FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 23, 2019

Contact: Nicolette Nappi, Media Coordinator, 973-382-4560, nicolette@drugfreenj.org

Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall at Rutgers Athletic Center to Highlight Impact of Opioid Epidemic

NJ’s Attorney General, RU Football great Ray Lucas, and others bring conversation to end opioid epidemic to Rutgers students

PISCATAWAY — Rutgers University students, student-athletes, faculty and members of the public will learn about the personal impact of the nationwide opioid epidemic from a group of high-profile speakers when the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall Series resumes this fall at the Rutgers Athletic Center on the Livingston campus.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and former Rutgers and NFL quarterback Ray Lucas will headline the event being held from 10 – 11:30 a.m. on Friday, October 4, at the Rutgers Athletic Center. The town hall is being organized by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey—which is the charitable arm of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey—and Rutgers University.

Rutgers Senior Vice President and General Counsel John J. Hoffman — who is also a former New Jersey Attorney General — and Rutgers men’s basketball Director of Player Development Greg Vetrone will join Lucas on a panel to discuss how the opioid epidemic and addiction has personally affected them. Grewal, whose office has led New Jersey’s fight against the opioid epidemic, will deliver opening remarks, and Chris Carlin, play-by-play announcer for the Rutgers Football Radio Network, will serve as the master of ceremonies.

“The opioid crisis ravaging New Jersey has affected every community in the state, including college campuses and especially student athletes who suffer injuries and are prescribed opioid pain medication,” PDFNJ Executive Director Angelo Valente said. “The Rutgers town hall will provide student athletes, and the Rutgers community as a whole, with a better understanding of the opioid epidemic and actions they can take to address this crisis.”

The town hall will be the fifth community event in the continuation of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey’s Knock Out Opioid Abuse initiative, a two-year initiative focusing on addressing the opioid epidemic through community outreach, prescriber education, parent education and a statewide campaign to increase awareness of the crisis. The new series of town halls builds on the progress of the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall Series from 2017 and 2018, which was held for all 21 New Jersey counties and also supported by a grant from The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. The town hall, including the upcoming event at the RAC, are also streamed live at knockoutopioidabuse.drugfreenj.org so that anyone can attend, experience the discussion and present questions.

“Horizon and Rutgers University are two proud New Jersey institutions who are partners in research, academics, athletics, health and wellness and other endeavors that are improving the lives of millions of Garden State residents,” said Jonathan R. Pearson, Executive Director of The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. “This town hall is an important way for Rutgers, Horizon and the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey to build on a statewide conversation about the opioid epidemic and help create actionable steps that connect people to localized services and solutions.”

The town hall’s message on acting to combat the opioid epidemic will carry into the following day when the Rutgers football team hosts Maryland. Horizon and the Partnership will hand out substance use prevention resources prior to the game.

New Jersey residents can visit knockoutopioidabuse.drugfreenj.org to register to attend town halls, submit questions for panelists prior to the events and share their personal stories of how they have been affected by the opioid epidemic.

The website also features information on scheduled town halls, video from each event and a look into the lives of New Jersey residents who have been affected by the opioid epidemic. It also includes an online continuing medical education program for prescribers and information on parent education through the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey’s 5^th Grade Parent Alert.

More than 3,000 people died from drug overdoses in New Jersey in 2018, a majority of which was opioid-related. Nationwide, more than 47,000 people died of opioid overdoses in 2017, and official figures for 2018 could exceed that total.

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About the 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 $100 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 180 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.

About Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey: Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state's oldest and largest health insurer is a tax-paying, not-for-profit health service corporation, providing a wide array of medical, dental, vision and prescription insurance products and services. Horizon BCBSNJ is leading the transformation of health care in New Jersey by working with doctors and hospitals to deliver innovative, patient-centered programs that reward the quality, not quantity, of care patients receive. Learn more at www.HorizonBlue.com. Horizon BCBSNJ is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association serving more than 3.8 million members.

About The Horizon Foundation For New Jersey: The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey is committed to working alongside those who can help us improve our neighbors’ health, inform their health decisions and inspire them to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. The Foundation’s funding pillars are Caring, Connecting and Creating. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is the sole member of The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, both of which are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, please visit www.Horizonblue.com/Foundation.

About Rutgers Athletics

The Rutgers Department of Intercollegiate Athletics (Rutgers Athletics), comprised of 24 men's and women's varsity sports serving more than 600 student-athletes, is a member of the Big Ten Conference and governed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Rutgers is the Birthplace of College Football, hosting the first-ever collegiate matchup on Nov. 6, 1869, a 6-4 victory over Princeton. Rutgers Athletics is uniquely positioned in the nation's largest media market with over seven million television households, along with access to the Big Ten Network and its nearly 60 million homes across the U.S. and Canada. Established in 1766, Rutgers University is the State University of New Jersey and eight oldest higher education institution in the country. As a premier academic institution, Rutgers is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities.