{"id":20503,"date":"2025-12-26T14:53:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T13:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20503"},"modified":"2026-03-10T21:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:11:46","slug":"entertainment-vs-reality-how-media-glamorizes-opioids-and-warps-teens-perception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/12\/entertainment-vs-reality-how-media-glamorizes-opioids-and-warps-teens-perception\/","title":{"rendered":"Entertainment vs. reality: How media glamorizes opioids and warps teens\u2019 perception"},"content":{"rendered":"<header id=\"masthead\" class=\"\">\n<div class=\"middle-header-contain\">\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div class=\"site-branding\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"custom-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pleasantonweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Pleasanton-Weekly-logo.png?fit=729%2C99&amp;ssl=1\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 729px) 100vw, 729px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pleasantonweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Pleasanton-Weekly-logo.png?w=729&amp;ssl=1 729w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pleasantonweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Pleasanton-Weekly-logo.png?resize=300%2C41&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pleasantonweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Pleasanton-Weekly-logo.png?resize=400%2C54&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pleasantonweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Pleasanton-Weekly-logo.png?resize=706%2C96&amp;ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pleasantonweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Pleasanton-Weekly-logo.png?fit=729%2C99&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w\" alt=\"Pleasanton Weekly\" width=\"206\" height=\"28\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"site-branding\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\"><span class=\"byline\" style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">By Jayelah Luckey &#8211; <\/span><span class=\"posted-on\" style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2025-12-22T19:13:09-08:00\">December 22, 2025 7:13 pm<\/time><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"site-branding\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;\">Opioids are often shown in movies, music, and social media as party drugs, symbols of fun, rebellion, or a carefree lifestyle. Instead of highlighting the real dangers of addiction, withdrawal or overdose, entertainment culture turns powerful and deadly substances into aesthetic props.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"site-content\">\n<section id=\"primary\" class=\"content-area category-alameda-county tag-opioid-crisis-page\"><main id=\"main\" class=\"site-main\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"main-content\">\n<article id=\"post-689422\" class=\"post-689422 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-alameda-county tag-opioid-crisis-page membership-content access-restricted entry\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">This glamorized image shapes how teens and young adults think about opioids, making the risks seem smaller and the consequences less real.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">In music videos, party scenes, and viral content, opioids like Percocet or Oxycodone are often linked to the idea of \u201crelaxing,\u201d \u201cforgetting your problems,\u201d or just \u201cvibing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">According to researchers at the\u00a0University of Texas, popular rap songs mentioning opioids increased over 100 percent between 2010 and 2020, and the lyrics usually portray the drugs as recreational or harmless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">When teens hear their favorite artists talk about pills casually, it can normalize misuse and blur the line between entertainment and real-life danger. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;\">Social media adds another layer. On platforms like TikTok and Instagram, trends involving \u201cparty drugs\u201d often show pills as colorful, fun, or part of a night out. Content creators rarely show addiction, emergency room visits, or the long-term mental and physical damage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \"><\/aside>\n<aside>\n<div id=\"id_682753\" class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup newspack-inline-popup\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;\">The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) notes that this type of exposure increases curiosity and lowers teens\u2019 perception of risk, especially when the information is coming from influencers rather than health experts.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">The problem with this portrayal is that it hides the truth. Opioids are not harmless party favors. They are powerful drugs that can alter the brain\u2019s reward system, cause dependence in a short amount of time, and lead to deadly overdoses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">The\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)\u00a0reported that opioid-involved overdose deaths reached more than 80,000 people in 2023, the highest number ever recorded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Nothing about that is glamorous.<\/span><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2 \"><\/aside>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">The media\u2019s glamorization also contributes to stigma. By focusing on \u201cfun\u201d drug imagery, entertainment prevents people from seeing addiction as a medical condition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Instead of understanding opioid use disorder as something that requires treatment, support, and compassion, society often sees it as a \u201cbad decision\u201d gone wrong. This stigma makes it harder for people to seek help and easier for audiences to ignore the suffering behind the real opioid epidemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Perception shapes reality. When teens constantly see pills framed as harmless fun, it becomes easier to underestimate the risks. It also becomes harder to recognize warning signs in themselves or friends. The\u00a0National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)\u00a0warns that early exposure to positive portrayals of opioids increases the likelihood of experimentation, especially among younger audiences.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">The solution isn\u2019t to ban music or shut down social\u00a0 media. It\u2019s to shift the conversation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Entertainment platforms can show the full reality of drug use, not just the parts that look exciting on screen. Schools and families can teach teens to question what they see online and understand the difference between a fictional party scene and a real overdose. Communities can focus on education, mental health support, and honest conversations about substance misuse.<\/span><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3 \"><\/aside>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-medium-gray-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-medium-gray-background-color has-background is-style-wide\" \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\"><em>This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County\u2019s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the\u00a0Alameda County Behavioral Health Department\u00a0and the grant is administered by\u00a0Three Valleys Community Foundation<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: #0000ff;\">Source: https:\/\/www.pleasantonweekly.com\/alameda-county\/2025\/12\/22\/entertainment-vs-reality-how-media-glamorizes-opioids-and-warps-teens-perception\/<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/main><\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jayelah Luckey &#8211; December 22, 2025 7:13 pm Opioids are often shown in movies, music, and social media as party drugs, symbols of fun, rebellion, or a carefree lifestyle. Instead of highlighting the real dangers of addiction, withdrawal or overdose, entertainment culture turns powerful and deadly substances into aesthetic props.\u00a0 This glamorized image shapes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,68,135,40,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-opioids","category-prevention-research","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20503"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20511,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20503\/revisions\/20511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}