Utah Public Radio will be hosting a free outreach event in Price on Wednesday, October 4 beginning at 5:00 pm. The visits are for the award-winning production team to promote their original series “A State of Addiction: Utah’s Opioid Epidemic.” This document will be held inside the Jennifer Leavitt Student Center on the campus of USU-Eastern located on 451 East 400 North.

The event will begin at 5:00 pm with an Open house social hour, where guests can enjoy Aggie Ice Cream, of course while supplies last. The gathering prior to the screening will give individuals a chance to visit with various organizations within the community, to collect literature with information, learn about services pertinent to the subject matter of the evening.

At 6:00 pm, the screening of Dying In Vein: The Opiate Generation, a documentary directed by Jenny Mackenzie, Ph.D. She uses her talent to produce films that promote social change, from topics about public health epidemics, to gender equality. She has a way of telling stories with compassion, honesty, humor and hope.  The film is dear to her heart because she knows first-hand the struggles of addiction, as her daughter, formed an opiate addiction during high school. Thankfully, she was able to get her daughter into treatment before an introduction to harder drugs was made.

The 80-minute documentary film looks intensely at the widespread of opiate and heroin addiction in Utah. The movie shows true personal stories of a couple struggling to get clean, as well as, a young man in recovery and a family coping with the loss of their child. It also features viewpoints from emergency care physicians and the actions they are taking to save their patients from addiction.

Following the film, audience members will have a chance to participate in a discussion with a panel of experts to talk about the film, share their thoughts and stories about addiction and ask any other questions they may have. The purpose of the film and the event is to bring attention and open the lines of communication on a very serious issue that is affecting not only our state but nationally.

To see a trailer of Dying In Vein: The Opiate Generation visit their Facebook page.