OSU Launches’One Pill Can Kill’ Campaign to Warn Oklahomans of Fentanyl Poisoning

STILLWATER (KOKH) — Oklahoma State University is holding a statewide campaign to educate parents and young adults about fentanyl poisoning.

The ‘One Pill Can Kill’ campaign is in conjunction with the DEA to spread awareness about the alarming rise of deaths related directly to fentanyl poisoning.

According to the DEA, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is about 100 times more potent than morphine. They say the dangerous drug is being mixed in with other illicit drugs to increase its potency and is often pressed into pills made to look like legitimate prescription opioids.

“Last year the DEA reported that they seized 50 million counterfeit pills that were mimics of things like Adderall, Xanax, and Percocet,” said Don Kyle, the Cheif Executive Officer of the National Center for Wellness and Recovery at OSU, “They’re nearly identical, like the average person may not be able to know which is which.”

According to the DEA, in 2021, 40% of all fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills contained a potentially lethal does of the drug. In 2022, the number has risen to 60%.

“We know that fentanyl is a major problem in this country with overdose,” Kyle said, “Last year, the CDC reported a record high of 108,000 deaths related to drug overdose, of those where opioids were involved, about 75% of them were related to fentanyl.”

Because of these alarming statistics, OSU is launching the statewide ‘One Pill Can Kill’ campaign with the DEA,

“It’s something that really sticks in your mind, one pill can kill,” said Kyle, “And we feel that this is a message that everybody needs to hear because it’s about counterfeit prescription drugs that are laced with fentanyl without the people purchasing them being aware of it.”

The campaign’s goal is to educate the public at large, and the most at risk, about the dangers of fentanyl poisoning,

“With this type of thing going on, especially on college campuses, for example, where kids might share prescription drugs or order Adderall to help them stay up late and study and things like that, really the message is if you if you don’t really know where your prescription drug came from, you really should be very cautious and not take it,” Kyle said.

The ‘One Pill Can Kill’ campaign will be featured in a variety of print media, billboards, and social media.