About The Film

As part of his grieving process, he researched the world of the opioid/fentanyl epidemic, and this story grew out of his conversations with individuals struggling with substance use disorders, as well as with doctors and leading experts.

It was crucial for him to portray their stories authentically and without exploitation. Their stories, shared with honesty and vulnerability, became the film’s foundation and it soon became clear that nearly everyone he met had been touched by this crisis in some way

Never Use Alone highlights the quiet heroism and invisible labor of those working within broken systems. It refuses to frame addiction as moral failure, instead focusing on connection, trust, and ethical tension, especially where motherhood and grief collide. It asks difficult questions about responsibility, survival, and care, allowing the audience to experience the crisis as it unfolds, moment by moment.

Ramona is not idealized; she’s exhausted, flawed, and very human. Avoiding sentimentality or moralizing was essential. I wanted it to feel empathetic without being preachy, political without being ideological, and devastating without being manipulative. At its core, it’s about motherhood, burnout, and the human cost of care in a world increasingly structured to fail the most vulnerable. 

Told almost entirely through phone calls, the story creates an urgent, intimate experience mirroring the emotional toll on frontline workers.

If the story helps even one person feel seen, seek help, or pause before judging…

it will have succeeded.