Clean By Amy Read, The Film, Russell Brand From Addiction To Recovery

Currently about twenty-three point five million people in the United States are addicted to alcohol or drugs. However, only about eleven percent of these people will seek the treatment that they need. The remaining eight-nine percent of people live with this incurable disease. There are various reasons why they are not being treated, some can afford the cost, some lack the support and family and friends and others are still in the state of denial. In the book Clean by Amy Read, the Documentary, Russell Brand from Addiction to Recovery and the short story, A Counselor’s Personal Narrative On Drug Addiction, By Lauren Armstrong comment that until society accepts that addiction is a serious disease, the issue will never improve.

           In

the book, Kelly believes that she is a disgrace and disappointment to her family, and that her having a drug problem does not make sense. She writes, “No over ever abused me. No one in my family is an alcoholic. Nothing traumatic ever happened to me. The truth is, my parents are the nicest people in the world and I keep breaking their hearts for no reason” (Reed 27). Kelly thinks other group members have troubled past, and the road to drugs was an obvious to choose for them. Another group member, Jason, with an abusive father says “There’s no magic math equations that make addicts, nothing that separates us from everybody else. We just are fuckups” (Reed 33). Jason, although he had a difficult childhood, refuses to believe this is the reason why he is a drug addict. Kelly thinks the other group members have an excuse to be drug addicts, while she does not. The author demonstrated that each character was mentally unstable at the time when they were addicted to drugs. One of the counselors told the group, “Getting rid of drugs doesn't get rid of all the other ways you learned to deal with the world. It’s not that easy” (Reed 63). They turn to drugs, believing it is their only escape. Some of the drug addicts tend to blame the drugs for all their problems. Kelly has different problems with boys and her self-confidence, and she blames her drinking for these problems. Eva has been suffering from depression since her mother died. Her father had neglected her, and Eva was left completely alone. After becoming clean, the author showed how Eva needed to address these problems in her life. The audience is given a unique perspective after reading this story. The reader sees them as real people, who are desperately trying to become clean. At one point, the group goes to a bowling alley. After an announcement was made about the group, Christopher noticed people keeping their distance from them. When he went to go to the bathroom, a mother put her arm out to houard her child from him. The reader sees why she would want to protect him, but now the recognize how harmful these things are to drug addicts. They are still human beings with feelings. Christopher even says, “You might think we are for someone’s birthday party and that any second someone is going to bring out a cake, and they blow out the candles and make a wish for something normal like getting into a normal college. We can only wish to make wishes like that”. (Reed 177).  The truth is, the teenagers in this story are attempting to stop using, and they need the support of society.
           The film is about Russell Brand and his journey with drugs.

During his use, he was told that he if continues to use the amount he was currently using, in six months he was going to be dead. His girlfriend Amy Winehouse had overdosed, leading Russell to come clean. Russell had blamed himself for not getting Amy the help she needed. He had been an enabler of her drug use and felt responsible for his death. In the film, he comes into to terms that he could have not done anything to stop it. His close friend tells him, “Remember it is their choice to get clean, not yours” (). People cannot make others stop using, it must be a decision that addicts make on their own. They need to have a strong desire recover. The film also shows why society has not accepted that this is a serious disease. Using drug addicts are extremely unbearable and intolerable people. The narrator says, “He understands why people don’t see at as a disease. Drug addicts become a different person than they were without the drugs. They become selfish, egotistical and self-destructive and demanding” (). This is not the person who is doing this, it is what the drugs are making them do. In the story of addiction, this is the part people do not have control over. There is a choice to use and a choice to get clean. People need to comprehend this when communicating with addicts, they must understand it is not the person that is acting like this, it is the drugs. At the end of this film, the viewer will now see that addiction truly is a disease. Russell says, “Having an addiction is an illness. We need to get that message crossed. It needed to be treated like an illness” (). This was proven by going to going to neurologist who showed an addict’s brain compared to a non-addict’s brain. The addict’s brain had some noticeable differences, and furthermore demonstrated that certain people are wired to become addicts. They have something that they cannot control, a sickness, but people continuously look

away. This film will cause the audience to see that addiction is an uncontrollable illness.