New Ad Shows the Faces of Drug Arrests
PINSKY: It`s really unreal what drugs will do to people. Back with Jenny, Judy, Erica and Mike. Tooth decay, sores, their bodies are just ravaged. Those are the faces of drug users. You just saw that new video. It`s called "More Than Meth: Faces of Drug Arrests." Here`s another addict featured in the video campaign from rehabs.com.</s>PINSKY: -- phased by is that people just can`t see what`s happening.</s>HO: That`s right, Dr. Drew. What happens with addicts is a lot of people have this misconception that they should just be able to stop when they want to. That`s a really dangerous misconception because they can`t. There`s so many problems with that because there are physiological dependencies that develop. And then at that point that is all that`s on their minds no matter what they`re wrecking, whether it`s family relationships, their jobs, their own body. They can`t even think about that. The only thing they can concentrate on is when they`re going to get that next dose of the drug.</s>PINSKY: Erica, I`m sure you agree with what Judy is saying. Play another video of this because I think people look at this in disbelief. They literally, these people cannot see what`s happening to them. And even if they could, I`m not sure it would matter because all the usual priorities drop when someone`s addicted and the using becomes the sole priority.</s>AMERICA: I still think it`s a great idea. I`m very supportive of this campaign because even if it just kind of gets to one person that`s not quite there -- yes, I agree with you, the drug user who`s kind of way far gone, it might be a little too little too late. But I just think -- I`m not a smoker, but have you ever seen the smoking commercials with the people that have lost their voice or a part of their body had to be amputated? I find that horrifying. And if I was a smoker, I probably would never want to. So I think that this is only a positive thing. I do have a question for you though. I notice a lot of types with drug users, many times meth, there`s a deterioration of the teeth.</s>PINSKY: Yes, that`s multifactorial. It`s due, as I understand it, what the -- the environment in the mouth has changed so much by the meth, particularly the smoke of meth, that they just start to break down. There`s also grinding of the teeth and various other things and people aren`t attending to their teeth on top of that. Mike, you`re the only one amongst us that has been through this. And you`ve told me before, there`s never you ever found that you really love as much as drugs and alcohol. You`ve been there, you`ve nearly died. You`ve had seizures and still keep on going.</s>CATHERWOOD: Well, yes, I certainly applaud the people behind this campaign and I think it`s a worthy effort for someone who may be curious about using certain drugs to party. But for people who are -- suffer from the disease of addiction, to a appeal to their vanity, something as superficial as vanity, I think is going to be relatively inconsequential in the eyes of an addict. I understand that the transformation in these people is heartbreaking, but you have to understand that people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol have had their children away, have had their jobs removed from them, they`ve had limbs lost.</s>PINSKY: That`s right.</s>CATHERWOOD: And it has not slowed them down one bit. I was one of the people that knew my life was in the balance and continued to use and drink anyway. So, again, appeals to vanity I don`t think are going to stop anybody.</s>PINSKY: Jenny, you had a question.</s>CATHERWOOD: Go ahead, Jenny. I`m sorry.</s>HUTT: Oh, sorry, I was going to say, but maybe, Dr. Drew, this might help with teenagers. Because when they are super shallow, before they descend into this life of addiction, maybe this will stop them from trying a drug like that.</s>PINSKY: Well, we`re saying all the same thing, which is somebody who is way in the disease, this is not going to appeal to anything. They are going to keep right on; they may even laugh at it. Somebody who is contemplating using, hopefully this will have an impact. On the phone I have Abhilash Patel, he`s co-founder of rehabs.com, the website that created this video campaign. Abhilash, nearly 400,000 views. Tell us why you think this is resonating so much.</s>ABHILASH PATEL, CO-FOUNDER, REHABS.COM (via telephone): Hi, thanks for having me on the show. I appreciate that. In about a week, you`re right, we`ve had about 400,000 views on YouTube, many more visitors to the website. And we`re not -- and we`re not terribly amazed because this is a follow-up to our late fall campaign about the horrors of amphetamines, which was also driven by faces. And that campaign, as well, in a shocking way, received millions and millions of views in the time that it was up and it still is. What we believe is that, for some reason, the idea of faces seems to really resonate with the people watching this. And when people see faces for some reason, granted, these are shocking photos, but when people see faces, they see the faces of people they know. They see faces of perhaps their relatives or their kids or loved ones. Everyone knows somebody who is affected or driven down by this. And for that reason, the campaign`s really taken off.</s>PINSKY: And I think the face is a representation of the person, and so you`re seeing a real deterioration of the individual, which is exactly what addiction does. It takes down the soul, it takes down the psyche. It commands the brain, it deteriorates the brain in some conditions. Erica, last comment.</s>AMERICA: Yes, I just want to say, there`s nothing like a 12-step program admitting you`re powerless for the true addicts, but I think Jenny had a great point, and if this could somehow be incorporated into curriculum of high school or junior high, so where they`re at that point of experimenting, just starting to smoke cigarettes, saying, "Look, this is how bad it can really get," that would be a good point for this.</s>PINSKY: Next up, Nick Cannon explains his whiteface photo, kind of. And Miss Ali is back with her opinion of his explanation. And reminder, you can find us any time on Instagram @DrDrewHLN. We are back after this.