In the News

  • app.com: Advocates, critics react to Christie's sweeping drug plan

    Posted 1/10/2017

    Anti-drug advocates hailed Gov. Chris Christie's pledge Tuesday to make New Jersey's addiction crisis a top job in the final year of his term in office, but there were worries about funding and follow through.

  • wobm.com: Top 10 Jersey Shore Towns with Worst Heroin Problem

    Posted 1/6/2017

    New information from the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services in the New Jersey Department of Human Services (based on residents seeking treatment for heroin addiction) shows that Toms River saw a 51% increase from 2014 to 2015.

  • abcnews.go.com: Fentanyl Deaths Have Spiked Across the US, With No Sign of Slowing Down

    Posted 1/5/2017

    In the small state of New Hampshire, where there are typically less than 20 homicides a year, more than 400 people died from drug overdoses in 2015, according to FBI crime data and New Hampshire officials. Around 70 percent of those were linked to Fentanyl, according to the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory.

  • statnews.com: This study could unlock the mysteries of teen brain development

    Posted 1/5/2017

    The second decade of life is a time of extraordinary physical, intellectual, and emotional growth. A changing and complex social environment full of new challenges and opportunities help sculpt a young person’s identity, health, and well-being. The brain rapidly adapts in response to these influences. But we don’t really know how it does this, or how genes, hormones, and the environment interact to shape brain development and function.

  • OPIOID ADDICTION HEADS TO GOVERNOR'S DESK

    Posted 12/20/2016

    (TRENTON) – Legislation sponsored by Assembly Democrats Joseph Lagana, Nancy Pinkin, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Marlene Caride, Ralph Caputo and Benjie Wimberly enlisting the aid of healthcare providers in discussing the dangers of certain opioid medications prior to issuing a prescription to patients who are minors was approved, 77-0, by the full Assembly on Monday. The bill will now go to the Governor's desk for further consideration.

  • SC&I Class Seeks to Help Combat Opioid and Heroin Addiction in N.J.

    Posted 12/20/2016

    Rutgers Professor Itzhak Yanovitzky gave the students in his Health Messages & Campaign Design class an assignment: partner with the PDFNJ, conduct research over six weeks, and from that research, develop key messages and advertising campaigns that PDFNJ will be able to incorporate into their real-world marketing and communication campaigns.

  • abcnews.go.com: As Drug Overdose Deaths Escalate, Opioids Continue to Be the Top Killer [VIDEO]

    Posted 12/20/2016

    As the drug and opioid epidemic escalates in the U.S., a new study has identified the 10 drugs most associated with fatal overdoses.

  • nbcnews.com: Fentanyl Rises as Cause of Drug Overdose Deaths [VIDEO]

    Posted 12/20/2016

    Heroin has become the No. 1 overdose killer in the United States, but the number of fentanyl deaths doubled in just a single year, a new analysis showed.

  • njtvonline.org: Bill Would Require Minors Getting Opioids Be Notified of Addiction Risk

    Posted 12/16/2016

    The state’s opioid addiction toll on young people is staggering. Last year 1,587 people died of overdoses. The Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse reported some 4,200 people under the age of 25 were admitted to substance abuse treatment programs in 2012. And those addicted to prescription painkillers dwarfed the number addicted to heroin, hallucinogens and cocaine combined.

  • www.washingtonpost.com: Where opiates killed the most people in 2015

    Posted 12/13/2016

    More than 33,000 people died of opioid overdoses in the United States last year. But speaking of an “opiate epidemic” is in some ways a misnomer. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the country is in fact dealing with multiple opioid epidemics right now — each with a distinct geographic footprint.