"Saturday Night Live" Crosses The Line

image source: The Washington Post “Saturday Night Live” has been known to take on some pretty controversial issues and bring a little levity to the situation. Whether it be political debates, jokes surrounding presidential candidates or racial stereotypes—even ISIS, it seemed the producers knew where to draw the line between crass and petty jokes and what is considered downright inappropriate, until now. For anyone who tuned into Saturday Night Live this weekend and saw the skit regarding the growing heroin epidemic in the United States, I'm sure laughter is the last thing you thought of.

Setting the Stage:

The SNL cast members depicted normal everyday people—mothers, fathers, parents and soccer coaches. In the beginning it seemed like they were selling some sort of medication, which was cleverly made to look like Vicks Dayquil. But something wasn't right, in fact, about 20 seconds into their staged infomercial for an over the counter medication, something went terribly wrong. They were advertising Heroin AM, stating that while heroin use is on the rise, productivity of heroin users “has remained stagnant.” “That's why Heroin AM combines heroin with five milligrams of caffeine and a small pile of cocaine,” said SNL cast member Kate McKinnon, inferring the use of a depressant and a stimulant in the same drug. Throughout the commercial, statements are made making heroin use and abuse look like a joke. Julie Louis-Dreyfus, star of Seinfeld, even went as far to say “Now I can chase the dragon while I chase this little guy...Now available in gummy bears! Which you can melt down and inject!” I'm sure you get the picture. The SNL cast members even went as far as to make fun of heroin withdrawals, a particularly dangerous and painful process that is most definitely not a laughing matter.  Just minutes after the skit aired, many began to take their outrage to Twitter and other social media outlets berating everyone from producers to cast members for using such a serious issue as a comedic punchline.

@nbcsnl @OfficialJLD I'm DISGUSTED that you'd do that Heroin AM video. You should be ASHAMED & embarrassed! @THR #NoLongerAFan #NoRespect

— Marisol Cruz (@MiNena77) April 18, 2016

Sheriff Dale Schmidt of Dodge County Sheriff's Office in Wisconsin wrote on the departments Facebook “I am angered and frustrated that a national television network would allow SNL to use humor and diminish the importance of something that has been legitimately called an epidemic in our country.”

So What Do Addicts Think?

After the show aired, I took a moment to ask a few recovering heroin addicts what they thought: John L: "I never saw heroin addiction as a funny thing... when you've lived it, its not something you look back on and think, 'Oh hey, I fell asleep at my daughters soccer game ha!' like the episode showed.  It was disgusting, and more degrading than entertaining.  We already get such a bad stigma, this stuff just makes it worse."  John has been battling heroin addiction for years and now has 5 months clean. Carly: "I don't know why people think that's ok..my cousin died from this drug.  I overdosed numerous times from this drug, it's not funny.  My parents, my family, everyone I know has been affected by heroin in some way, don't think they would think it was funny either."