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Bergen County among hardest hit in N.J. epidemic of heroin deaths

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Bergen County among hardest hit in N.J. epidemic of heroin deaths

MARCH 23, 2014    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014, 12:47 AM
BY REBECCA D. O’BRIEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

The dead include a former high school football player, a mother from Oakland and best friends who died within two weeks of each other. Seven of them were under 30. Four were women. Nearly all died in their Bergen County homes.

So far this year, heroin has claimed the lives of at least 13 Bergen County residents — a rate of more than one per week. If the trend continues, by year’s end deaths would vastly exceed the county’s 27 fatal overdoses in 2013.

Caitlin Reiter, a 21-year-old from Franklin Lakes, died of a heroin overdose on Feb. 2 at her father’s home. Her addiction began in high school with prescription pills; no rehabilitation facility or family intervention could stop it.

The toll has alarmed county officials, who fear that opiate addiction is growing more entrenched in North Jersey.

Related story: Anti-drug ads aim to raise parents’ awareness about the rise of addiction in Bergen County

“It starts at a party with a painkiller and ends alone at night in your bedroom,” said Sgt. David Borzotta of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office narcotics task force.

In 2012, New Jersey saw roughly 800 opiate-related drug deaths, half of which involved heroin, a drug whose resurgence across the Northeast in recent years has been linked to the widespread availability and abuse of prescription painkillers.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen-county-among-hardest-hit-in-n-j-epidemic-of-heroin-deaths-1.749174#sthash.MXOUrWVf.dpuf

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New Jersey’s heroin crisis worsens

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New Jersey’s heroin crisis worsens

Flimsy regulation, outdated drug education, irresponsible prescribing practices and myriad barriers to treatment have enabled and exacerbated a growing crisis of heroin and opiate addiction among New Jersey youth, according to an ambitious — and long-delayed — state task force report released Tuesday.

The 88-page report, the result of two years of research, public hearings and official review, offers a wide range of policy recommendations, from public awareness campaigns and strengthened oversight of doctors to insurance reform and expanded treatment programs. It also firmly places New Jersey among a group of northeastern states, from Pennsylvania to Maine, grappling with an alarming surge of heroin addiction.

“The skyrocketing use of heroin and other opiates has become the number one health care crisis confronting New Jersey,” the report says. And the numbers are stark: Nearly two-thirds of the state’s 1,294 drug-related deaths in 2012 involved opiates, including heroin. In 2012, there were more than 8,300 admissions to state-certified substance abuse treatment programs for prescription drug abuse — an increase of nearly 700 percent over the past decade.

The Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse received the report Tuesday and posted it on the council website later in the day. But despite enthusiasm among lawmakers and officials, it remains to be seen whether the proposed reforms will gain traction.

The report and its 18 recommendations do not differ substantively from a confidential October draft of the report obtained and written about by The Record in December: at the time, the council and Governor Christie’s office exchanged blame for its delayed release.

New Jersey’s task force report appears to be the first of its kind and scope, but other states across the Northeast have raised alarms about the rise in heroin addiction. (O’Brien/The Record)

https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-jersey-s-heroin-crisis-worsens-1.745076#sthash.LMkexkao.dpuf

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70 million Americans taking mind-altering drugs

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70 million Americans taking mind-altering drugs
David Kupelian tells untold story of nation’s rapidly escalating drug dependence

Published: 4 hours ago
David Kupelian

News accounts of the Oscar-winner’s tragic demise typically reference the startling increase in heroin-related deaths in the last four to five years. The problem, reporters explain, is the vast number of Americans addicted to prescription pain meds like OxyContin, many of whom discover heroin to be both cheaper and easier to obtain than the prescription opioid drugs to which they initially became addicted.

That’s accurate as far as it goes. But by following the trail further, we arrive at a place far more shocking and consequential. We discover that not only has the traditional distinction between illegal “street drugs” and legal “therapeutic prescription drugs” become so blurred as to be almost nonexistent, but between America’s twin drug epidemics – one illegal, the other legal – well over 70 million Americans are using mind-altering drugs. And that number doesn’t include abusers of alcohol, which adds an additional 60 million Americans. So we’re really talking about 130 million strung-out Americans. How is this possible?

Read more at https://www.wnd.com/2014/02/70-million-americans-taking-mind-altering-drugs/#o7aRDfkIScd1STHJ.99