Public Awareness Campaigns

Public awareness and education campaigns play an important role in the fight against addiction. These campaigns provide community members with tools and information about the risks of prescription and illicit opioids, substance use and misuse, and treatment resources to prevent or reduce substance use, misuse, and overdose deaths. Community education can also help dispel common myths about substance use and misuse that perpetuate stigma and discourage people from seeking treatment. Campaigns employ a variety of media (e.g., billboards and print ads, digital-banner ads/websites, television/radio public service announcements, social media, brochures, posters) and target messaging to their audiences (e.g., teens or older adults).