Home Box Office (HBO) has teamed up with the Open Student Television Network (OSTN) to bring the documentary Addiction to students on their TV’s and computers. The public service initiative will be free to students nationwide on over 4,500 campuses.

HBO’s Addiction features a 90-minute full-length documentary featuring industry experts, case studies and the real human impact of drug and alcohol abuse in the United States. Additionally, there are 13 shorter films, many of which feature interviews with the experts in the field, that delve more deeply into many of the issues of the 90-minute film.

Some of the key messages of the film state that addiction is a brain disease, that many addicts have one or more co-occurring mental disorders that also need to be treated, new medications are available to help with cravings and treatment does not have to be voluntary to be effective.

The 13 supplementary short films for Addiction focuses on such subjects as relapse prevention, the adolescent addict, treating stimulant and opiate addictions and interviews with leading experts.