LET’S END ANIMAL TESTING and make better medicines while we’re at it!

It’s a question as old as time; how do we create life-saving medications? Are animals really necessary to test them on? Half of all Americans are against the use of animals in research, but how else are we supposed to make sure drugs are safe and effective?

HOW TO MAKE DRUGS and feel great about everything explores these very questions.

From producer Keegan Kuhn, co-director the of massively successful films COWSPIRACY & WHAT THE HEALTH and director Journey Zephyr of MEAT ME HALFWAY comes: 

HOW TO MAKE DRUGS and feel great about everything

Even people who see animal testing as a necessary evil don’t like the idea of it. For decades, the debate around this has generated a lot of heat, but has it generated much light?

With this film, we aim to illuminate a win/win way forward for both human patients and animal subjects.

In 2024, we know two major things: there are already scientifically superior, more reliable alternatives to using animals in labs available now, and using animals in labs has come with profound downsides in terms of the accuracy and relevance of the results we get – let alone what happens to the animals we experiment on.

Therefore, HOW TO MAKE DRUGS  explores the process of drug development in the US and uncovers the wasteful, dangerous and the often absurd use of animal testing in the 21st century.

Through interviews with premier researchers, physicians, policy experts, lobbyists and activists, we discover a story of unchecked government spending, entrenched cultural ideas about testing, and faulty science that costs millions of lives and billions of taxpayer dollars each year.

The film follows documentary filmmaker Journey Zephyr who struggles with the absurdity of his own depression. Journey is on the precipice of taking antidepressants, but when he learns that some medications are tested with ridiculous and arcane methods–for example, “the forced swim test,” in which rats are forced to swim after being given antidepressants to see if they swim for longer–Journey begins to wonder if all drugs are tested this way. He then sets off on a mission to learn everything he can about drug development, drug safety, overlooked advancements in medical research…and anti-terrorism laws designed to silence dissent?!

HOW TO MAKE DRUGS combines the style of hard-hitting facts found in co-producer Keegan Kuhn’s previous films with the caustic and sarcastic humor of Journey Zephyr, creating an entertaining, informative and ultimately uplifting film about the future of medicine.

Films Save Lives

Millions of animals are needlessly tortured and killed every year in laboratories for research where alternatives already exist, but those alternatives are either ignored or unknown to researchers. With this film we aim to change that.  

Through 3 years of investigating the issues around animals in research, we have found several alarming truths: large pharmaceutical companies are not always ethical in their conduct, we are not 70 kilogram rats, and there is a growing list of fantastic alternatives to animal-based methods of study – alternatives that are even better at revealing whether or not a given drug will be safe and effective in humans! But the cultural inertia of animal testing stands in the way of progress like a herd of angry walruses. We need your help to change that.

Our previous films have powerfully demonstrated that when people are given new information, they change. Documentary films are the #1 reason people change their lifestyles towards more compassionate ways of living. Films are the single most effective tool we have at educating people and bringing about a more humane world.

We feel that HOW TO MAKE DRUGS, with its unique blend of comedy and peer-reviewed science, has the ability to radically shift the conversation around the use of animals in research, advance a new era in science and medicine, and save millions of human and non-human lives every year. For this reason, we need your help to get it out to the world in a big way!  

The film is almost done, but we need your help getting it out of the lab!

We’ve been working on the film for almost 3 years, researching, interviewing, filming, and editing. It’s so close to finished but we need your help with post production costs:

• Sound Mixing
• Color Grading
• Legal
• Insurance
• Licensing
• Subtitling
• Animations
• Mastering, DCP
• Theatrical release
• PR and Marketing
• ETC

Make an Impact

This film is coming out one way or another, but to make the biggest, most positive, culture-shifting impact possible we need funds to do it.

• Journey and Keegan are award-winning filmmakers, with almost 20 years of experience between them. Keegan’s films are considered some of the most important films for inspiring conversations, movements and policies. And Journey is basically a genius – just ask him.
• Wide distribution of this film is important for its ultimate impact. With enough funds we can push the film out into the world, getting it in front of millions of people and inspire a new conversation and real change.
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Other Ways You Can Help

Supporting the campaign with contributions goes a long way, but there are loads of ways to help:

• Post about the film on social media
• Share the campaign with friends and family
• Share with your newsletter, blog, vlog or any platform you might have!
• Make reels, stories, posts about the film
• Want to make a big donation but need a tax write-off? Get in touch with us!