If It's Not Your Prescription, Assume Fentanyl. Every Pill. Every Time.
Also: Assume Fentanyl · Small Amount (fentanyl)
“If It's Not Your Prescription, Assume Fentanyl. Every Pill. Every Time.”
Rhode Island statewide paid campaign on fentanyl-contaminated counterfeit pills aimed at Gen Z, run by EOHHS, BHDDH and RIDOH from about 2023 and relaunched in 2025, on TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram, local radio, dating apps, mobile billboard trucks, bus shelters and pre-show cinema trailers, driving to PreventOverdoseRI.org. The state describes it as award-winning.
- Years
- 2023–now
- Country
- United States
- Topic
- DrugsOpioids
- Asks people to
- Never startRecognize
- Strategy
- Fear appealSimple instruction
- Channel
- AppCinemaOutdoorRadioSocial (paid)
- Audience
- Young adultsYouthGen Z Rhode Islanders.
Evidence
NoneUnknown
No evaluation found. The June 2025 task force deck lists 'Assume Fentanyl Campaign Award Recognition' without naming the award.
Sponsor (who paid)
- Rhode Island EOHHS, BHDDH and RIDOH Behavioral Health Statewide Communications Team State local government, funder and creator
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Related campaigns
- No Matter Why You Use 2025–now
- Rhode Island Polysubstance Use Campaign 2023–now
- One Pill Can Kill 2021–now
Sources
- Governor's Overdose Task Force meeting deck, 13 Dec 2023 (campaign list and paid media) sponsor · 2023
- Governor's Overdose Task Force meeting deck, 9 Oct 2024 (2024 Statewide Behavioral Health Campaigns) sponsor · 2024
- Governor's Overdose Task Force meeting deck, 11 Jun 2025 ('Rhode Island Relaunches Public Awareness Campaigns') sponsor · 2025
- EOHHS: No Matter Why You Use release (lists other state-led campaigns, via Wayback) sponsor · 2025
Research notes
US-RI. Start year 2023 = earliest deck listing it as active (Dec 2023); actual launch date not found. No agency named for this campaign; RDW Group made the 2025 No Matter Why You Use campaign for the same team, so it may also be behind this one (unverified). Funding not stated; the settlement fund carries a 'Communications - translations, paid campaigns, and capacity' line ($380,000 budgeted 2023; $114,352 spent 2024), so settlement money may have paid for translations or flights (unconfirmed). Discovered 2026-10-22 for #17. Procurement search 2026-10-22: no award naming the vendor found. RDW Group is credited on the same team's 2025 'No Matter Why You Use' campaign and Duffy & Shanley on BHDDH's 2020 polysubstance campaign (ri.gov release 23758, search result, not opened); possible vendors.
Record cases/ri-assume-fentanyl.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign