NJ Targets Overdose Hotspots, Racial Disparity With New Outreach Campaign

NEW JERSEY — While drug overdose deaths are declining overall in New Jersey, they have risen steadily among Black and Hispanic residents in recent years, data snows.

Data from state EMS and law enforcement showed that suspected overdoses occur most frequently in transportation centers, hotels/motels, correctional facilities, and apartment complexes, said the Department of Health.

The state identified 30 locations where there were nine or more suspected overdoses consistently from 2019-2022, and is targeting these "hotspot" locations for a harm reduction initiative, the DOH said. The outreach will focus on areas with high rates of overdose among Black residents, the Department of Health said on March 3.

The initiative aims to provide naloxone, fentanyl test strip kits, and other resources for individuals in areas where Black residents are most affected by the opioid crisis — including Passaic, Camden, Atlantic, Monmouth and Essex counties, the DOH said.

The state is also providing naloxone education and kits to locations like train stations and motels, where overdoses are more likely to occur.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said the DOH will partner with community organizations to reach hard-hit areas and save lives.

"While no corner of our state has been spared the devastating impact of the opioid overdose crisis, we know that this crisis is having a disproportionate impact on Black and brown communities right now,” said Persichilli.

The outreach initiative is supported by $200,000 from a four-year, $27.9 million grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that supports strategies to address overdose deaths in NJ, said the Department of Health.

Across the state, drug overdose deaths are declining overall, but rising in several demographics: among people over 55 and among Black and Hispanic New Jersey residents, state data shows. First responders are also administering naloxone to people over 55 and to Black and Hispanic people at a rising rate, data shows.

The CDC noted similar nationwide trends of growing racial disparities. The rate of overdose deaths — deaths per 100,000 people — increased 44 percent among Black from 2019 to 2020. A lower portion of people in racial and ethnic minority groups received prior substance-use treatment before their deaths, compared to white people, according to the agency.

The program will run March through August 2023, the state said. Any organization interested in receiving supplies or learning more can contact Outreach Coordinator Mariah Smith at mariah.smith@doh.nj.gov.

Fentanyl use has risen exponentially since the state began tracking it in 2015, when seven percent of suspected heroin contained fentanyl. In the 3rd quarter of 2022, 98 percent of suspected heroin submissions contained fentanyl, state agencies said, and 63 percent of suspected heroin submitted to state forensic labs during Q3 did not, in fact, contain any heroin.

In New Jersey, overdose deaths have increased the most in the past decade in Essex County (nine per month in 2012, 38 per month this year) and Camden County (12 per month in 2012 to 31 per month this year).

Patch's Josh Bakan contributed to this report.