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A Dose of Reality (New Mexico)

Also: ¡El Opio Drama! · Game of Chance · Hope for Opioid Use Recovery

“A Dose of Reality”

New Mexico Human Services Department (now the Health Care Authority) opioid prevention, treatment and recovery campaign, begun around 2014 for teens and parents and extended with sub-campaigns: "¡El Opio Drama!" (September 2021), a six-part animated Spanish-language telenovela on Telemundo, Univision and YouTube, and "Game of Chance" (June 2023), a bilingual TV, billboard, bus-wrap and gas-pump campaign using three red cups to show the overdose risk of mixing fentanyl and other drugs with alcohol or medications.

Years
2014–now
Reach
3.2M impressions as reported
“HSD reported the El Opio Drama series had 629,972 YouTube views and 3,224,770 impressions at the September 2021 announcement.”
Country
United States
Topic
DrugsHarm reductionOpioids
Asks people to
Never startReduce stigmaSeek helpStart
Strategy
Entertainment educationFear appealMetaphorService linkStigma reduction
Channel
AppOutdoorSocial (organic)Social (paid)TVWebsite
Audience
AdultsGeneral publicParentsYouth
Spanish-speaking Hispanic households for El Opio Drama; New Mexicans who mix opioids with benzodiazepines or alcohol for Game of Chance.

Evidence

Self-reportedUnknown

HSD reported the El Opio Drama series had 629,972 YouTube views and 3,224,770 impressions at the September 2021 announcement. No outcome evaluation found.

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

  • PK Public Relations Creative, 2021 source

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. NM HSD: Human Services Department launches Fentanyl overdose prevention campaign (Game of Chance), 12 June 2023 sponsor · 2023
  2. NM HSD: launches Spanish language campaign and telenovela series to combat opioid overdose (14 Sept 2021) sponsor · 2021
  3. A Dose of Reality (campaign site, NM Health Care Authority) sponsor
  4. Dose of Reality New Mexico YouTube channel archive
  5. Cynthia Beauclair portfolio: Spanish Language PSA Campaign (Client: New Mexico State / PK Public Relations) reference
  6. A Dose of Reality: Naloxone (Narcan) page (2025 kit and training counts) sponsor · 2025
  7. A Dose of Reality: Treatment page (Connections app) sponsor · 2026

Research notes

US-NM. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: PK Public Relations (named as client-side agency on a freelance creative director's portfolio page for El Opio Drama; role 'creative' is inferred). Unverified (no page opened that credits them): Little Big Bang Studios (Creativepool case 'Dose of Reality Spanish Language Novelas for State of New Mexico', blocked by Cloudflare), Invisible City Designs (search snippet only). Start year 2014 and the SAMHSA CSAP grant / 2015 PRSA Silver Cumbre award come from search snippets (LA Daily Post), not opened. Same brand as Wisconsin's Dose of Reality (wi-dose-of-reality); the licensing relationship was not checked. Execution years: El Opio Drama 2021 and Game of Chance 2023 from the launch releases; treatment/naloxone videos undated (YouTube rate-limited). Channel's 988 'Step Together New Mexico' and 'Cope with Covid' videos excluded as non-opioid. A related 2021 'A Dose of Wellness' mental-health campaign exists (row in state-campaigns.tsv). Settlement funding not mentioned in any source seen. Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17. The Game of Chance video linked from the 2023 release (youtube bg79d70lHks) now returns 404; the channel's Game of Chance uploads are listed instead. App: the doseofreality.com Treatment page (fetched 2026-10-22) promotes the Connections recovery-support app (CHESS Mobile Health; https://apps.apple.com/us/app/connections-recovery-support/id1309079663), a teen version, and the Spanish 'Conexiones' app. Sponsor-reported on the Naloxone page: in the first three months of 2025, 32,682 naloxone kits given out and 7,844 people trained (page says it is updated quarterly). Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.

Record cases/nm-dose-of-reality.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign