U.S. Surgeon General Looks To Reverse The Rise In N.J. Heroin Deaths

Related: Why Are More Heroin Users Getting High In Public?Related: Why Are More Heroin Users Getting High In Public?Federal officials met in New Jersey earlier this month to discuss urging healthcare providers to improve, and possibly reduce, the amount of opiates they prescribe in an effort to reduce the number of opiate- and heroin-related deaths in the Garden State.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy attended the forum at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingtonston hosted by U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker.

Angelo Valente, executive director of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, moderated the forum.

“Both patient and prescriber education are crucial if we are to make inroads in preventing this epidemic," explained Valente.

The visit is part of a campaign by Murthy to visit states that have been hit hard by the prescription opioid epidemic. Prescribing opiates and other painkillers to patients can often lead to those patients turning to heroin once their prescription runs out.

Related: North Jersey Hospital Finds New Ways To Treat Pain Without Opiates

St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson is demonstrating that most patients can be successfully treated for pain relief without the use of opiates.

The hospital's Alternatives to Opiates program looks to curb opiate addictions by trying to eliminate the pain at the source first, rather than prescribe an opiate like Oxycodone, which simply dulls and numbs one's senses.

“If I never give an opiate to someone, that person will never become an addict,” said Dr. Mark Rosenberg chairman of emergency medicine with the St. Joseph’s Healthcare System

There were more than 1,200 heroin-related overdose deaths in New Jersey in 2015 and more than 28,000 residents sought treatment for heroin and opioid abuse. More than 5,200 New Jersey residents have reportedly died from heroin overdoses since 2004.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 78 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, and heroin-related deaths more than tripled from 2010-2014 with approximately three out of four new heroin users report first abusing prescription opioids.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Related: Why Are More Heroin Users Getting High In Public?

Photo: U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey Chairwoman Elaine Pozycki, and Executive Director Angelo Valente, discuss Vivek’s plan to issue the first ever Surgeon General’s report on Addiction and Health at a special forum held earlier this month. Courtesy of Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey