Does Euphoria Promote Drug Usage?
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Euphoria is a hit drama TV series that has greatly risen in popularity, getting over 13 million people tuned into the season 2 premiere according to Variety. The show, which is centered around high-school students, is R-rated which explains why there are so many complaints about Euphoria possibly promoting illegal drug use.
The HBO show follows a group of teenagers that each have their own significant life problems, and deal with their individual issues through frequent drug use, sex, or drinking. The most well-known actress in the show, Zendaya, plays the character “Rue” who’s a conflicting drug addict who’s viewed by many as a nonrealistic expectation of real addiction. I definitely enjoyed watching the show but it’s definitely for people that are mature and knowledgeable. — Alec Shaw, freshman
One of the largest issues with Euphoria, out of all of the controversial aspects of the show, is that it may influence younger people to believe that doing the same dangerous activities as the characters is safe and “aesthetic” as shown in the series. Sophomore McCoy Mcinerney said, “There’s definitely a lot of drug use and bad influences in the show.” Freshman Alec Shaw agreed and said, “I definitely enjoyed watching the show but it’s definitely for people that are mature and knowledgeable.”
Although many aspects of the show aren’t realistic or positive things for teenagers to do in real life, ultimately Euphoria isn’t meant to greatly influence people to do what’s depicted in the show, especially kids younger than 18 since the show technically isn’t for that audience. However, the R-rating doesn’t stop people under 18 from watching the show. Therefore, it’s important that all viewers are knowledgeable and diligent not follow similar pathways of the characters in Euphoria.
