What were your thoughts when watching the video?

Tessie Castillo: "One thing I do like about the video is that the father is honest about what happened. That’s something that we’re starting to see a little bit more, where people are admitting that it was a drug overdose. A few years ago, this was something that people were so loath to talk about that if someone died, people didn’t want to say what the cause of death was. I have horror stories of mothers going to grief groups where they were shamed by mothers whose children died in car accidents who would say things like, 'Well, my child didn't deserve to die.' So I’m encouraged when I see people being honest about what happened."

So what are the major issues with the video?

TC: "Making a video and posting it all over the internet...we have seen that tactics like that don’t generally work, because what we’ve been doing all along as a society is hav[ing] this false mentality that if we can shame people enough, make them feel as terrible as possible, and make their lives as miserable as possible — throw them in prison, take away their jobs, make them homeless — that they’ll realize someday that this is wrong, and they'll stop. But that doesn’t work. In fact, it feeds the spiral of drug use, because drugs are often taken as a coping mechanism. And if you have a lot of issues going on in your life, and you need help coping, you’re more likely to use drugs. We’ve seen people who are empowered and given opportunities are more likely to stop using drugs."

Jag Davies: "[The video is] very sad, and it’s hard not to be affected emotionally, but I think it doesn’t necessarily do anything to address the root causes of addiction. And shaming and stigmatizing people who are still alive and struggling with drug addiction is counterproductive. These pervasive media portrayals that demonize people who use drugs are what spawned policies that systematically discriminate against people who use drugs... In order to address the root causes of addiction, we need to end discrimination against people who use drugs and reduce the stigma associated with drug use and advocate for compassionate, judgement-free approaches."