{"id":18783,"date":"2025-03-01T18:32:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T17:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=18783"},"modified":"2025-05-20T19:10:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T18:10:46","slug":"better-without-it-a-3-6-million-drug-prevention-campaign-launched-in-partnership-with-3-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2025\/03\/better-without-it-a-3-6-million-drug-prevention-campaign-launched-in-partnership-with-3-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBetter Without It,\u201d a $3.6 million drug prevention campaign, launched in partnership with 3 universities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/i>\u00a0b<\/span>y Ella Denton – <\/strong>Kentucky Health News –\u00a0<\/span>The Lexington Times – <\/span>February 23, 2025<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n

Kentucky has battled the opioid crisis for decades, but a new drug prevention campaign targeting youth could protect future generations.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Attorney General Russell Coleman launched the \u201cBetter Without It\u201d campaign in partnership with the\u00a0University of Kentucky<\/strong>, the\u00a0University of Louisville<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Western Kentucky University\u00a0<\/strong>Wednesday, Feb. 19 at the State Capitol.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The statewide education campaign will encourage young people to be independent, make their own decisions and stay informed about the dangers of drug use, while also highlighting the positive effects of a drug-free lifestyle. The prevention campaign is modeled after a Florida initiative targeting youth ages 13-26.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cfirst-of-its-kind\u201d campaign in Kentucky will include student-athletes from UK, UofL and WKU.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTo reach Kentucky\u2019s young people with an effective statewide drug prevention message, we need the right messengers. That\u2019s why we\u2019re partnering with some of the biggest names in Kentucky\u2019s college athletics to tell the commonwealth\u2019s young people they are truly better without it,\u201d Coleman said in a\u00a0news release. \u201cWhether you\u2019re a Hilltopper, you throw an \u201cL\u201d or you bleed blue, this is our chance to come together to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through name, image and likeness agreements, or NIL, athletes such as UK basketball\u2019s Trent Noah, UofL basketball\u2019s J\u2019Vonne Hadley and WKU basketball\u2019s Tyler Olden will be some of the first participants in the \u201cBetter Without It\u201d campaign.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The main outlet of this campaign will be through social media platforms. Apps such as\u00a0TikTok<\/strong>,\u00a0Instagram<\/strong>, and\u00a0Snapchat<\/strong>\u00a0will all be utilized to promote positive messages about a drug-free lifestyle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a\u00a0Pew Research Center\u00a0<\/strong>survey, in 2024, 96% of teens between the ages of 13 to 17 report using the internet daily, 73% report visiting YouTube daily, 57% said they visited TikTok daily, 50% said they visited Instagram daily and 48% said they visited Snapchat daily. In today\u2019s world, social media is the most effective way to influence the opinions of the future generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from social media content, the athletes will also attend on-campus and sporting events to promote their message.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission<\/strong>\u00a0approved\u00a0Coleman\u2019s two-year, $3.6 million proposal to establish a research-backed youth drug prevention initiative in September.<\/span><\/p>\n

The commission was created by the legislature in 2021 to distribute the state\u2019s portion of the $900 million in settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors. Half of the money goes to the state and the other half to local governments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cPartnering with our state universities and student-athletes is a great way to reach our youth to promote substance use prevention,\u201d\u00a0Cabinet for Health and Family Services<\/strong>\u00a0Secretary and Opioid Commission member Eric Friedlander, said in the release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cBetter Without It\u201d campaign will spread across Kentucky in the upcoming months, using the power of social media, popular athletes and influencers to fight against harmful drugs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the \u201cBetter Without It\u201d campaign, the prevention program will also promote existing school-based programs and amplify the work of the commission to support youth-focused prevention efforts.<\/p>\n

According\u00a0to the\u00a0Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy,\u00a0<\/strong>1,984 Kentuckians died from an overdose death in 2023. Between 2021 and 2023, 101 of those deaths were in Kentuckians aged 24 and younger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ella Denton is a student at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health and a spring intern for Kentucky Health News, an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0by Ella Denton – Kentucky Health News –\u00a0The Lexington Times – February 23, 2025 Kentucky has battled the opioid crisis for decades, but a new drug prevention campaign targeting youth could protect future generations. Attorney General Russell Coleman launched the \u201cBetter Without It\u201d campaign in partnership with the\u00a0University of Kentucky, the\u00a0University of Louisville\u00a0and\u00a0Western Kentucky University\u00a0Wednesday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,40,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-prevention-research","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}