FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 6, 2021

Contact: Natalie Golub, 973-382-4560, natalie@drugfreenj.org

PDFNJ Highlights Opioid Prevention and Awareness Initiative at Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit

MILLBURN, N.J. — The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) is showcasing its award-winning Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day initiative this week at the Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit this week, which is being held virtually after kicking off Monday.

PDFNJ will be displaying a poster in the conference’s gallery, highlighting the impact of Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day. The initiative has been held in New Jersey, with support from the state legislature and governor, on October 6 each year since 2016.

The program organized by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and The Community Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Morris, in cooperation with the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, mobilizes the prevention and treatment communities, community leaders and concerned citizens to raise awareness of the potential for dependency on prescribed pain medicine and its link to heroin abuse rates in New Jersey.

In 2020, Knock out Opioid Abuse Day was held almost entirely virtually, necessitating creative ways to reach New Jersey residents, including via social media and through webinars in the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series.

The Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit, first held in 2012, is the largest national collaboration of professionals from local, state, and federal agencies, business, academia, treatment providers, and allied communities impacted by prescription drug abuse and heroin use.

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Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey: Best known for its statewide substance use prevention 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 $200 million in broadcast time and print space has been donated to the Partnership’s New Jersey campaign, making it the largest public service advertising campaign in New Jersey’s history. Since its inception, the Partnership has garnered 186 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.