Keep the Party Safe, developed at CU Anschutz, has distributed 8,500 doses of naloxone and 1,800 fentanyl test strips at over 50 events
While fentanyl overdoses have caused hundreds of deaths in Colorado and tens of thousands more across the nation, recent Center for Disease Control and Prevention data shows overdose deaths declining, including in Colorado.
A key reason for the decline, according to officials, is the persistent efforts of organizations working to prevent overdoses through public education and implementing harm-reduction services. An example is the Keep the Party Safe fentanyl overdose prevention campaign, which was developed and led by the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention.
Since its launch in August 2022, Keep the Party Safe has distributed 8,500 doses of naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication that is better known as Narcan, and more than 1,860 fentanyl test strips at more than 50 events across Colorado. This education and distribution effort has stopped more than a dozen overdoses, according to firsthand reports from reliable sources such as first responders and people trained to reverse opioid overdoses.
Developed on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus
The consortium is part of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. It works with state agencies including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and community stakeholders to support substance use prevention and treatment and serves as the backbone organization coordinating the state's response to the prescription drug misuse and opioid crises.
The consortium also has worked with students from the School of Pharmacy and Colorado School of Public Health to coordinate events for raising awareness about overdose prevention.
Keep the Party Safe was developed in response to the growing number of deaths caused by fentanyl. According to the Center for Disease Control, fentanyl or synthetic opioids derived from fentanyl killed 1,184 people in Colorado in 2023. The CDC's latest tracking data reports that 801 people have been killed in the year between November 2023 and November 2024.
The decrease is part of a nationwide trend and has many causes. They include returning to overdose death levels and trends that predated the "COVID-19 spike," expanded substance use prevention and treatment programs, support for people in recovery, and the adoption of evidence-based policies. Factors also include the greater distribution of naloxone and increased awareness of fentanyl contamination.
An innovative approach
After extensive research, the consortium found that news stories and traditional public service ads about fentanyl did not get through to people at risk.
"Keep The Party Safe is targeted to those who might not know they are vulnerable and might not know about ways to stay safe, like having naloxone to reverse overdoses or picking a designated non-user," said Robert Valuck, PhD, RPh, executive director of the consortium and a professor at CU Pharmacy, when the campaign launched.
Keep The Party Safe is aimed at occasional and recreational drug users ages 18-45 who are unaware that fentanyl can be found in drugs including cocaine, MDMA, meth and heroin. Counterfeit versions of prescription drugs including Xanax and OxyContin also are a danger.
The campaign has a non-judgmental tone and shares information that empowers individuals to take steps to protect themselves and others from overdose, particularly by keeping naloxone on-hand, testing drugs and knowing the signs of an overdose.
The Keep the Party Safe campaign has a non-judgmental tone and shares information that empowers individuals to take steps to protect themselves and others from overdose, particularly by keeping naloxone on-hand, testing drugs and knowing the signs of an overdose.
The consortium has worked with unconventional partners to reach its target audience. One such partner is AEG Presents: Rocky Mountains, which owns several of Colorado's largest music venues. This partnership gave the campaign the opportunity to reach people directly for one-on-one discussions about how to spot an overdose and how to use Narcan to reverse it and buy time for emergency medical providers to arrive.
The consortium plans to run digital ads this summer and unveil a new, expanded website. The campaign also is planning to have a presence at Denver Pride and select concerts. In the past month, the consortium has earned television coverage in Denver and radio coverage in Colorado Springs.
Keep the Party Safe is not the only anti-fentanyl overdose campaign with close ties to CU Anschutz. National Fentanyl Awareness Day began in 2022 and was co-founded by Bridget Lattimer, who graduated from the Colorado School for Public Health in 2024 and now works a mental health promotion coordinator in the CU Anschutz Office of Student Affairs.
