Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jan 2017
Source: Herald News (West Paterson, NJ)
Copyright: 2017 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.northjersey.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2911

N.J. GETS $1.3M GRANT TO FIGHT HEROIN ADDICTION AND OVERDOSES

New Jersey will receive a $1.3 million grant to target the heroin trade
and illegal prescription drug activity as law enforcement and legislators
team up to lower rates of addiction and overdoses, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.
announced Thursday.

[photo] A grant from the U.S. Justice Department would target the heroin
trade and misuse of prescription drugs.(Photo: RECORD FILE PHOTO)

New Jersey will receive a $1.3 million grant to target the heroin trade
and illegal prescription drug activity as law enforcement and legislators
team up to lower rates of addiction and overdoses, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.
announced Thursday.

More than 1,200 people died of drug overdoses in 2014 in the state, mostly
related to heroin or prescription drugs, Pascrell noted. Sales of
prescription opioids -- cousins of heroin -- are prescribed to relieve
pain and sales quadrupled from 1999 to 2010, experts noted.

"We must do all that we can to ensure people are receiving the care they
need, while also ensuring that law enforcement officials have the
resources to crack down on unlawful heroin and prescription opioid
traffickers throughout our state," Pascrell said.

In Bergen County, there were 288 overdoses last year, including 87 deaths.
Earlier this month, Acting Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal, alarmed at the daily
reports of overdoses, began a program to offer arrested addicts a five-day
stay in rehab, a strategy that appears to be a first in New Jersey.

The grant was distributed through the Department of Justice's Anti-Heroin
Task Force Program. The New York-New Jersey area is considered a "High
Density Drug Trafficking'' area by the department.

Pascrell, co-chairman of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus, said
the $1,279,255 grant was provided by Community Oriented Policing Services
(COPS).

An estimated 129 Americans on average died from a drug overdose every day
in 2014, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Of the 47,055 drug overdose deaths in 2014, heroin was
involved in 10,574 overdose deaths, while opioid pain medication was
involved in 20,808 fatalities, the CDC noted.
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