Community Corner

In Montclair: Conference On National Opioid Epidemic

Essex County has the highest rate of overdose deaths in New Jersey, advocates say.

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A conference about the national opioid/fentanyl epidemic will take place in Montclair on Wednesday, Sept. 18.

The conference will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Auditorium at Immaculate Conception, 1 Munn Street. The public is welcome to attend.

The event will include discussions about opioid use prevention and intervention initiatives, treatment and recovery options for substance use disorder, and what law enforcement, medical professionals, court systems and elected officials are doing to combat the epidemic.

Find out what's happening in Montclairfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The event is being sponsored by the Essex Health and Wellness Recovery Center of Montclair, the Township of Montclair Department of Health and Human Services, McCarter & English, LLP and The Black Poster Project.

According to a news release from the Essex Health and Wellness Recovery Center:

Find out what's happening in Montclairfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

“The Center for Disease Control shared that there have been over 107,000 documented overdose deaths in America in 2023. It is the third cause of death in the world behind heart disease and cancer. That is a true epidemic that is not getting the attention needed. In the same time period, in New Jersey, there were over 2,000 documented overdose deaths. Essex County has the highest rate of these deaths of all the New Jersey counties. We lose 5 to 10 of our Essex County neighbors weekly to overdose death or fentanyl poisoning.”

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.