Public information campaigns have taught us the importance of wearing seat belts, not drinking and driving, and not texting behind the wheel.

Most drug education, however, hasn’t really hit the mainstream — especially when it comes to legal medication being illegally and dangerously used.

Consider this, though. In 2013 the state health department reported 507 Minnesotans died of drug overdoses. During the same year in Minnesota, 374 people died on the roads.

Synthetic drug and prescription pain reliever deaths are a serious threat to the lives of Minnesotans — and not exclusively, but too often, to our young people.

The Mankato community is well aware of the toll. Last spring Louis Folson, 22, and Chloe Moses, 17, died after taking a synthetic drug later identified as 25C-NBOMe.

And in August, 21-year-old Alex Ahl died after sucking on a patch containing the powerful narcotic fentanyl. A typical reaction by many adults to Ahl’s death was that they had no idea that people would or could use the patches to get high — especially by sucking on them.

Parents who thought they were in the know about risky behavior suddenly realized how quickly that behavior can change.

The health department reports that 91 of last year’s drug overdose deaths came from heroin, but even more — 200 — come from prescription pain drugs.

And the overdose trend continues. In the Duluth area last week three deaths from overdoses on opioids were confirmed.

Laws and ordinances are popping up to try to control the sale of synthetic drugs, which often come in colorful, shiny packaging, making them appear as harmless as collectible game cards.

But it’s clear tackling the drug overdose issue needs a multi-pronged approach. Public education for both young people and adults needs to occur across the media and social media spectrum. Schools need to complement that education. The criminal justice system needs to keep tracking down suppliers and prosecute them seriously. The public health system can get involved. In Duluth public health workers are pressing to get anti-overdose medicine into the hands of drug users, saying its use has reversed overdoses, MPR News reports.

The judge at the recent sentencing of a teen involved in one of the fatal synthetic drug cases in Mankato took him to task for not being accountable and also assigned him to complete a task: Spread the word. The judge is requiring the teen to speak at numerous gatherings to share his experience about the consequences of risky behavior — in his case, the death of his 17-year-old girlfriend.

This teen unfortunately has that expertise because he was there. Perhaps his shared story, along with other community efforts and attention, can keep the speaking pool he belongs to as small as possible.