Written by Nancy Lee, as part of her Social Marketing Sightings theme.
Sighted on: Mercer Island Reporter
Social Issue: Fentanyl-Laced Drugs
Social Marketing Strategy: Real Stories From, and About, Real People
Family warns of fentanyl-laced drugs after fatal overdose
This front-page headline, and accompanying story, was shared by the family of a 26-year-old male who died from an accidental drug overdose after recreationally taking a counterfeit “M-30” oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl. The family wanted to alert others about deadly fentanyl-laced drugs.“We wanted something to come out of his death that maybe we could help warn others and we may save a life.” A link for more information at www.dea.gov/onepill was provided. The boy’s father, a former chief psychologist at a major medical center’s burn unit, commented that: “People do respond to stories like Billy’s, how one of their peers could end up overdosing and dying. I think that’s the type of message that actually does get through because I spent a lot of time working with how to get messages across to people.”