Basking Ridge Officials Bring Awareness To Drug Abuse

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Congressman Leonard Lance, Bernard’s Township Police Chief Brian Bobowicz and Basking Ridge Mayor Carol Bianchi, took to the streets to knock out opiate abuse.

Their outreach efforts are a result of the Oct. 6 Knock Out Opiate Abuse Day, an awareness mobilization effort with a dual focus: educating physicians and raising awareness among New Jersey citizens and families.

It is designed to bring attention of the opioid abuse epidemic facing New Jersey and the steps they can take to stem the epidemic.

Knock Out Opiate Abuse Day is a project of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, in cooperation with the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Addiction Services, and the Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Morris, with thousands of volunteers across the state.

Valente noted in neighborhoods throughout New Jersey, students, scouts, and concerned families, blanketed their community with “Door Knocker” hang tags for the front doors of local homes. These door knob signs contain an opioid abuse prevention public service announcement with information on the link between prescribed opiates and heroin abuse.

“With the epidemic levels of opiate abuse impacting our state, the time to educate and raise awareness is now,” concluded Valente.

According to the CDC, opioid pain relievers that are abused were most often obtained via prescription from physicians and since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137 percent, including a 200 percent increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids; and, users of prescription drugs are 40 times more likely to use heroin.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics legitimate opioid use before high school graduation is independently associated with a 33 percent increase in the risk of future opioid misuse after high school.

— By David Philemon

(Photo provided: Stella Perna, Basking Ridge Girl Scout head leader with her twin daughters Emily and Elizabeth Perna; Somerset County Freeholder, Peter Palmer; Basking Ridge mayor, Carol Bianchi; Clodette Sabatelle, CIC trustee; Lt Scott Ward, Bernard's township police; Congressman Leonard Lance; Brian Bobowicz, Bernard's Township Police Chief; Jody D'Aagostini, chair Community in Crisis; Kaitlin Kordusky, Bernard's Township Health Dept and Municipal Alliance)

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