what were they smoking?
The state’s Office of Addiction and Substance Abuse Control has flooded the subways with ads warning of the dangers of fentanyl, many of which are riddled with mistakes.
On one Brooklyn-bound R train, at least four purple signs depicting colorful pills and the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone strangely omitted the word “overdose.” The Post observed this week.
“Just one fentanyl pill can cause fatal symptoms,” the sign said.
Inside the same subway car, just a foot above the strange sign, an ad contained the missing word.
City Councilor João Arriola said the sloppy sign is the latest example of the state government burning public funds “under the guise of a heart bleed.”
“They don’t even bother to proofread their signs,” said Arriola (R-Queens). Arriola wants to establish a drug awareness day to educate people about the fight against drug abuse.
“If they cared at all, they would send a clear message.”
In October, OASAS launched a call for proposals to pay 15 vendors $300,000 each over three years for the development and continuation of a “Statewide Hazard Reduction Services Project.”
An OASAS spokesperson said only that a “small number” of subway signs in the fentanyl awareness campaign contained typographical errors, and claimed they had been reprinted and replaced at “minimal” cost.
The agency did not say how long the campaign would last or how much it cost to print the campaign’s subway signs, which were paid for with federal funds.
fentanyl detected There were 2,451 fatal overdoses in the Big Apple in 2022, according to the latest data from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Sloppy posters are “sad comments about this level” [of help] That’s what we’re made to do,” said Luke Nasta, founder and CEO of Camelot Counseling Center.
This isn’t the first time a subway drug safety advertising campaign has gone awry. A 2022 Big Apple PSA posted on subway cars argued that drug addicts should feel “empowered” when using potentially deadly fentanyl safely.
