The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), based on New York’s Staten Island, is showing a film called “Falling” as part of its summer 2011 film festival. The film focuses on the growing prescription drug abuse problem and follows a teen sliding deeper into addiction.

The film comes at an important time as pharmacy holdups are rapidly out numbering bank robberies on Staten Island. The film was produced by Project AWARE, a Maine-based group focused on teen prescription drug abuse. Marisa Breton, who directed the film when she was only 16, said she believes that it is still as relevant now as it was four years ago when it was initially released.

“We saw that it was something relevant not only locally, but nationally,” she told the Staten Island advance. “At the time, it was a huge issue. Unfortunately, it still is.”

A study done by the city Health Department in Staten Island in 2009 revealed that a prescription drug overdose kills one Staten Islander an average of every 13 days. Those addicted to prescription medication or any substances should consider drug addiction rehabilitation.