Characters / Partnership to End Addiction

General tropes

• Drugs Are Bad: Most anyone who is not using drugs in these ads is likely to be a staunch believer of this trope.

This is Your Brain on Drugs and its derivatives

Man

The character featured in this PSA explaining the dangers of drug abuse by using an egg in a frying pan as an example. Portrayed by the late John Roselius.

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• Deadpan Snarker: Is rather dry and exasperated about having to teach the lesson yet another time.

Girl

The character featured in this PSA explaining the dangers of heroin abuse by using an egg smashed by a frying pan as an example, followed by a blistering fit. Portrayed by Rachael Leigh Cook

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• Ax-Crazy: Pan Crazy; she destroys a kitchen with a frying pan in a fit of rage.
• Frying Pan of Doom: She uses a frying pan to destroy everything from her surroundings.
• Suddenly Shouting: The moment she finishes explaining about "the brain on heroin", she demonstrates the aftermath by throwing in a fit of rage.
  THIS IS WHAT YOUR FAMILY GOES THROUGH! AND YOUR FRIENDS! AND YOUR MONEY! AND YOUR JOB! AND YOUR SELF-RESPECT! AND YOUR FUTURE!

Like Father, Like Son (a.k.a I Learned It By Watching You)

Father

The unnamed father who confronted his son as the former discovered a box of substances and paraphernalia in his bedroom, thinking that the latter is doing drugs.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Was he still using drugs when the events of the ad occurred or had he gotten clean? Either way, he had to had been using them recently enough for the son to pick up on the habit.
• Dark Secret: He uses drugs, which is where his son learned it from.
• Hypocrite: Is angry at his son for using drugs when not only has he used drugs but he is the person the son learned it from.
• My Greatest Failure: The father regretted what he has done as he recoils from realizing the error of his own ways. Parents who use drugs, have children who use drugs, indeed.

Son

The unnamed son who was caught red-handed by his father, claiming that he learned to do drugs by watching him. Portrayed by Reid MacLean

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• Like Father, Like Son: "Parents who use drugs, have children who use drugs" doesn't lie. He learned to do drugs by watching his father doing it.
• You Taught Me That: "I learned it by watching you!"

Mother

• The Ghost: She does not physically appear, only being mentioned by the father.
• Small Role, Big Impact: While she is only mentioned once, her finding the son's drug stash in his closet is what sets the ad's plot in motion.

Final Lesson

Susie

The character featured in this PSA who has learned various activities from her parents as she grows up.

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• The Ace: Thanks to her parents' help, she can ride a two-wheeler, build and use a telescope, and is a talented tennis player.
• Ambiguous Situation: Is she actually dead, or just in critical condition? The narration implies the former, but the ambulance implies the latter.
• Coming of Age Story: The PSA tells how Suzie grows out through maturity.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Susie was once a talented girl, until her regretful take on doing drugs.

Susie's parents

The unnamed parents of Suzie who taught her various activities throughout her childhood and adolescent years.

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• Good Parents: They love Susie very much, and are always willing to help her succeed...but, unfortunately, they forgot to teach her one very important lesson...

Graveyard

Father

The unnamed father in the PSA who appears to be talking to his son about drugs. It was later revealed that he was talking to his son's tombstone implying that he regretted about not telling him in the first place.

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• Good Parents: Similarly to Susie's parents, he loved his son a lot. However, while Susie's parents simply neglected to teach her about drugs, the father had intended to do so but failed because he waited too long.
• My Greatest Failure: Regretting about not educating his son about drugs. 'nuff said.
• Outliving One's Offspring: In the ad, he is grieving the loss of his thirteen-year-old son.

Son

The unnamed thirteen-year-old son who was involved in drug addiction that took his life.

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• Death of a Child: Died at thirteen because of drug abuse.

Faces

Girl

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• Birthday Episode: Implied; a variation of "Happy Birthday" is heard during her ad.
• Creepy Blue Eyes: They start off as innocent but quickly delve into creepy as the ad progresses.
• Nightmare Face: Her final few expressions are haunting, to say the least.
• Spared By the Variant: Downplayed; a variant of this ad only implies her death rather than outright stating it.

Jamie

Jamie

• Girlish Pigtails: Her hairstyle.

Jamie's mother

• The Voice: Only her voice is heard.

Addict

• Would Hurt a Child: Unintentionally or not, she is responsible for the health problems Jamie either has or will have in the future because of her hosting a meth lab so close to the apartment Jamie and her mother live in.

Going Out In Style

Warren

The PSA's character who just celebrated his sixteenth birthday by smoking cocaine as part of starting his new life.

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• Age Lift: The original PSA stated that Warren is 16,
• Dangerous 16th Birthday: Started to go high on his 16th birthday. And that's how his new life abruptly ended.
• Posthumous Character: Warren was already dead in the PSA.
• Starting a New Life: As the narrator stated, Warren wanted to start a new life... by smoking crack. And it didn't go as he planned.

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