FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 10, 2018

Contact: Matt Birchenough, 201-916-1032, media@drugfreenj.org

Hunterdon County Residents and Experts Examine Causes and Solutions for Opioid Epidemic

FLEMINGTON — Hunterdon County residents received a comprehensive look into the opioid epidemic ravaging communities throughout the state at a Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall held by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey on Wednesday night at the Route 12 County Complex.

An expert panel detailed the opioid crisis from several perspectives to educate on the causes of the issue and ideas for possible solutions. Speakers included State Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman of the 16^th Legislative District; Hunterdon County Executive Assistant Prosecutor Michael Sweeney; Christine Cochrane, director of acute behavioral health and addiction treatment services at Hunterdon Medical Center; Frank Lovell III, the clinical director at Freedom House; Lesley Gabel, the co-executive director and chief executive officer with Prevention Resources; Karen Widico, a certified prevention specialist with Prevention Resources.

“Education and discussing this issue is so important,” Bateman said. “The opioid epidemic is probably the biggest challenge facing the New Jersey legislature.”

The event was held in collaboration with Hunterdon County Department of Human Services, Freedom House, Prevention Resources and the Safe Communities Coalition of Hunterdon and Somerset. Bert Baron, radio host on 1450 WCTC AM and a Hunterdon County resident, served as the town hall’s moderator.

The Hunterdon County event represented the 17^th in the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall Series, which has been hosted throughout New Jersey to determine how the opioid crisis is affecting communities in different parts of the state. The series focuses on the link between prescription opioid dependency and heroin use and examines the causes and possible solutions of the opioid crisis from several perspectives, including law enforcement, government, the medical community, prevention, treatment and recovery.

Sweeney, the county executive assistant prosecutor, outlined law enforcement’s changing approach to the issue that focuses more on helping those with addiction access treatment and recovery.

“About three-quarters of the cases that cross my desk every single day have something to do with heroin or opioids,” he said. “In law enforcement, we’ve had to try to change the way we look at it. We’ve evolved.”

Hunterdon County experts led a discussion on the opioid epidemic and its impact on Hunterdon County at a Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall organized by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. From left, 1450 WCTC AM radio host Bert Baron, Hunterdon County Executive Assistant Prosecutor Michael Sweeney, Christine Cochrane of Hunterdon Medical Center, State Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman, Lesley Gabel of Prevention Resources, Karen Widico of Prevention Resources and Frank Lovell III from Freedom House.

In 2016, 20 people died of drug overdoses in Hunterdon County, a majority of them involving opioids, according to the New Jersey Office of the State Medical Examiner. Four years prior, just eight people died from overdoses. In 2017 alone, there were 54,572 opioid prescriptions filled in Hunterdon County, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

The next Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall will be held in Ocean County on Thursday, May 17. For more information on the series, visit knockoutopioidabuse.drugfreenj.org.

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Best known for its statewide anti-drug advertising campaign, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is a private not-for-profit coalition of professionals from the communications, corporate and government communities whose collective mission is to reduce demand for illicit drugs in New Jersey through media communication.  To date, more than $100 million in broadcast time and print space has been donated to the Partnership’s New Jersey