Documentary offers look at opioid crisis
The Arkansas Department of Education, law enforcement partners and Arkansas PBS have jointly produced a documentary on the opioid crisis in Arkansas.
The documentary, along with classroom-ready resources, will be available for schools, institutions of higher education and communities to show during Red Ribbon Week, which is Oct. 23-31.
The documentary, “7 Days: The Opioid Crisis in Arkansas,” features Arkansans who have recovered from opioid addiction, families who have suffered the loss of a loved one, and medical and law enforcement professionals who treat and otherwise deal with people who have opioid addictions.
To supplement the hourlong documentary, ArkansasIDEAS, which develops training programs for Arkansas educators, created classroom-ready resources that will be available Friday on the ArkansasIDEAS website: https://bit.ly/39Z63Q1.
Schools and communities will have additional opportunities to learn more about the documentary with the following activities:
■ Wednesday: The documentary will be shown at 2:30 p.m. at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. The virtual screening window will open at 10 a.m. Thursday. More information is available at hsdfi.org.
■ Oct. 22: The Arkansas Department of Education will join partners for a panel discussion on “Arkansas Week: The Opioid Crisis in Arkansas,” which will air at 7:30 p.m. on Arkansas PBS.
■ Oct. 25: The entire documentary will air at 8 p.m. on Arkansas PBS, followed at 9 p.m. by “Understanding the Opioid Epidemic.”
■ Oct. 27: The Arkansas Department of Education at 10 a.m. will livestream a showing of the documentary at https://bit.ly/2Wb5RtB, followed by Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key leading a panel discussion with representatives from the FBI Little Rock office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Arkansas drug director’s office, and an Arkansan featured in the documentary.
The Department of Education also has created a Red Ribbon Week webpage with links to additional resources: https://bit.ly/3zFwODo. of the ancient civilization and its lasting impact.