Students start overdose awareness group

As part of the Interfraternity Council in the 2018-2019 school year and throughout his years at USC, Jack Elliott has seen drug overdose issues first hand. Elliott, a senior majoring in computational neuroscience, realized that although USC is home to a multitude of intelligent students, many of them have not received sufficient drug education. 

In Fall 2020, he and five others, many of whom were also involved in Greek life or studied neuroscience, founded Trojan Awareness Combating Overdose to help increase drug overdose awareness on campus. 

“There were a lot of near tragic cases that we saw in the years preceding TACO’s founding and these were things … that we thought people would be a little less likely to do given some more education,” Elliott said. 

In Fall 2019, USC lost three students to fentanyl overdoses. Fentanyl is an opioid that is 50 to 100 times stronger than heroin and can be found in cocaine and MDMA. Just two milligrams is enough for someone to overdose, a size that is virtually undetectable to the naked eye. 

“If you didn’t get [a drug] directly from your pharmacist, if it came from anybody else or anyone on the street, you really have no idea what’s in it,” said Madeline Hilliard, a USC 2021 alumna and co-founder and chief executive officer of TACO. 

To help prevent future fentanyl overdoses, TACO partnered with Duffl last spring, a delivery service geared toward college students, to make testing strips more accessible. Through other services, people have to pay $2.50 for a strip that could take three to five days to arrive, but using Duffl, a student can buy three strips for one cent, the minimum price on Duffl, and the strips will be delivered to their location. 

“From the time that they decide to order the strip to when their drug is actually tested positive or negative for fentanyl, it’s 15 minutes,” Hilliard said. “So there’s no time delay, there’s no cost barrier.”

Earlier this month, TACO began trial stages of a program where students can scan a QR code included in the set of strips to report a positive batch. According to those reports, there were six positive tests for fentanyl and one non-fatal overdose the weekend of Sept. 11.

One positive test can mean more than one person was affected because the test could be “for one gram of cocaine,” which 10 to 15 people can use, according to Isabella Gianatiempo, director of outreach and a senior majoring in neuroscience and health and human sciences. If a batch tests positive for fentanyl, students are encouraged to dispose of the drug either by throwing it away or flushing it down a toilet. 

TACO plans on teaming up with the Undergraduate Student Government and USC Student Health to add fentanyl and meth test strips to the wellness vending machine at King Hall, open 24 hours a day. It also hopes this partnership opens up an opportunity to expand its program. 

“That’s really what we’re hoping to see going forward — the support of Student Health in helping us provide that higher volume of test strips now that students are aware of this resource and the necessity of it,” Hilliard said. 

After founding TACO last year, Elliott and other co-founders said they decided the best way to get the word out about the program would be to expand their social media presence, primarily through Instagram. 

They use large fonts and easy-to-understand graphics to make information about drugs, such as the dangers of mixing certain substances and tips to prevent an overdose, as accessible as possible, Gianatiempo said. 

“We present [the information] in a way that’s digestible for users to interact with,” said Gianatiempo. “We want people to be able to look at an Instagram post and read it even if they’re in their most drunk state.”

Although TACO is composed of USC students, it is not affiliated with USC and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which has allowed them to expand to UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, with plans to expand to UC Berkeley as well. Test strips at UCLA sold out quickly after its launch. 

“None of these problems are unique to USC,” Elliott said. “So basically all of our goals revolve around sharing this information with more people and doing more fundraising to continue making sure cost isn’t an issue for testing drugs.”

TACO’s status as a nonprofit organization means that any donations are tax deductible for the donors. Its most recent donation push, which goes toward buying fentanyl strips, is bucket hats printed with “Test Your Drugs.” 

Elliott said when the organization started, he and other co-founders were not sure if people would care about the work they were doing. Since then, TACO has gained over 1,000 followers on Instagram and grown to an almost 30 person staff. 

“No matter how many hours we put in, if it’s saving one life, that’s worth it,” Elliott said.