Millburn, June 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A distinguished group of experts will continue to examine the convergence of race and the opioid crisis, including disparities in access to care and recommendations for change, in the next installment of the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series, organized by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), the Office of the New Jersey Coordinator for Addiction Responses and Enforcement Strategies (NJ CARES) and the Opioid Education Foundation of America (OEFA).
The webinar, “The Intersection of Race, Culture and the Opioid Crisis,” will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 29. Expert speakers will include Captain Jason Piotrowski of the New Jersey State Police Drug Monitoring Initiative; Aleesa Mobley, PhD., clerkship director of the Neuro Musculoskeletal Pain rotation in the School of Osteopathic Medicine at Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences of Rowan University; Solomon Middleton-Williams, deputy director of the Newark Community Street Team; and Ashley Hill Trotter, the social work manager for Newark Community Street Team’s Overdose Response Team. The webinar will update and expand upon information provided in previous webinars on December 9, 2021, and June 16, 2022.
The speakers will review data trends that show that people of color represent an increasingly larger percentage of all reported overdose incidents while overall overdoses are decreasing, and disparities that exist in prevention, treatment and recovery. Speakers will also highlight the grassroots work being done to ensure that victims of drug overdose in communities of color are connected to appropriate treatment and recovery support.
The webinar will be the sixth in the 2023 Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series. PDFNJ has hosted the series in collaboration with OEFA and NJ CARES, which is responsible for overseeing addiction-fighting efforts across the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, and has focused on educating the community on various topics related to prevention, treatment and recovery. This webinar will be the third in recent years to focus on the opioid epidemic within the context of race.
The Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to educate New Jersey residents on various aspects of the opioid epidemic and its impact on New Jersey and the nation. It is a branch of PDFNJ’s Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day statewide initiative, which has been held annually on October 6 since 2016 to educate residents and prescribers on the risks of prescription opioids and to raise awareness of the opioid crisis throughout the state.
The 2022 Learning Series included 12 webinars that drew a total audience of more than 8,000 participants and featured various speakers discussing all aspects of the opioid epidemic, including Sam Quinones, Author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic”; Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Medical Director of Opioid Policy Research, Heller School for Social Policy and Management; and former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey. Other speakers included representatives from the Drug Enforcement Administration, New Jersey State Police, National Institute on Drug Abuse, New Jersey Department of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Governor’s Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction and New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.
NJ CARES data shows that nearly 2,900 people in New Jersey died from suspected drug overdoses in 2022. A vast majority of these overdose deaths involved some form of opioid, including prescription painkillers, heroin and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.
To learn more about the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day and for a schedule of webinars, please visit knockoutday.drugfreenj.org.
To view a recording of prior webinars related to race and opioids, please visit: https://knockoutday.drugfreenj.org/webinars
