Vivo: Best Drug is Life

An in-depth look at the community of San Patrignano, the largest drug rehabilitation and detox centre in the world. This centre, located near Bologna in Italy, boasts a 2000 person capacity and has been offering its 4-year therapeutic programme free of cost since its inception in 1978. The centre’s extraordinary success rate is a result of its unwillingness to consider addiction as an illness, and its non-classical therapeutic approach that aims to eliminate dependence without drug substitution. This film follows the lives of five community residents in particular, each from different countries, as they recount their journey of struggle and hope.