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TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal unveiled new data on the impact of the opioid epidemic on New Jersey and on the state's ongoing efforts to save the region's residents. opioid addiction, overdose and death.
In 2017, Cape May County recorded the highest number of opioid prescriptions for each resident, with a prescription for 1.07 people.
The new information – published by the Department of Law and Public Safety and its Office of the Coordinator of Addiction and Addiction Strategies in New Jersey – shows that the number of overdose deaths has continued to rise. increase in New Jersey, The number of opioid prescriptions treated has decreased significantly.
"In the Murphy administration, we are committed to being transparent and raising public awareness of the costs that the opioid epidemic has placed on our state," Grewal said in a statement. "We still lose too many residents for a drug overdose and the number of deaths continues to increase. But if we look at the numbers, there are reasons to hope.
NJ CARES Director Sharon Joyce added, "The decreasing rate of prescription opioids in New Jersey shows that a smart approach to the opioid epidemic can help to reverse. If we persist in our efforts to prevent addiction and overdoses, we can save lives.
According to new preliminary data provided by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New Jersey has recorded 2,750 overdose deaths in 2017, an average of nearly eight per day. This number represents an increase of approximately 24% compared to the number of deaths of 2,221 deaths per year in 2016 (approximately six per day).
The number and percentage of overdose deaths involving fentanyl and fentanyl analogues increased in 2017 compared to the previous year. Preliminary data indicate that fentanyl and fentanyl analogues were involved in 1,379 overdose deaths in 2017, just over 50% of all overdose deaths. In 2016, fentanyl was involved in 818 deaths and fentanyl analogues in 164 deaths.
At the county level, the number of overdose deaths in 2017 ranged from 362 in Essex County to 308 in Camden County, 23 in Hunterdon County and 20 in Salem County.
At the same time, the number and percentage of drug overdose deaths involving heroin decreased from 2016 to 2017.
Heroin was involved in 1,132 overdose deaths in 2017, or 41% of the total, according to preliminary figures.
In 2016, there were 1,347 deaths from heroin overdose, or 61% of the total.
While the number of drug overdose deaths in New Jersey has continued to increase in 2017, the amount of prescription opioid medications in the state has steadily declined.
After peaking in 2015 with 5.64 million opioid prescriptions in New Jersey, the number of opioid prescriptions fell to 4.87 million in 2017, the first year of recent memory when the number of opioid prescriptions is less than 5 million.
The information published by NJ CARES – based on data from the New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program – indicates a 39% decrease between January 2014 and July 2018 in the rate of opioid prescriptions in Schedule II treated and dispensed dosage units. The most recent month for which data are available (July 2018) saw 210,153 prescriptions for opioids listed in Table II, totaling 13,427,783 dosage units. As of January 2014, however, 346,459 Schedule II opioid prescriptions were issued, for a total of 21,970,323 units of dosage.
The decrease in opioid prescription has accelerated since New Jersey enacted a mandatory five-day rule for initial opioid prescriptions in March 2017. The number of prescriptions for the use of opioids has increased. Schedule II opioids have dropped 26% since March 2017 January 2014 to March 2017.
Similarly, the number of Schedule II opioid dosing units dispensed decreased by 28% since March 2017, after decreasing by only 15% from January 2014 to March 2017.
The NJ CARES website will also include newly available historical data for each county in New Jersey. The new information includes the number of drug overdose deaths, naloxone administrations of law enforcement and ambulance workers and per capita opioid prescriptions in each county from 2013 to 2017, to the extent that these data are available.
Previously, the NJ CARES website reported the total number of drug overdose deaths at the county level, naloxone administrations, and opioid prescriptions. Taking into account county populations paints a different picture of the impact of the opioid epidemic in New Jersey.
In 2016, for example, the counties with the highest number of overdose deaths were Essex (271), Ocean (253), Camden (200), Middlesex (182) and Atlantic (171).
Per capita, Atlantic County had the highest rate of overdose deaths (with one death per 1,584 residents), followed by Ocean (one death per 2,344 residents), Camden (one death per 2,554 residents ) and Cumberland (one death). for 2,904 residents) and Cape May (one death per 2,935 residents). At the state level, the average was one drug overdose death per 4,043 residents.
For 2017, Camden County recorded the highest rate of naloxone administrations reported by law enforcement and paramedics, with one for 205 residents. Hunterdon County had the lowest rate of administration of naloxone, with one per 1,624 residents.
The state-wide average was a naloxone administration reported for every 627 residents.
At the statewide level in 2017, an opioid prescription was issued for 1.85 people.
Hudson County fell to the other end of the spectrum, with an opioid prescription issued for 2.74 people.
The Attorney General does not only make the opioid data available in his department available to the public. Through NJ CARES, the Department is relying on data to focus its education efforts and identify its enforcement priorities.
The latest example of the Department's data-driven approach is an advertising campaign conducted by the Division of Consumer Affairs to promote Drop Medicine Project. [LINK: https://www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/meddrop/Pages/default.aspx], a program that encourages the safe storage and disposal of prescription drugs at the headquarters of the police department throughout the state. The one – month advertising campaign, funded by federal grants of $ 30,000, began appearing last week in buses in Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties. The ads also appear inside the cars of the NJ Transit River line connecting Camden to Trenton. The Division selected the routes for the Medicine Drop Project commercials using the Prescription Monitoring Program data and other information.
The Attorney General unveiled new data from NJ CARES on Opioids at the Spotlight Conference on Opioid Abuse. Following the Attorney General's remarks, attendees of the conference were able to attend the premiere of Anytown, a new musical about the opioid crisis and its impact on teens and families of the George Street Playhouse's Educational Theater Tour. . The conference also included workshops on prevention, early intervention and recovery. The musical and the conference were funded by the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey and RWJBarnabas Health.
Following the Prime Minister, Anytown will visit New Jersey middle and high schools to raise awareness of the dangers of opioid abuse and prevent new opioid-related harms among teens and their families.
More detailed data on the opioid crisis and its impact in New Jersey are available on the NJCARES website: https://www.njcares.gov.
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