Characters are shown smoking, including some who have cancer. Drugs are used but they are for medical purposes; a woman becomes ill because she accidentally has been ingesting a suppository.

The entire film deals with cancer patients and the difficult in facing one's own potential death. A teen girl choses to end her life and is assisted in her suicide by a friend, including tying a scarf around her head so that her jaw will not be slack when she is found dead. This is typical of the type of dramatic scene in thef ilm.