The Delaware Division of Public Health launches a fentanyl awareness advertising campaign.
The multimedia campaign targets youth and young adults aged 14 through 25.
Katie Capelli is a DPH epidemiologist. She says the goal of the campaign is to inform that group about fentanyl and empower them by reducing any gaps in knowledge about it.
"To tell youth about the dangers of fentanyl, and the risk for drugs to be laced or contain fentanyl. It's using social media as its primary form of communication. So meeting youth and young adults where they're at on things like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram," said Capelli.
The campaign also highlights experimental drug use and the evolving drug market.
Capelli says the campaign will mainly be on social media.
"We started the digital ads the ones that are running on YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok Facebook, Instagram. Those started Monday. So those will run through February, those Instagram and TikTok messages, and again those are targeted their geo-targeted for the demographic for those youth," said Capelli.
There’s also more traditional messaging - using posters, window clings, and coasters distributed through community partners, restaurants, along with other grassroots tactics with major community partners in areas where families and youth congregate.
Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, and in the 510 overdose deaths in Delaware in 2021, fentanyl was the main cause of death in 83.5% of the overdoses.