Doctors Create Board Game To Educate The Public About Fentanyl

As reported by The Fix, with approval from the creator of Cards Against Humanity, a group of health professionals in Alberta, Canada created “Doctors Against Tragedies” to help educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl without resorting to fear-mongering or statistics. The game, which uses Cards Against Humanity’s format, teaches players about the risks of overdosing on fentanyl. A team of surgeons and anesthesiologists hope to use the game to educate students.

Dr. Michiko Maruyama of Edmonton is one of the medical professionals that helped to create the game. She spent months looking into alternative ways to educate the public and eventually decided that a board game might just work. Research showed her that Cards Against Humanity, a game in which players use a series of cards to ask or answer questions, was popular. “I looked at a game that already grabs the attention of users and how to use that concept of that game to bring about fentanyl awareness and fentanyl education,” said Maruyama.

There are two versions of the game available by download for free: the trivia version, which is suitable for players ages 12 to 18, and the social awareness version, which is for players over 18. The team wants to take the game to schools to warn teenage and college-age students about the dangers of fentanyl. The team is also working on another game for elementary school-aged children called “MEDCRAFT.” Like many places in North America, Alberta has seen the number of overdoses in their province continue to go up. 143 residents died there because of fentanyl in just a three month period in 2017.