In the News

  • Chasing the Dragon: Prescription Drug Abuse and Heroin Prevention Training Session

    Posted 9/13/2016

    JERSEY CITY -- A prescription drug abuse and heroin prevention training session was held today at Saint Peter’s University, to educate community stakeholders, local law enforcement, and education officials on the ongoing efforts to educate New Jersey’s youth and young adults about the perils of heroin and prescription drug abuse. The event was coordinated by Paul Fishman the United States Attorney for New Jersey, in conjunction with the Newark FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration-New Jersey, Hudson County Prosecutor’s office, Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey, and CarePoint Health Foundation.

  • nbcnews.com: Two Brothers Get a Fresh Start After Battling Heroin Addiction [VIDEO]

    Posted 9/5/2016

    [VIDEO] - When we first met Denise two years ago, her sons Ben and Ryan, both heroin addicts, were living in their childhood bedrooms — and Denise kept the overdose reversal drug Narcan on her dresser.

  • asam.org: TurnTheTide: The Surgeon General is calling on us to lead

    Posted 9/4/2016

    Dear Colleague - I am asking for your help to solve an urgent health crisis facing America: the opioid epidemic. Everywhere I travel, I see communities devastated by opioid overdoses. I meet families too ashamed to seek treatment for addiction. And I will never forget my own patient whose opioid use disorder began with a course of morphine after a routine procedure.

  • nj.com: The 15 N.J. towns with the highest rates of heroin treatment

    Posted 9/2/2016

    While virtually no part of New Jersey is left untouched by the state's epidemic of heroin use, the highest concentration of people seeking treatment last year came from some of the state's smallest communities.

  • cbsnews.com: Surgeon general takes unprecedented step amid opioid epidemic

    Posted 8/27/2016

    Opioids cause more than 1,000 emergency room visits and kills 78 people every day. “I think this is one of our greatest public health threats and it’s one that we have to respond to with speed and with urgency,” U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told “CBS This Morning” Thursday.

  • cnn.com: US surgeon general sends warning letter to all doctors on opioid epidemic

    Posted 8/25/2016

    (CNN)In the next few days, every doctor in the United States will be receiving this letter (PDF) from the US surgeon general. It's the first time that America's top doctor has reached out to all physicians. But Dr. Vivek Murthy has an urgent reason: Americans are dying each year by the tens of thousands from overdoses of prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin.

  • US Surgeon General’s Turn the Tide Initiative Drives Home Need for Action to Ensure Doctors Educate Patients and Themselves on Opiate Addiction

    Posted 8/24/2016

    At a NJ addiction forum, hosted by Senators Booker and Menendez in cooperation with Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, the organization chair, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers, “the first line of defense in the battle against addiction”.

  • nj.com: 'A poor man's way to get by': Opioid addicts turn to diarrhea medicine

    Posted 8/21/2016

    Loperamide, the active ingredient in Johnson & Johnson's Imodium A-D, is meant to be taken in dosages of two to four milligrams. When ingested in megadoses — for some, up to 24 times the minimum dosage — it induces a weak high.

  • Connect and Spend Quality Time with Family with the Second Annual New Jersey Online Fishing Tournament

    Posted 8/18/2016

    The downtime from school and the warm months of summer encourage families to get outside and spend some treasured time together before the hectic schedules of September begin again. To help families get active and motivate them to spend time with their children and keep them away from drugs, The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is holding the second annual “Don’t Get Hooked on Drugs” Online New Jersey Fishing Tournament. The contest will run from August 19th to August 28th.

  • townshipjournal.com: Surgeon General, in New Jersey, adresses opioid abuse

    Posted 8/15/2016

    LIVINGSTON — U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy brought his Turn the Tide tour to New Jersey to discuss the current opiate abuse epidemic impacting the state, and discuss steps physicians can take to stem the tide of the epidemic. The Surgeon General is currently on a national tour designed to educate and mobilize prescribers to take immediate action to end this epidemic.