Game Over esports tournament to educate teens

The Drug Enforcement Administration is trying a new approach to connect with today’s youth… video game tournaments.

This Thursday, the DEA is hosting an esports tournament in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the hope is to bring awareness to their “One Pill Can Kill” campaign.

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The “Game Over” tournament is hosted by Clark University Esports, and eight teams from New England will battle online playing the popular game Rocket League -- a soccer game that uses jet propelled cars.

So far, the DEA has held two virtual tournaments in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with hundreds of thousands of views on the live streaming platform Twitch.

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“This is a great opportunity to meet kids where they are,” said Jon DeLena, DEA associate administrator.

A man is facing charges after his young child ingested fentanyl and went into cardiac arrest.

His hope is that the tournament will bring more awareness to the deadly effects of fentanyl used in counterfeit prescription drugs.

“There is no safe use right now. Fentanyl is just too deadly. That's why this age group right now is so vulnerable. And we need to make sure that they understand how deadly this drug is,” said DeLena.

A recent study out of UCLA found that 22 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 die each week from drug overdoses in the United States.

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DeLena says that 7 out of 10 pills seized by the DEA contain a fatal dose of fentanyl. He says some of the pills they’re pressing look like Percocet, Xanax, or Adderall.

“These cartels are mass producing pills to look identical to pharmaceutical grade pills. They make them so well now that even the most seasoned DEA agent can't tell the difference until we get them to the lab,” said DeLena.

For the first time, this week's “Game Over” tournament in Worcester will have an in-person event. Influencers like actress Ava Michelle will drop in on the live stream to help bring awareness to the campaign. She co-founded the Devon Michael Foundation after her 23-year-old brother died from fentanyl poisoning after taking a fake Percocet pill in 2020.

“My biggest thing to get out there is that it can happen to absolutely anyone,” Michelle said virtually at a previous Game Over tournament.

DeLena says there will be multiple teams at the in-person event and people who show up to watch can play video games and even win prizes like gaming consoles.

“It's not about telling kids, don't do this and don't do that. We've learned that that doesn't work anymore. We have to empower these kids with all the information that they can have so that they can make a healthy decision, and there's so much information that's out there right now,” said DeLena.