HLTH 252 Week 7 Multimedia Research Project Example

One Pill Can Change Everything: A Fentanyl Awareness and Prevention Presentation for College Students

Slide 1: One Pill Can Change Everything

• Fentanyl awareness and prevention
• For college students and the friends who look out for them
• HLTH 252 Multimedia Research Project

Speaker notes: Today I want to talk about a drug that most of you will never choose to take, but that could still reach you or someone you love. Fentanyl is now the main driver of overdose deaths in the United States. The first half of this presentation explains what fentanyl is and why it is so dangerous; the second half is about what each of us can do to prevent harm.

Slide 2: What Is Fentanyl?

• A synthetic opioid made in a laboratory
• Used legally in hospitals for severe pain and anesthesia
• Illegally made fentanyl now dominates the street supply

Speaker notes: Hart and Ksir (2018) explain that opioids include natural drugs from the opium poppy, such as morphine, and synthetic drugs made entirely in laboratories. Fentanyl is one of the synthetic opioids. Doctors use carefully measured pharmaceutical fentanyl in surgery and for severe pain, but most overdose deaths involve illegally manufactured fentanyl, which is made without quality control.

Slide 3: How Opioids Affect the Body

• Bind to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord
• Relieve pain and produce euphoria
• Slow breathing by acting on the brainstem

Speaker notes: Opioids act on receptors that control pain, reward and breathing. That is why they relieve pain and can produce euphoria, and also why they are deadly in overdose: at high doses they slow breathing until it stops (Hart & Ksir, 2018). Tolerance develops quickly, so people who use opioids regularly need larger doses over time.

Slide 4: Why Potency Matters

• Fentanyl is far more potent than heroin or morphine
• A lethal amount can be very small
• Illegal batches are mixed unevenly

Speaker notes: Because fentanyl is so potent, the difference between a dose that produces an effect and a dose that stops breathing is very small. Illegal manufacturers do not measure precisely, so one pill or bag can contain much more fentanyl than another from the same batch. With fentanyl, there is no such thing as a familiar dose, because no one, not even the seller, knows exactly what is inside.

Slide 5: How Fentanyl Reaches People Who Never Chose It

• Counterfeit pills made to look like oxycodone, Xanax or Adderall
• Pill seizures rose from 68 to 635 per quarter, 2018 to 2021
• Over a quarter of fentanyl seizures are now pills

Speaker notes: Palamar et al. (2022) examined national drug seizure data and found that seizures of fentanyl-containing pills rose from 68 in early 2018 to 635 in late 2021, and the number of pills seized rose from about 42,000 to more than 2 million per quarter. Pills now make up over a quarter of fentanyl seizures. A student who buys a pill from a friend to study or sleep may be taking fentanyl without knowing it.

Slide 6: The Toll on Young People

• Adolescent overdose deaths nearly doubled from 2019 to 2020
• Rose again in 2021
• Fentanyl involved in about 77% of adolescent overdose deaths in 2021

Speaker notes: Friedman et al. (2022) found that overdose deaths among adolescents aged 14 to 18 nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020 and rose further in 2021, even though reported drug use among teens did not increase. Fentanyl was involved in about three quarters of those deaths. The problem is not that more young people are using drugs, but that the drugs have become far more dangerous.

Slide 7: Prevention Starts With One Rule

• Only take pills prescribed to you and dispensed by a pharmacy
• Never buy pills online or from friends
• Assume any pill from another source could contain fentanyl

Speaker notes: The most effective prevention step for most students is simple: never take a pill that did not come from a pharmacy with your name on the label. Counterfeit pills can look exactly like real ones, so appearance offers no protection.

Slide 8: Fentanyl Test Strips

• Inexpensive strips detect fentanyl in drugs
• Positive results lead many people to use more safely
• Available through health departments and harm reduction programs

Speaker notes: Peiper et al. (2019) surveyed 125 people who inject drugs in North Carolina who had used fentanyl test strips. Sixty-three percent got a positive result, 43% changed how they used drugs afterward, such as using less or going slower, and 77% felt better able to protect themselves from overdose. Test strips do not make drug use safe, but they can prevent a fatal surprise.

Slide 9: Recognizing an Overdose

• Unresponsive or cannot be woken
• Slow, shallow or no breathing; gurgling sounds
• Pinpoint pupils; blue or gray lips and fingertips

Speaker notes: Knowing the signs can save a life. If someone cannot be woken, is breathing very slowly or not at all, or has blue lips, treat it as an emergency. Call 911 right away; many states have Good Samaritan laws that protect people who call for help during an overdose.

Slide 10: Naloxone Saves Lives

• Reverses opioid overdose by blocking opioid receptors
• Available as a nasal spray without a prescription
• Communities with wide distribution saw fewer deaths

Speaker notes: Naloxone pushes opioids off their receptors and can restore breathing within minutes. Walley et al. (2013) found that Massachusetts communities with the highest levels of overdose education and naloxone distribution had overdose death rates about 46% lower than communities with no program, and trained bystanders reported 327 rescues. Every student can carry naloxone and learn to use it.

Slide 11: Treatment Works

• Opioid use disorder is treatable
• Buprenorphine and methadone lower the risk of overdose
• Recovery is possible with medication and support

Speaker notes: For people already dependent on opioids, treatment with medication is the most effective option. In insurance claims for more than 40,000 adults diagnosed with opioid use disorder, Wakeman et al. (2020) found that those started on buprenorphine or methadone had a 76% lower risk of overdose at three months and 59% lower at twelve months, compared with no treatment. If a friend is struggling, help them connect with a doctor or treatment program.

Slide 12: What Our Campus Can Do

• Naloxone in residence halls and student centers
• Training at orientation
• Free, confidential counseling and treatment referrals

Speaker notes: Colleges can make naloxone as available as fire extinguishers, train every incoming student to recognize and respond to an overdose and remove barriers to asking for help. A campus that talks openly about fentanyl makes it easier for students to look out for each other.

Slide 13: Caring for a Friend

• Love acts when someone is in danger
• Do not walk past someone who needs help
• Every life is worth saving

Speaker notes: In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus praised the man who stopped to help a stranger lying wounded by the road, while others passed by (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Luke 10:33-34). Knowing the signs of an overdose, carrying naloxone and calling for help are modern ways to be that neighbor. Prevention is not only about protecting ourselves; it is about being ready to save someone else.

Slide 14: References

• Friedman et al. (2022); Hart and Ksir (2018); Palamar et al. (2022)
• Peiper et al. (2019); Wakeman et al. (2020); Walley et al. (2013)
• English Standard Version Bible (2001/2016)

Speaker notes: The full references for every source cited in this presentation are listed below in current APA format.

References

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Friedman, J., Godvin, M., Shover, C. L., Gone, J. P., Hansen, H., & Schriger, D. L. (2022). Trends in drug overdose deaths among US adolescents, January 2010 to June 2021. JAMA, 327(14), 1398-1400. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2022.2847

Hart, C. L., & Ksir, C. (2018). Drugs, society, and human behavior (17th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Palamar, J. J., Ciccarone, D., Rutherford, C., Keyes, K. M., Carr, T. H., & Cottler, L. B. (2022). Trends in seizures of powders and pills containing illicit fentanyl in the United States, 2018 through 2021. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 234, 109398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109398

Peiper, N. C., Clarke, S. D., Vincent, L. B., Ciccarone, D., Kral, A. H., & Zibbell, J. E. (2019). Fentanyl test strips as an opioid overdose prevention strategy: Findings from a syringe services program in the Southeastern United States. International Journal of Drug Policy, 63, 122-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.08.007

Wakeman, S. E., Larochelle, M. R., Ameli, O., Chaisson, C. E., McPheeters, J. T., Crown, W. H., Azocar, F., & Sanghavi, D. M. (2020). Comparative effectiveness of different treatment pathways for opioid use disorder. JAMA Network Open, 3(2), e1920622. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.20622

Walley, A. Y., Xuan, Z., Hackman, H. H., Quinn, E., Doe-Simkins, M., Sorensen-Alawad, A., Ruiz, S., & Ozonoff, A. (2013). Opioid overdose rates and implementation of overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution in Massachusetts: Interrupted time series analysis. BMJ, 346, f174. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f174