Blog

  • Conference to Highlight Risks of Opioid Misuse Among Youth Athletes

    Posted 3/13/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    Sports can serve an important role in a child’s development. In addition to providing healthy forms of exercise, athletics foster friendships and camaraderie, promote sportsmanship and fair play, and instill the value of competition.

     

    However, sports may also lead to injury and, in rare cases, result in pain that is severe or long-lasting enough to require a prescription opioid painkiller. Studies have found that youth who participate in athletics may be at a greater risk to engage in nonmedical prescription opioid use because of greater risk of injury or because of a greater opportunity to receive diverted opioid medications from teammates. A recent national study found that youth who participated in high-injury sports, such as football and wrestling, were at greater risk to misuse prescription pain medications.

  • High School Students Use their Voices to Sing & Promote Prevention - Your Song! Your Voice!

    Posted 3/6/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey’s (PDFNJ) Your Song! Your Voice! Shout Down Drugs high school music and songwriting competition is back for its 20th year!  The deadline is March 24th. Teenagers who are into making music won’t want to miss this opportunity to have their songs heard by tens of thousands of people and promote their music during the online voting at ShoutDownDrugs.com. Winners of the competition sign an actual music contract with PDFNJ that requires them to perform several times throughout the state after the competition. The deadline to submit your original music is March 24th.

  • Recent Incident Highlights Need for More Marijuana Education

    Posted 2/28/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    The issue of edibles and the overall legalization of adult use of marijuana has made the work for all New Jersey school districts more challenging. Parents, who are now using marijuana in the home, need to be educated on what to do, as well as what not to do, to keep their children safe and why it is harmful for their kids to start early use. One obvious practice that must be utilized is for parents to secure their marijuana products in a manner that prevents easy access by their children.

  • The Addiction Crisis in San Francisco & The Need for Meaningful Discussion about Drug Culture

    Posted 2/21/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    I am sharing this insightful article that describes not only the addiction crisis in San Francisco but also brings up the need for a meaningful discussion about “drug culture” in the United States. 

  • “Gas Station Heroin” an Emerging Threat in New Jersey

    Posted 2/14/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    Gas Station Heroin is an emerging threat in our state and we will be focusing this topic during the upcoming Knock Out Opioid Abuse Learning Series Webinar on February 29.

     

    Expert panelists Bruce Ruck, PharmD, from the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System and Matthew Salzman, MD, of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University will discuss “Emerging Threats Within the Opioid Crisis.”

  • Why Parents Who Lost Children to an Overdose Are Suing Snapchat

    Posted 2/7/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    Preventing our youth from experimenting with alcohol, marijuana and other drugs has been a perennial challenge for parents. Today, in our world impacted so heavily by social media, that challenge is now made even more difficult. We know that part of the adolescent brain is geared toward experimenting and trying new things, and that can be healthy and a natural part of one’s overall development.

  • Addressing Substance Use in Your Workplace

    Posted 1/31/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    One important area where we can promote prevention, education, treatment and long-term recovery is in our workplaces. What would happen if an employee in your organization was thought to be under the influence of marijuana, alcohol or some other drug? Would your supervisor know what to do? Would the employee have a good understanding of your organization’s substance use policy?

  • Study of Genomes Focuses on Biology of Cannabis Use Disorder

    Posted 1/24/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    A recent study led by the Yale University School of Medicine analyzed more than 1 million genomes in order to provide insight on how use of cannabis is connected to multiple health problems. 

  • PDFNJ’s Middle School PSA Challenge Contest is Underway

    Posted 1/17/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey’s invites students in Grades 5 – 8 to participate in this year’s Middle School PSA Challenge. Students create a 30-second peer-to-peer video raising awareness about substance use and encourage their fellow students to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

  • Marijuana’s Impact on Mental Illness Utilizing the Research We Have

    Posted 1/10/2024 by Angelo M. Valente

    One challenge to preventing the use and misuse of marijuana is the belief that using marijuana is a good way to relieve stress, anxiety or other problems related to mental health. It is easy to see how this attitude could become more prevalent as those marketing the sale of marijuana exploit this belief to entice potential buyers.

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