Overdose Awareness Day Marked In Hazlet, Many Monmouth Towns

HAZLET, NJ — Fatal overdoses have killed at least 47 people in Monmouth County in the first four months of 2022. And the purple flags you may have seen appearing this month in many towns in Monmouth County were meant to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, which was Wednesday.

But this loss can be prevented in the future, says Nikki Tierney, who is the coordinator of The Hazlet Alliance for the Prevention of Substance Use Disorders and Mental Health Awareness.

International Opioid Overdose Awareness Day is meant to raise awareness about the dangers of opioids, reduce stigma, and acknowledge the grief of families, friends, and loved ones of individuals who have died from fatal drug poisonings, the township said.

As you pass by the Police Headquarters on Middle Road, take note of the 47 purple flags planted on the lawn to honor those lives lost to fatal drug poisonings through April of this year. They were put there by the Alliance, Hazlet Police Department, the Prevention Coalition of Monmouth County and the New Jersey National Guard Counterdrug Task Force.

Displays such as this were created at the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office in Freehold, at the Howell Township Municipal Building, as well as in Hazlet and in other boroughs and townships throughout the county - all raising awareness of a problem that grew with the isolation of the recent COVID pandemic.

The Howell Alliance offered information on recognizing an overdose in a family member or friend.

An overdose is having more of a drug or combination of drugs than your body can handle, according to information from Howell.

There are a number of signs and symptoms that show someone has overdosed; they differ with the type of drug used:

• Opioids and depressants (including fentanyl, heroin and prescription pain medications, as well as barbiturates and benzodiazepines) slow the vital activities of the body, including breathing and the heart rate. Opioids, especially fentanyl laced into other street drugs, account for most overdose deaths.
• Stimulants (including methamphetamine, amphetamines and cocaine) increase the risk of a heart attack, stroke, seizure and drug-induced psychosis.

Efforts by the Prevention Coalition of Monmouth County among others saw flag displays in 43 of Monmouth County’s 53 municipalities as of earlier in August, Monmouth County Acting Prosecutor Lori Linsky said at her office's event.

A total of 79 people died due to a drug overdose in Monmouth County during the first half of 2022, according to statistics compiled by the New Jersey Coordinator for Addiction Responses and Enforcement Strategies (NJ CARES).

An estimated 1,500 lives were lost in such fashion countywide from 2012 through 2021, with annual tolls rising from a low of 85 in 2013 to a high of 215 in 2018, the prosecutor's office said.

Those figures mirror statewide and national trends – New Jersey recorded a 10-year low of 1,223 overdose deaths in 2012, but that figure has since soared to over 3,000 in three of the last four full calendar years. Driving the trends, the prosecutor's office said, has been the proliferation of increasingly deadly quantities of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be made quickly and cheaply, which often is found mixed with other narcotics that can exacerbate its dangerousness.

The mission of the Hazlet Alliance includes addressing many forms of substance abuse and mental health issues, the township says.

The Hazlet Alliance works with the community to reduce substance use disorders such as illicit drug use, prescription drug misuse, underage drinking, vaping and disorders related to the use of alcohol, marijuana and tobacco. It also aims to promote mental well-being.

The Alliance may work in partnership with community leaders, school staff, law enforcement, business groups, residents, and professional health care organizations and experts to increase awareness, education, programming and resource-sharing.

In alignment with the latest data, statistics and trends, the Alliance may identify and develop appropriate and effective programs for the community and specifically for K-12 schools and parents, the Alliance website says.

The Alliance will work to reduce the stigmas surrounding substance use disorders and/or mental health disorders to encourage those affected to seek support resources and treatment.

“As overdose deaths rise to previously unthinkable levels, both here in Monmouth County and nationwide, it’s so vitally important to resist discouragement and continue to do absolutely everything in our power to mitigate the human toll of this epidemic,” Prosecutor Linskey said earlier this month.