In the News

  • Statewide Study Finds NJ Parents See Connection Between Rx Abuse and Rising Heroin Abuse in NJ, but Don’t See their Homes as an Access Point for these Addictive Drugs

    Posted 8/21/2014

    MILLBURN – New Statewide Survey results released, today, by PDFNJ found that parents see their own home as being a top source for their children to access alcohol and do not see their home as an access point for Rx and OTC drugs – despite the fact that a majority of parents recognize that the abuse of prescription narcotics contributes to the increase in heroin abuse rates in New Jersey.

  • PDFNJ, Cape May County Prosecutor Recognized for Excellence by NAGC

    Posted 8/21/2014

    CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE - PDFNJ along with the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office was recognized by the National Association of Government Communicators for their collaboration on their award winning campaign, “Heroin: Are you talking to your kids yet?”.

  • PDFNJ Recognized for Excellence by the NAGC

    Posted 8/19/2014

    PDFNJ, in conjunction with the NJ AG, Ocean Prosecutor’s Office, Monmouth Prosecutor’s Office, and Cape May Prosecutor’s Office, was recognized by the National Association for Government Communicators for excellence in collaboration with the campaign, “Heroin: Are you talking with your kids yet?”.

  • Winners of NJSDD 2014, The Whiptones, on NEWS12 NJ

    Posted 8/13/2014

    The Whiptones — seniors Michael Mastellone, Derek Ritschel and Matt Korzen, and sophomore Bradley Ritschel — won a recent contest sponsored by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey - and appeared on News 12 NJ August 13, 2014.

  • NYTimes.com: Dealing With Opioid Abuse Would Pay for Itself

    Posted 8/4/2014

    Once championed as the answer to chronic pain, opioid medications and painkillers have become a large and costly problem in the United States. Fatal overdoses have quadrupled in the last 15 years, and opioids now cause more deaths than any other drug, over 16,000 in 2010. Prescription opioid abuse is also costly, sapping productivity and increasing health care and criminal justice costs to the tune of $55.7 billion in 2007, for example.

  • NJ.com: Opinion: Require prescription drug monitoring in New Jersey

    Posted 7/30/2014

    By Steve and Elaine Pozycki The prescription drug abuse epidemic and its related explosion of heroin addiction continue apace in NJ. We read about the human cost in ruined lives and premature deaths in our newspapers every day. As bills are beginning to be introduced in the General Assembly and a policy response to this acknowledged epidemic is forming, now is not the time for half-measures.

  • FranklinReporter.com: Township Doctor’s License Revoked For Prescription Violations

    Posted 7/21/2014

    A township doctor’s medical license has been revoked over charges that he prescribed “narcotic painkillers that put his patients at risk of addiction, and of continuing to prescribe increasing dosages to patients despite clear evidence that they were abusing drugs,” according to a release from the state Attorney General’s Office.

  • APP.com: Ocean County's heroin fight cut by new drug

    Posted 7/7/2014

    Some drug dealers, ever enterprising and competitive, have recently begun cutting their heroin supply with Fentanyl, a highly powerful opiate that enhances the high to even deadlier levels than heroin alone, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

  • Hear Angelo M. Valente, Ex. Dir. of PDFNJ, Interviewed in 5 Part Series on 101.5 FM

    Posted 6/30/2014

    From June 23 to June 27, NJ 101.5 reporter David Matthau filed an informative and important series about the rise opioid abuse in New Jersey, featuring PDFNJ executive director, Angelo M. Valente

  • NJ expands overdose antidote program to all 21 counties

    Posted 6/17/2014

    Law enforcement officers across New Jersey will now carry a drug that can be used to quickly reverse heroin overdoses.