Acting U.S. Attorney Kaufman Launches Media Campaign to Connect Western Pennsylvanians Needing Drug Treatment with Recovery Resources

PITTSBURGH – Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today, Press Play PA, a media messaging campaign aimed at connecting western Pennsylvania individuals with substance use disorder to life-saving treatment. 

In 2020, 123 people died from an overdose in Westmoreland County, an increase of nearly seven percent over 2019.  In Allegheny County, there were 689 overdose deaths in 2020, up 22 percent from 564 in 2019. 

Press Play PA includes billboards, bus shelter ads, and bus boards placed in Westmoreland and eastern Allegheny County locations experiencing high rates of overdose deaths. Targeted social media ads link individuals to a treatment database searchable by community, overdose statistics, and information about law enforcement initiatives and outreach.  The messaging campaign encourages the public to learn more about treatment and resources at www.PressPlayPA.com and www.FindTreatment.gov.

“The Press Play PA campaign works to connect western Pennsylvanians experiencing substance use disorder to recovery resources,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kaufman.  “Treatment options are available across the state and our campaign aims to encourage people to seek treatment and press play on life.  Our message is simple: treatment is effective and recovery is possible.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office created the Press Play PA campaign with funding from the Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA).  In 2020, Westmoreland joined three other southwestern Pennsylvania counties - Allegheny, Beaver and Washington - in receiving critical federal resources to coordinate federal, state and local governments to fight drug trafficking and abuse.  Earlier this year, Erie County received HIDTA designation.

Acting U.S. Attorney Kaufman was joined by Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck and Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio of the Westmoreland County Drug Court in making the announcement. 

The campaign was launched during Nation Recovery Awareness Month, a national observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the emergence of a strong and proud recovery community, and the dedication of service providers and community members across the nation who make recovery in all its forms possible.  The focus of National Recovery Month this September is to celebrate all people that make the journey of recovery possible by embracing the 2021 theme, Recovery is For Everyone: Every Person, Every Family, Every Community. Recovery Month spreads the message that people can and do recover every day.