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Bonnie, from Aurora, on fentanyl at Purple Haze Denver.

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Shot on 27 March 2026.

Answers What is the most important global issue today? · see how other cities answered →

Asked for the most important issue in the world, a man outside a Denver head shop says fentanyl, tells a story that explains why, and then changes his mind on camera. The answer he lands on is the reason to watch it.

Bonnie is from Aurora. His first answer comes with a scene attached. He is in sober living, and a man turned up to group high, fell over and broke his neck. His frustration is not moral, it is logistical: there are beds in the building, and nobody had to be in that room. “Don’t even show up to group if you’re going to be falling over breaking your neck.”

Asked whether sober living works, he gives the honest split rather than the pitch. Yes and no. “At the end of the day, it’s going to be that person who decides their fate.”

Then he stops himself, which almost nobody does. “Can I change my answer? I think it’s global warming.” He talks himself the rest of the way there out loud: fentanyl is bad, but the people are choosing it, and the other thing is not a choice anybody gets.

What follows is the best answer in the Denver block, and it is not an argument about carbon. “The Earth is alive. You and I are both alive. This tree is alive. If the Earth was dead, we wouldn’t be here. We’d be like Mars.” From there it turns into a family relationship: we are all living off our mother, and she has said the same thing every mother says. “The world ain’t going nowhere. It’s going to be right here. So take care of it.”

And then the part that stays with you. “We got to listen to her, and sometimes she might scold us like a parent would do. And who knows what the earth might scold us with? It might be a tornado. She might be like, I told y’all I don’t want that built there.”

A second man is pulled into the conversation and asked what he would put to the entire world. He works his way past the joke to something plain: “We’re all living on a piece of space rock floating in the middle of nowhere. This don’t make any sense, if you ask me. So I’d say everybody just enjoy themselves, live their best life, treat people good, respect each other. Don’t hurt one another, if you can help it.”

It ends with somebody’s ring rolling away across the pavement, which is how these usually end.

Language is unfiltered; the transcript is bleeped where the captions were.

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Transcript

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Who speaks, by their own introduction on the tape: Bonnie at 0:11. Transcribed from the original audio and corrected for names. Speaker letters mark turns, not names. Search every transcript →

These are the speaker’s own words. We have not checked their claims.

0:06AAll right, what’s up, man?

0:08BonnieWhat’s happening, bro? What’s good?

0:10AWhat’s your name?

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0:11BonnieMy name is Bonnie.

0:12AOkay, hell yeah. You’re from out here in Denver?

0:14BonnieYeah, I’m from the A, from Aco.

0:16AOkay, hell yeah. What’s it called? So tell us about Purple Haze. What’s Purple Haze? Man,

0:22BonniePurple Haze, it’s the store that you want to go when you need your smoke. You know what I’m saying? When you need your vapes, your hookahs, your little rig, do-higgy, UFOs, This shit looks like a fucking laboratory up in here, man. You need to come check this shit out. That’s what I thought when I saw it. But yeah, they got vapes and shit. That’s what I come here for. You know what I’m saying? All my vape accessories. You know what I’m saying? They got the little coils and all the shit.

0:53AFuck yeah.

0:53BonnieYeah, fuck with the shit.

0:55ASo how many of these events have you come to?

0:58BonnieShoot, man, this is actually one of the first events that I’ve seen, at least at this location. Most of time when I come through here, man, they be having a little stuff going on, but I’d be like on the run and shit So I’ll be having to, you know Run it up that way

1:17AOh, yeah, I fuck with that.

1:18BonnieThat shit looks dope though.

1:20AYeah, like he came by on

1:22Bonniethe dirt bikers I’ve seen them on an

1:23Aelectric dirt bike, bro. It’s like,

1:25Bonnieyeah I’ve seen them on the news. They was like, it was 30 of them.

1:29AOh, really? On electric dirt bikes?

1:30BonnieYeah That’s at least that’s what the news said

1:33ABut they were all electric or no,

1:33Cthey were not electric

1:33AI don’t know if there’s electric, but there’s a dirt bike. I’m about to say, that’s some Colorado stuff. 30 electric dirt bikes.

1:38BonnieThey in downtown looking like fucking Streets of Rage. Do you remember that game?

1:43AI don’t know about that.

1:44BonnieOh, bro, that’s old school. How old are you? 26. 26? Oh, okay, yeah, you kind of... No, you kind of young, but Streets of Rage should have been around.

1:52AYeah, yeah, I wasn’t playing... You can’t play video games!

1:55BonnieOh, yeah, yeah, I feel you, I feel you.

1:57ABut what’s it called? My mom didn’t sound like that. I’m not going to drag her like that.

2:02BonnieI’ll be, I’ll be.

2:03AWhat’s it called? Woman’s History Month, no less. Here I am, slandering her name. My mom’s a goat. But what’s it called? So I’ve been doing this thing where we go out and ask people this question every week. And the question this week is, what’s the most important issue in the world today?

2:18BonnieShit. The most important, or I mean, like the most, like the worst issue, like the worst problem that the world has, pretty much. yeah man oh there’s so much like where do I begin okay well I guess and I don’t know if this is a world problem this might just be a here problem but y’all the fentanyl’s got to stop you know what I’m saying for reals man

2:53Atalk about it talk about it man

2:57Bonnieall right so I’m in at this sober living dude Dude, sober living, dude comes to the fucking, he comes to meeting high and shit and he falls over, dude falls over and just breaks his neck, like, you know what I’m saying, just linked out, just not thinking, like, sober living, we got beds, motherfucker, why don’t you just go to bed, shit, don’t even show up to groupers, you’re gonna be falling over, breaking your neck, you know what I’m saying? So, that part, you know what I’m saying?

3:32AIs sober living making a difference?

3:34BonnieYes and no. I say yes and no. Like, for people who really have the power and the strength, you know, to really be like, hey, I’m done with this. You know, whatever addiction that may be, you know what I’m saying? If you, at the end of the day, it’s going to be that that person who decides their fate, you know what I’m saying, if they want to keep on going that route. But that’s one problem, and I don’t know if that’s a global problem,

4:07AI think that might be a more local problem.

4:10BonnieI don’t know if this is widespread or not, I don’t know.

4:12AI mean, you know, people in similar situations all over the world for sure. My second question is this, if you could ask people around the world one question, what would you ask them, if you could query the world.

4:24BonnieShit. Okay, but honestly, can I change my answer?

4:31ASure, yeah, yeah.

4:31BonnieI think it’s global warming. Maybe it’s global warming.

4:34AWhatever you want, man.

4:36BonnieI think global warming is the biggest problem. Yeah. I’ma take that back. Fentonite was pretty bad, but you know.

4:44AI don’t think it’s bad. I think it’s like addiction.

4:46BonnieI don’t think it’s the worst problem, no. Cause most, a lot of those people are like choosing that. You know what I’m saying? So, I’ma renege and I’ma say global warming is the is the world’s like biggest shit going on and I say that because the earth is alive you know I’m saying you and I are both alive you know I’m saying shit this tree’s alive everything that’s just how we’re here if the earth was dead we wouldn’t be here you know I’m saying we’d be like Mars or some fucking place I don’t know shit but you know but so we gotta start taking care of the earth Better, like Dude, Mother Earth Dude, we all living off of Mama You know what I’m saying And that’s, have you ever heard your mama Say, like, the world ain’t going nowhere Yeah Cause it fucking ain’t Motherfucker ain’t going nowhere It’s gonna be right here You know what I’m saying So take care of it You know what I’m saying And that’s it You know what I’m saying We gotta listen to her And sometimes she might scold us Like a parent would do And Who Knows What The Earth Might Stole Us With It Might Be Like A Tornado You Know What I’m Saying It Might Be Like I Told Y’all Motherfuckers I Don’t Want That Shit Built There We Don’t Know What She’s Saying You Know Shit That’s Pretty Much The Gist Though

6:13AHell Yeah That Was Killer I Appreciate That That Was An Epic Answer

6:17BonnieI Don’t Know Man We Got All This Gasoline And Shit Going On You Know What I’m Saying We Got Cars And Shit The Gasoline Is Like Evaporating all the water, water molecules so it’s not fucking raining

6:29Aor yeah it’s pretty dry out here it’s pretty dry out here

6:35Bonnieoh for real my voice cracked

6:36Aso i said i guess we’re going to jump in oh yeah you know what time it is

6:46Bonnieoh yeah see the monopoly dude had to come down here the

6:49Amonopoly dude is crazy cooking these niggas on the corner okay What’s it called? So if you could ask people around the world one question, what would you ask them?

6:59BonnieWhy you so gay? Can I explain? Okay. I don’t know. I don’t know what I would ask you.

7:09AWhat does that mean though? Why you so gay? What does that even mean? He said, I don’t got an answer. He said, that was an impulse. Had to let that one ride.

7:19BonnieNo, that was actually an inside joke. and if somebody is watching this they’re gonna know like Ronnie for real

7:26Aokay uh

7:27Bonniebut uh i don’t know bro i don’t got no questions like

7:31Aany question it could be unserious don’t gotta be what you guys also agree global warming is number one like

7:39Bonnieif i could actually damn like that would be like

7:42Athis is the power i’m giving you

7:45Bonnieman i don’t know what i would ask the whole world yeah like and what y’all I’m gonna have to, well, I’m gonna be waiting for a fucking response then.

7:52AYeah, but don’t worry. I handle that. We’re like the AI now.

7:55BonnieAll right. Okay, so shit. So you’re clearing the globe. Clearing the globe. All right, y’all good, man. What else? What y’all want from a nigga? What else y’all want from a nigga, man? What? Shit. I got everything. I gave y’all everything.

8:08AWhat? You’re talking about me?

8:10BonnieNah, the world.

8:11AOh, okay.

8:12BonnieI gave y’all everything, shit. Nigga, I don’t know. Get creative around here, shit. Use These Fucking Tree Leaves For Something, I Don’t Know

8:22AWhat Would You Ask The World? I Don’t Know What’s Going On Right Now It’s,

8:25BonnieOh Yeah I Don’t Know Shit I Don’t Know Bro We’re Like All Living On A Piece Of Space Rock Floating In The Middle Of Fucking Nowhere Like This Shit Don’t Make Any Sense If You Ask Me None Of Me So I Say Everybody Just Like Enjoy Themselves Live Their Best Life Treat People Good Respect Each Other you know, and don’t hurt one another, if you can help it, you know, and I, what the fuck, oh, somebody dropped something, do you see?

8:59AI don’t know where that came from, I’m not gonna lie.

9:01BonnieYeah.

9:02CYou guys didn’t happen to see a ring roll by here?

9:05AYeah, yeah, it just went right over there by, yeah, right there by the intersection.

9:07BonnieI thought I was trippin’. If my ring is just

9:10Ctoo big on me, sometimes when I get really into talking, it just goes flying.

9:15BonnieOh, she said just goes flying. Oh, okay

9:19CUsually I’m inside though And I was Thank you

9:24BonnieOh no, we’re gonna come inside too It’s getting cold outside

That was the whole tape.

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Filmed the same day.

27 March 2026

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