Film Tells Gripping Tale, Challenges Stigma
In 2016 more Americans died from overdoses than in the entire Vietnam War conflict. And yet those new casualties are rarely considered victims of disease. With the support of Rep. Ann Kuster, (D-NH), Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force, the documentary film “Written Off” is challenging conventional thinking about addiction.
The film chronicles the life of Matthew Edwards, a Crandon High School graduate, whose addiction to opioids began at age 15, after being prescribed pain medicine for a minor surgery. His grippingly honest writing reveals the secrets he tried so hard to conceal throughout a decade long struggle to escape addiction. Matthew’s mother, Jane Funk, currently a teacher at Crandon High School, published the book “What I Couldn’t Tell you : one Man’s Struggle with Opioid Addiction” in June of 2017 and worked with filmmakers Molly Hermann and Rob Lyall on the “Written Off” documentary.