With fentanyl increasingly being found in drugs popular among teenagers, including ecstasy, cocaine and certain counterfeit prescription drugs, teens experimenting with these substances are essentially “flirting with death,” according to a new awareness campaign for the Vancouver Police Department (VPD).
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The minute-long spot opens with a young girl dancing and enjoying herself at a party. Suddenly, she’s approached by an ominous figure that hands her some unidentified substance. Dazed and barely conscious after taking the drug, she stumbles across the house and into the bathroom, at which point her “dealer” is revealed to be a grim reaper. The ad ends with, “Fentanyl is in molly, cocaine and fake pills. Whatever you take, you’re flirting with death.”
Taxi’s Vancouver office led the awareness campaign, called “Flirting with Death,” which first aired in December.
In 2017 alone, fentanyl, a highly potent and addictive opioid drug, was responsible for the death of more than 1,400 people in British Columbia. And last year, fentanyl was found to be involved in 81% of overdose deaths. The drug is considered to be playing a key role in Canada’s current opioid epidemic.