The United States saw 100,000 deaths from drug overdoses in a period of one year, from April to April. It vividly illustrates just how much of an issue this addiction epidemic is.
Interventions are used to try and stop the addict in their cycles. Yet, these can quickly descend into familial chaos or they don't have the power to move the subject into action as, bared down, they are simply conversations/arguments with family members and friends. They don't have the unique factor that would strongly signal to the subject what's at stake. To serve as the turning point it's supposed to be.
I had this idea for actor-backed interventions, similar to my creative contribution on Darko's post about enabling more people to chase their dreams.
The service would get information from the people organizing the intervention about the type of addiction (not just drugs), info about the subject, family, their history, interests before the addiction, relationships, timeline of the substance abuse, how it affected the loved ones... Then theatre scriptwriters would turn that into a two-act intervention play.
The first one will be focusing on the negative aspect of the addiction, depicting how it influences the family and friends, using actors looking like them all, with the help of makeup, prosthetics, their clothing possibly. Showing what happens when they are not around and potentially even what might happen to their loved ones if they overdose. This is to provide the powerful emotional kick needed for the desire to tackle the problem.
The second act will be the positive depiction of what life could be for the addict, if he kicked the habit. Showing them something good to strive for. Possibly utilizing elements from their favourite stories, be it books, movies, or shows.
There was a reality TV show of the same name, and reports state that 98.7% of the addicts confronted on the program have accepted going into rehab. Only six have refused. It shows that there is power in structured and dramatized interventions, I believe.
In itself, an intervention is quite a performative action and many sources suggest a rehearsal before engaging with the addict.
The operation would cost a lot, yet I feel like families would give anything needed to solve these kinds of problems.
Also the service will also be giving jobs to professions that always crave it: scriptwriters and actors.