Counties share outreach tactics: billboards, school speakers, secure vials and drop boxes

Multiple county officials shared prevention and outreach practices that use opioid settlement money and local partnerships.

John Kurtz, an opioid committee member from Buchanan County, said his county subsidizes Pathways to deliver school drug-awareness presentations across three school systems and runs a billboard campaign near a high school under the message "1 pill kills." Kurtz also described an outdoor Narcan vending machine placed under an overhang with climate control, multiple drug drop-off boxes around the county and distribution of secure prescription vials (about $5 per vial) through local pharmacies.

Maggie Pauli, director of Carroll County Public Health and co-chair of her county’s opioid settlement fund committee, recommended bringing a motivational speaker, Tony Hoffman, to schools. "He had a very great speech that all the students really connected with," Pauli said, and she reported strong student engagement and positive feedback from teachers and administrators.

Participants cautioned counties to prioritize existing local providers over out-of-area vendors. One attendee said counties were "inundated with companies from across the nation that were trying to get a piece of this" when settlement funds arrived; county peers recommended working with trusted local organizations and public-health partners.

The examples underscore a range of low- and medium-cost strategies counties can adapt to local context—school speakers, targeted billboards, secure medication containers, drop boxes and vending machines—to increase prevention, disposal and access to overdose reversal.