Surgeon General discusses graphic opioid addiction ad campaign

(KMSP) - The White House is launching a series of new ads aimed at warning people about the dangers of opioids.

The ads are graphic and are intended to show the impact addiction can have on lives.

The public service campaign features true stories of young people who have battled addiction and even hurt themselves just to get access to painkillers. One such ad shows a man getting under a car and kicking out the jack on purpose, causing the vehicle to fall on him. Text on the screen states a man from Maine broke his back as a way to get more pain pills.

"I think these ads are shocking, but they represent both the truth and they represent what's going on in large swathes of our country right now,” said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams.

"This campaign really focuses on public education,” said Eric Asche of the Truth Initiative. “We know that the slope into addiction is very slippery and can happen very quickly." 

President Trump has declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency and the federal government is expected to spend a record $4.6 billion dollars to fight the crisis.