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New Jersey is in the midst of a life-threatening opioid abuse epidemic, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey has designated October 6, 2023, as Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day – an initiative with multiple purposes:
- to raise awareness of the potential for dependency on prescribed pain medicine and its link to heroin and fentanyl use;
- to reduce stigma of addiction and shine a light on the need for recovery support; and
- to communicate to physicians information on safer prescribing messages found in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for prescribing opioids, which include considering other therapies, setting realistic treatment goals with patients and discussing with patients the positives and negatives of opioids.
The State Senate and General Assembly jointly resolved that October 6 shall be permanently designated as “Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day in New Jersey” in order to raise awareness about the dangers of, and the link between, prescription opioid abuse and heroin addiction and to educate health care providers, community leaders, state lawmakers and members of the public about the opioid abuse epidemic and its effects throughout the State of New Jersey and across the country.
In an effort to bring further awareness to this crisis, thousands of New Jersey residents will participate in Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day on October 6th and throughout the month of October. As part of the statewide initiative, residents will share information about the potential for dependency on prescribed opioids and their link to heroin use, as well as the dangers of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which now account for a majority of the opioid deaths in New Jersey and the nation.
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