LITTLE EGG HARBOR – Ocean County officials, experts, and nearly 100 concerned residents gathered at the Cavalry Baptist Church in Little Egg Harbor to create a deeper dialogue around the ever-growing opioid epidemic in New Jersey.

The program, called “Knock Out Opioid Abuse: A Town Hall Series” was the 18th out of 20 town hall discussions to be held throughout New Jersey. It generated conversation around the devastating statistics associated with the epidemic, prevention tactics, and various resources for recovery to try and provide a new way of looking at the issue.

Rebecca Alfaro, deputy director of the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and moderator at the event, noted that the purpose of the panel was to brainstorm on “how can we heal as a community and how can we prevent this from continuing to happen?”

“There is not a day that goes by without hearing or seeing a story in our neighborhood or in the media on the impact of the misuse of prescription medication or heroin abuse,” said Alfaro. “Ocean County is not immune. No family or community is immune.”

The discussion brought to light some alarming statistics and heart-wrenching personal encounters with opioid addiction as the series’ five panelists each took a turn at the mic to share their perspectives.

Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato remarked that his usual approach to the opioid crisis is comprised of three “pillars.” These are education and prevention, strong law enforcement, and most importantly, breaking the cycle of addiction.

“We were the first county in the state of New Jersey to use Narcan,” said Coronato, in reference to the chemical nasal spray that can potentially reverse an overdose and save a life. “We had 129 deployments in 2014, in 2015 we had 272, in 2016 we went up to 502, and then…went down from 502 to 341 in 2017 and as of this date we’re at about 135.”

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