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Stop the Opidemic

“Stop the Opidemic”

Utah Department of Health (now Utah Department of Health and Human Services) opioid campaign (US-UT) launched January 2017 with TV, online ads, billboards and survivor testimonial videos, teaching that prescription opioids are as dangerous as heroin, the signs of overdose, and to keep naloxone on hand. The opidemic.utah.gov site was still maintained in 2026 with 2025 overdose data, fentanyl test strip and free-naloxone pages, and serves as the umbrella for sub-campaigns such as Know Your Script.

Years
2017–now
Country
United States
Coined
Opidemic
Topic
DrugsHarm reductionOpioids
Asks people to
RecognizeSeek helpStart
Strategy
Coined termPolicy pairedTestimonial
Channel
OutdoorSocial (paid)TV
Audience
AdultsGeneral public

Evidence

NoneUnknown

No outcome evaluation found; ran alongside 2017 legislation requiring warning labels on opioid prescriptions.

Sponsor (who paid)

Credits (who made it)

Executions (individual ads)

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Utah DHHS: Stop the Opidemic - Utahns Share Stories of Loss, Recovery from Opioid Addiction sponsor · 2017
  2. FOX 13: Stop Opidemic campaign launched to combat Utah's opioid epidemic news · 2017
  3. Utah Legislature interim document listing Opidemic as current effort (2018) reference · 2018
  4. GumCo: Stop the Opidemic (agency case page) archive
  5. Stop the Opidemic campaign site (Utah DHHS), incl. Community stories, Fentanyl Test Strips and Naloxone pages sponsor · 2026
  6. Utah SIAC: Fentanyl Report 2025 (public awareness campaign recommendation; Opidemic sub-campaigns) reference · 2025

Research notes

US-UT. Credits checked 2026-10-22 against fetched pages: GumCo (gumco.com case page: 'the Utah Department of Health took a bold stand against opioid misuse. Together we educated people...' covering TV, online ads, billboards, the website, survivor interviews and naloxone; no years on the page, 2017 launch from the sponsor release). Executions: 18 testimonial and explainer videos embedded on opidemic.utah.gov (Community, Overdoses pages), uploaded by the Utah VIPP YouTube channel; years are upload years (Dec 2016-Sept 2019), oEmbed-confirmed 2026-10-22. No new paid-media wave after 2019 was found; the site itself was updated through 2026 (2025 death data, fentanyl test strip page added after Utah decriminalized strips in 2023, a 'Stop the Opidemic 2026' brochure on the Resources page). Utah SIAC's 2025 Fentanyl Report calls it 'mainly only one campaign shared throughout Utah' and names sub-campaigns 'Know the Script' and 'Don't Use Alone'; no separate 'Don't Use Alone' page or ads were found. A July 2025 DPS release says 'a statewide fentanyl education campaign is underway' under the Governor's Fentanyl Task Force, without naming it (lead, unfiled). Settlement funding: none found; Utah DHHS opioid litigation reports for 2023-2025 list no media campaign. Ad library search: "Stop the Opidemic", "Utah Department of Health and Human Services". Extended 2026-10-22 for #17.

Record cases/ut-stop-the-opidemic.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign