other kids selling them at school, their friends and on the street.

“This is a real problem,” said Natalie Costa, Executive Producer of “Behind the Orange Curtain.” “It is in our back yards and happening to our children.  We need schools to be pro active as there are many reports that football players are showing up under the influence to practice.  Drugs are abundant in the schools.”

Hundreds of teens and young adults in Orange County have died from prescription drug overdose.  It doesn’t matter where you live, how much money you make or the kind of car you drive—prescription drug abuse doesn’t discriminate. It has become an epidemic according to Mary McElderry, DEA Special agent. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control reports that prescription overdoses have tripled in the last two decades.

"I talk to my daughter a million times about illegal drugs and alcohol, I never thought to talk to her about prescription drugs," Brent Huff, the film's director, said.  "You don't see it, you don't smell it. It sneaks up on you and one day you're dead."

When kids overdosed, they have died because their friends feared they would be arrested for their own drug use if they reported it.  The overwhelming response to the film has resulted in a Good Samaritan Bill that would allow them to call 911, report an overdose even if they were on drugs and in possession of drugs without getting into trouble with the law. The law passed and takes effect on January 1, 2013. 

“Behind the Orange Curtain,” won Best Documentary Feature at the Metropolitan Film Festival of New York City 2012.  To see a trailer of the film you can go to behindtheorangecurtain.net. 

If you have unwanted or expired medications you want to dispose of, The City of Mission Viejo and Waste Management of Orange County provide two lockboxes at the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center for residents at no cost. Just put the pills in a zip lock bag for disposal. Please call the center for more information at 949/470-3062.