City Launches Youth Opioid Awareness Campaign

On March 10, the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would be launching its Youth Opioid Awareness campaign, a new initiative with the focus of educating young students about the dangers of opioid drugs.

This new campaign is led by the Long Beach Health Department’s Harm Reduction Program and partnered with the Youth Leadership Institute (YLI), with the aim of providing the youths of Long Beach an opportunity to develop skills through youth-led storytelling in multimedia workshops that, according to the city of Long Beach, will encourage youth engagement, as well as help raise awareness about the opioid epidemic in the United States and increase access to educational materials about opioid overdose prevention techniques.

“Engaging and uplifting youth is our city’s priority,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “This opioid awareness campaign will protect our young residents by providing them with vital education and prevention techniques, as well as a platform for their voices to be heard. By engaging youth in this meaningful work, we are fostering a sense of community and building a generation of informed leaders who are equipped to tackle the challenges ahead.”

According to an official announcement from the city of Long Beach, the Health Department and YLI will engage a diverse group of young people from Long Beach to participate in after-school workshops now through June 2025 to create youth-led media, including social media messaging and storytelling zines.

The city’s announcement states that the zines created through the awareness campaign will explore the opioid epidemic, its harmful effects and ways to help promote early intervention and support. Participants will also have the opportunity to showcase their zines in local community spaces, businesses and libraries. Participants in the campaign will also get to have their work be additionally featured on both the city’s and YLI’s websites, social media channels, newsletters and other platforms.

“Raising awareness about the opioid epidemic among young people is a critical part of our prevention efforts,” said Dr. Anissa Davis, city health officer. “This campaign allows us to engage youth where they are by utilizing creative and culturally relevant approaches to deliver education and awareness in an engaging and interactive way.”

Beachcomber reached out to the Long Beach Health Department for more information about the Youth Opioid Awareness Campaign but was not able to receive a response at this time.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, more than 107,000 people in the U.S. died to a drug overdose in 2023, with nearly 70% of those deaths attributed to opioids such as fentanyl. And according to an official statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have declined for the 12 months ending in September 2024, compared to the previous year. The CDC also says that provisional data shows about 87,000 drug overdose deaths from October 2023 to September 2024, down from around 114,000 the previous year.

For more information about the Health Department’s Harm Reduction Program and to stay updated on their latest information, you can visit their official website at longbeach.gov/harmreduction. Long Beach high school students ages 14 to 18 who want to participate in the Youth Opioid Awareness Campaign are invited to apply at https://yli.org/program/voicewaves/.

Long Beach’s Youth Opioid Awareness Campaign will run operates through October 2025. The city of Long Beach also states that, beginning in July 2025, the Youth Opioid Awareness campaign will expand to include young adults ages 18 to 24. The city is reported to provide more information, including how to apply, in the coming weeks.