Fentanyl test strip legalization campaign launches in Iowa Thursday

A company that sells fentanyl test strips is funding a one-day digital billboard advertising campaign in Iowa Friday to urge Iowa lawmakers to decriminalize their product.

Why it matters: The strips can alert people to whether street drugs are laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than morphine that is causing thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year.

• They are illegal in Iowa , Indiana, North Dakota and Texas.

Threat level: Iowa's overdose deaths are projected to increase by 1% to over 450 this year, while the national rate is dropping, according to preliminary CDC data.

State of play: Overdrive Defense , a harm reduction and drug safety company that sells the strips, is launching the pressure campaign in the states where they are illegal.

• Digital billboard trucks will carry messages around the Iowa Capitol and downtown.

What's next: Drug activists believe lawmakers will agree to make the strips legal during next year's legislative session, Iowa Capital Dispatch reports .