RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CNS) — The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a $288,000 contract with a Riverside-based marketing agency to conduct a campaign throughout Riverside County emphasizing the dangers of fentanyl use.
"This is a very dangerous drug," Supervisor Karen Spiegel said. "As we all know, it is increasing. That's what this is all about."
Spiegel and Supervisor Chuck Washington sit on the board's Ad-Hoc Committee to Address Fentanyl Threats and recommended that a countywide campaign be mounted, targeting mainly those in the 16-50 age range, highlighting the message that the synthetic opioid poses a grave risk to life.
A group composed of District Attorney's Office representatives and Executive Office staff selected Riverside-based Mind & Mill LLC from eight prospective marketing and advertising firms that sought the county contract to oversee the anti-fentanyl messaging.
The money to pay for it will be drawn from a General Fund account, according to Spiegel.
She said "advertisements will be placed on digital and traditional media outlets."
"These creative assets, including static and animated graphics, as well as videos, are currently being developed in-house, with mostly county resources," the supervisor said.
The Corona Chamber of Commerce initiated a similar campaign last September, in partnership with the D.A.'s office.
That effort led to the production of bumper stickers using the phrase "What's In Your Pills? Fentanyl Kills." The stickers were placed on law enforcement vehicles.
Space on billboards flashing the same message was additionally procured alongside Inland Empire freeways.
Supporting the Ad-Hoc Committee are multiple agencies, including the D.A.'s office, Emergency Management Department, Probation Department, Sheriff's Department and Department of Public Social Services.
Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs and according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it's smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by drug cartels. The substance is 80-100 times more potent than morphine and is a popular additive, mixed into any number of narcotics and pharmaceuticals. The ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.
According to the committee, in 2021, there were nearly 400 fentanyl-induced deaths countywide, representing a 200-fold increase from 2016, when public safety officials say only two such fatalities were documented.
Statistics published in May by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed there were roughly 108,000 fatal drug overdoses in 2021, and fentanyl poisoning accounted for more than 80,000 of them.