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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Mayor Rocky Anderson and the Mayor's Coalition on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs have started a media campaign to address an increase in drug overdose deaths among the city's youth.
Since March, five people between the ages of 17 and 19 have died of suspected drug overdoses along the Wasatch Front, said Luciano Colonna, executive director of the Harm Reduction Project.
Salt Lake County experienced a 36 percent increase in drug overdose deaths between 2002 and 2004. Last year, 295 people died of a drug overdose in Utah, the mayor's office said Friday.
Messages are appearing on billboards and buses urging anyone who sees someone suffering from an overdose to call 911.
In separate incidents this year, the bodies of Salt Lake City-area residents Amelia Sorich and Zachary Martinez were dumped in the mountains by friends who didn't call for help while these teenagers were experiencing a suspected drug overdose.
The ads will appear at various locations in the city and will be in Spanish and English.
Anderson has also recorded a radio spot, a public service announcement and a message for the city telephone hold line.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
