Representatives of Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education (DARE) recently released a statement accusing HBO Euphoria to glorify drug abuse to young audiences.

In a statement to TMZ, a representative for DARE said:

“Rather than pursuing every parent’s desire to protect their children from the potentially horrific consequences of substance abuse and other high-risk behaviors, the HBO television drama, Euphoriachooses to falsely glorify and falsely portray drug use, addiction, anonymous sex, violence, and other destructive behaviors of high school students as common and widespread in today’s world.”

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Founded in 1983, DARE taught students to “say no” to drugs, until the program lost federal funding in the late 1990s after several studies showed DARE to be counterintuitive, sparking students’ curiosity about drugs rather than scaring them into sobriety.

DARE, it seems, had the completely wrong approach – but are they right about Euphoria?

Superstar Zendaya stars in HBO Euphoria as Rue, a teenage girl hopelessly addicted to drugs, her warped form of relief from the anxiety disorder that torments her. Rue slowly sabotages her own life, one bad decision at a time; surviving overdoses, lying to friends and family, sometimes threatened by psychotic drug dealers.

Obviously, her life isn’t meant to be seen as an aspiration – that’s the logical reading of the series. That being said, it wouldn’t be the first time that a story’s moral has been drowned out by a glamorous aesthetic; euphoria seductive cinematography, a delirious haze of sinister light and sparkling skin, beautifully depict the ups and downs of drug addiction.

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The visual flair of film and television has a habit of glorifying the dangerous behavior their stories condemn, portraying violence and drug addiction as incredibly uplifting, and Euphoria is no exception – even the lowest bass sounds appealing in the right light.

But when does representation equal approval?

Well, that’s a well-worn debate, usually sparked by violence in movies and video games, responsible for some of the most tedious talk in existence online, the domain of prudes, puritans and worried parents.

Media and culture do indeed influence us (there is no doubt about it), but in such debates their degree is often exaggerated. Stories influence our personalities and interests, but they exist within the reality that created them; The context and the environment must also be taken into account. Moral flaws in fiction are much easier to fix than systemic problems like drug addiction.

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Writing in Vulture, Zachary Siegel argues that euphoria the depiction of drug addiction includes crucial lessons in harm reduction, citing the correct treatment of Rue’s fentanyl overdose during one particularly memorable scene:

“For all the hubbub, every teenager watching Euphoria at least knows that the presence of naloxone can save a life. I had no idea what the naloxone was for the majority of my usage time. It’s because I had grown up with DARE officers and media portrayals like the outlandish heroin overdose scene in pulp Fiction … In contrast, Euphoria takes the opportunity to educate the public about the realities of overdose prevention.

Euphoria creator Sam Levinson based elements of Rue’s journey on personal experience and believes reliance on fiction should mirror reality:

“I think it’s crucial that film and television portray addiction honestly,” Levinson wrote.

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“That we allow its complexities to play out. That we show the appeal of drugs, the relief they can bring, because that’s ultimately what makes them so destructive.