COLLEGE TOOLKIT
Today, fake pills made of illicit fentanyl are ubiquitous in America, and young people are dying at record rates. No university is immune to the danger of illicit fentanyl, now being found in all street drugs including cocaine, MDMA, and fake prescription pills being sold as Percocet (percs), oxycodone (oxys), Xanax, Adderall and more. Every college student needs to know about the danger of fentanyl and be on alert. Your life could depend on it.
Each college campus has a different culture, and awareness campaigns need to be tailored to each school’s unique environment. This toolkit is intended to be a resource to any student/school looking to raise awareness about the increased danger of the street drugs being circulated today.
Data shows that many youth are unaware of or misunderstand the fentanyl problem. Accurate perception of harm has been shown to be a protective factor. Therefore, Song for Charlie believes greater education and awareness of the fentanyl problem for youth in particular will reduce harm.Song for Charlie recognizes that one-size-fits-all approaches often aren’t optimal. Some of the content in this particular toolkit may not fit with policies and practices of organizations serving younger audiences.The goal of harm reduction is to protect the health and lives of people, even if they choose to use substances. Song for Charlie focuses on protecting the health and lives of young people from the risks associated with illicit drug use especially in today’s synthetic and deceptive landscape, where harm reduction has been shown to play a valuable role.It is not unusual for colleges and universities to offer both harm reduction messages (i.e. limiting binge drinking) and harm reduction interventions (i.e. naloxone and fentanyl test strip distribution). Given little available evidence around the effectiveness and interplay between primary prevention education and specific harm reduction interventions for younger ages where illicit substance use is less common than in the general population, we do not promote many harm reduction interventions for K-12 ages. However, we recognize that illicit drug use is more common in college age youth, as are individual agency and decision making capabilities. Therefore, we include more harm reduction messages and interventions for this age group.