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OSU

Public health notice, May 4, 2022

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Confirmed Threat

On the night of May 4, 2022, Columbus Police responded to a duplex on East Lane Avenue near the Ohio State campus after three students were found overdosing; Tiffany Iler, 21, and Jessica Lopez, 22, died of fentanyl intoxication, while a third student was hospitalized and released. The next day, Ohio State's Office of Student Life issued an urgent drug and alcohol safety message warning students about fake Adderall pills laced with fentanyl, noting that contaminated pills can cause death from a single use.

Alerts
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Response
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Killed
2
Injured
1
Institution
Ohio State University
Public R1 · OH
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Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Verified verbatimOSU Office of Student Life: Urgent Drug & Alcohol Safety Message (May 5, 2022)2902 chars
This morning Columbus Public Health shared an alert about fake Adderall pills, which appear to contain fentanyl, causing an increase in overdoses and hospitalizations. As we approach a week and weekend of celebration, from end-of-year and graduation parties to the return of warmer weather, we want to urge you to consider safety as you celebrate. You can review a complete set of Party Smart recommendations online, and below are a few highlights: • While we strongly discourage any kind of drug misuse, if you, or someone you know, may choose to experiment with drugs: • Be aware of the possibility of unexpected contaminates or how drugs may unsafely interact with alcohol. Contaminated drugs can result in a severe and unexpected reaction, including death, from only one use. • Consider confidentially picking up a free Naloxone kit or fentanyl test strips; both are available at Student Health Services (1875 Millikin Road, Columbus OH 43210) during regular business hours. • You should never purchase or use prescription medication that you do not receive from a qualified pharmacy, as these drugs could be "counterfeit". • If you have drugs in your possession that you would like to dispose of with no questions asked, there is a Drug Take Back Box at Student Health Services during regular office hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) for certain types of drugs. For more information, visit their website. • Don't drink alcohol or use drugs alone. • Don't take alcohol or drugs from someone you don't know. • Consider discussing your drug use with a counselor or Student Wellness Center staff member, including one from Ohio State's Collegiate Recovery Community. • Stick together with your friends and never walk alone. • Pace yourself, drink plenty of water and eat food throughout the night if you are drinking alcohol. • Make a plan to get home safely. • 21 means 21, so drink responsibly. • If anyone appears to be in distress in any way, call 9-1-1 immediately and don't worry about getting in trouble. The university's Student Code of Conduct includes an amnesty clause that is designed to encourage students to call for help when they, or anyone else, needs it. • Students in need of emotional support are encourage to reach out to Student Life's Counseling and Consultation Service. For those of you who reside on or near our campuses, I understand that living in a vibrant community with many of your friends and other students is an exciting experience. Being a Buckeye can certainly be something you want to celebrate. And it's also important that you plan ahead and educate yourself about safe, healthy, responsible and legal ways to have fun. And this includes looking out for yourself and your friends, and also being respectful of your neighbors and the community. Stay safe, Buckeyes. Melissa S. Shivers, PhD Senior Vice President for Student Life The Ohio State University
Full official Student Life community message recovered from Wayback capture of studentlife.osu.edu (2022-05-06).
Typos preserved: 'contaminates' (for contaminants) and 'are encourage' (for are encouraged).
This was classified as an advisory rather than a Clery emergency notification because the overdoses occurred at an off-campus residence and did not constitute an ongoing threat requiring immediate campus-wide shelter-in-place or lockdown.
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

This morning Columbus Public Health shared an alert about fake Adderall pills, which appear to contain fentanyl, causing an increase in overdoses and hospitalizations. As we approach a week and weekend of celebration, from end-of-year and graduation parties to the return of warmer weather, we want to urge you to consider safety as you celebrate. You can review a complete set of Party Smart recommendations online, and below are a few highlights: • While we strongly discourage any kind of drug misuse, if you, or someone you know, may choose to experiment with drugs: • Be aware of the possibility of unexpected contaminates or how drugs may unsafely interact with alcohol. Contaminated drugs can result in a severe and unexpected reaction, including death, from only one use. • Consider confidentially picking up a free Naloxone kit or fentanyl test strips; both are available at Student Health Services (1875 Millikin Road, Columbus OH 43210) during regular business hours. • You should never purchase or use prescription medication that you do not receive from a qualified pharmacy, as these drugs could be "counterfeit". • If you have drugs in your possession that you would like to dispose of with no questions asked, there is a Drug Take Back Box at Student Health Services during regular office hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m.) for certain types of drugs. For more information, visit their website. • Don't drink alcohol or use drugs alone. • Don't take alcohol or drugs from someone you don't know. • Consider discussing your drug use with a counselor or Student Wellness Center staff member, including one from Ohio State's Collegiate Recovery Community. • Stick together with your friends and never walk alone. • Pace yourself, drink plenty of water and eat food throughout the night if you are drinking alcohol. • Make a plan to get home safely. • 21 means 21, so drink responsibly. • If anyone appears to be in distress in any way, call 9-1-1 immediately and don't worry about getting in trouble. The university's Student Code of Conduct includes an amnesty clause that is designed to encourage students to call for help when they, or anyone else, needs it. • Students in need of emotional support are encourage to reach out to Student Life's Counseling and Consultation Service. For those of you who reside on or near our campuses, I understand that living in a vibrant community with many of your friends and other students is an exciting experience. Being a Buckeye can certainly be something you want to celebrate. And it's also important that you plan ahead and educate yourself about safe, healthy, responsible and legal ways to have fun. And this includes looking out for yourself and your friends, and also being respectful of your neighbors and the community. Stay safe, Buckeyes. Melissa S. Shivers, PhD Senior Vice President for Student Life The Ohio State University

  • Sourceabsent0/0

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

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  • Hazardabsent0/0

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

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  • Locationabsent0/0

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

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  • Guidanceabsent0/0

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

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  • Timeabsent0/0

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

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  • Impactabsent0/0

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

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Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
Context

Background

On the night of May 4, 2022, Columbus Police responded to a duplex at an address on East Lane Avenue -- within blocks of Ohio State's campus -- after a resident called 911 to report that their roommates were overdosing. Tiffany Iler, a 21-year-old neuroscience student from Broadview Heights, and 22-year-old Jessica Lopez died; the Montgomery County Coroner later confirmed both deaths were caused by fentanyl intoxication with manner of death accidental. A third 21-year-old student was hospitalized and released. Ohio State's Office of Student Life issued an urgent advisory on May 5 warning students of fake Adderall pills laced with fentanyl, a health crisis that Columbus Public Health had been tracking. The advisory noted that free Narcan kits and fentanyl test strips were available at Student Health Services. President Kristina Johnson released a statement of mourning the following day. The case became one of the most widely covered examples of the counterfeit-pill fentanyl crisis hitting college campuses nationwide, where pills sold as Adderall, Xanax, or other prescription drugs are actually pressed fentanyl, and a lethal dose can come from a single pill.
Analysis

Key Findings

Two Ohio State students died of fentanyl intoxication after taking what they believed were Adderall pills; a third was hospitalized and survived.
The overdoses occurred at an off-campus residence on East Lane Avenue, prompting OSU to issue an advisory rather than a Clery emergency notification.
The OSU Office of Student Life advisory specifically warned about counterfeit prescription pills sold as Adderall that were actually fentanyl, and directed students to free Narcan and test strips at Student Health Services.
The case became a nationally cited example of the fentanyl counterfeit-pill crisis threatening college students who may believe they are taking a familiar prescription drug.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Ohio State issues urgent Drug and Alcohol Safety message about fentanyl-laced Adderall - ABC6
    abc6onyourside.com
    archived copy
  2. News
    Coroner: Fentanyl intoxication the cause of death for 2 Ohio State University students - ABC6
    abc6onyourside.com
    archived copy
  3. News
    Ohio State warns of fentanyl-laced Adderall after overdose deaths - WOSU Public Media
    wosu.org
    archived copy
  4. government
    Officials warn of dangers of fentanyl after deaths of two Ohio State students - Campus Drug Prevention (SAMHSA)
    campusdrugprevention.gov
    archived copy
  5. Official
    Urgent Drug & Alcohol Safety Message - OSU Office of Student Life
    studentlife.osu.edu
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Ohio State University: Public health notice, May 4, 2022." Incident of May 4, 2022. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/ohio-state-fentanyl-adderall-deaths-2022-05-04/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
public-healthfentanylopioidoverdosecounterfeit-pillsadderallohiocolumbusoff-campusadvisorynarcanstudent-deaths
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion