Adolescent Substance Abuse: Video Advocacy

"Guys like me don't make it."
That's how the arresting introductory video on the Connecticut Turning to Youth and Families (CTYF) website begins. And what the young man means is that no one expected him to make it. But in spite of his own addiction, he found a way through. (July 15, 2009 update: a different video now greets new visitors to the CTYF site. The video pictured above is here.)

Using interview clips with Mars (pictured above), Marissa, and Vinnie -- three young adults who all began using alcohol and/or drugs as teens -- the video walks us through their struggles with addiction, their separate journeys to recovery, and the enjoyment each takes in helping others recover. 
CTYF's website is eye-catching and heavily interactive. It's aimed at promoting peer-to-peer recovery, and the growth of a network of family and community members committed to improving resources for prevention, treatment, and recovery from substance abuse. If you're interested in creating something similar for organizing advocacy around improving adolescent substance abuse treatment, it's a great model.
For a more traditional approach -- one focused on supporting the work of an advocacy organization -- here's a 15-minute video made in 2007 by the Science and Management of Addiction (SAMA) Foundation in Seattle which uses interviews with parents of youth in recovery and experts on adolescent substance abuse to make its case.
Update: See this post for links to clips from an award-winning documentary about youth who were tried as adults in California's juvenile justice system. The post also includes a link to a photo documentary of juvenile offenders in Los Angeles and information about effective juvenile justice policies.