#Rhode Island fights ODs with ad that asks: ‘Do you know your dealer is a vegan?’

Rhode Island is fighting a sharp uptick in accidental ODs with a provocative online ad campaign — “Do you know your drug dealer is a vegan?” — and a fistful of cash to get the message out.

The $500,000 campaign, paid for by the state’s behavioral healthcare department, targets users who may not know that their dealer could be selling fentanyl — and calling it heroin or some other drug.

The ads ask: “How well do you know the person who sells you cocaine? Do you trust there’s no illegal fentanyl in there? Did you know your drug dealer is vegan?”

“The point of the campaign is to get people to think about the serious and very often life-threatening consequences of using illicit substances that contain fentanyl — a risk of which both the dealer and the user may not be appropriately aware,” department spokeswoman Linda Reilly told GoLocalProv.com.

Rhode Island saw a 22 percent spike in accidental drug overdoses in the first quarter of this year.