National Council Against Drug Abuse releasing 21-episode TikTok series to explore how relationships are affected by drug use

As part of the National Council Against Drug Abuse’s (NCADA) efforts to reach out to youths about the harms of drug abuse, it is releasing an interactive TikTok film series. 

Titled Finding Juliana, the series which consist of 21 episodes aims to disprove the myth that drugs only affect the user’s personal health and depict the many consequences of drug abuse. 

The TikTok series portrays a riveting tale of how familial and friendly relationships can be affected by drug use. Like Gone Girl or Megan is Missing, the film series makes use of a healthy amount of suspense and eeriness to keep the audience enthralled with its riveting narrative of the search for a missing person, while spreading the message about the realities of drug abuse. 

Aside from drug usage and trafficking, Finding Juliana explores several complicated problems faced by youths in today’s society, such as toxic relationships and mental illness. 

The series will be released from Oct 2 to 11 and is part of the first phase of the NCADA’s 2022-2023 media campaign, What’s Your Fix?, which was launched on Thursday (Sep 22). 

What’s Your Fix aims to “spark meaningful conversations on the lived realities of drugs, raise awareness on how members of society, especially youths, can be advocates for the anti-drug vision as well as support those who may be vulnerable to the influence of drugs”, said NCADA.

In order to foster empathy in youths and empower them to make a change, What’s your Fix? makes use of the series to focus on the dangers of drugs, but also the dark backstories of drug abusers and the realities they face.

A documentary series featuring advocates from the post-risk community whose stories inspired Finding Juliana will be screened in 2023. A youth film development programme will be launched next year too under the NCADA campaign. 

NCADA will also run a personality poll on their website as part of the campaign to educate youths on their style of approaching conversations regarding drug use.

The poll allows youths to reflect on their stance towards drugs and suggests methods they can use to initiate difficult conversations about drug use with their loved ones.

To end the first phase of the campaign with a bang, NCADA will hold a virtual engagement led by TikTok personalities Nicole Liel and Zhin Sadali. These will build towards a TikTok live event on Oct 15 to culminate the Finding Juliana series. 

Teasers for the Finding Juliana will be released on TikTok from Sep 23 to 28. 

NCADA vice-chairman Dr Chew Tuan Chiong said that the organisation hopes to inspire a new wave of advocacy and community engagement as Singapore works towards a collective identity of a drug-free society.

“The What’s Your Fix? campaign hopes to encourage conversations that are not abstract, but ones that seek to verify truths, explore their implications, and what they might mean to us in real life. And at the heart of it, our goal is to encourage people to make clear choices against apathy and permissiveness on drug abuse, and to help those around them who may be vulnerable,” said Dr Chew.