Blog
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Study: Exposure to Marijuana Ads Linked to Increased Youth Marijuana Use
While New Jersey’s lawmakers are weighing important decisions on marijuana, it’s vital to remember that there’s nothing more important in this debate than the health and safety of our children and how changes in laws could affect our future.
A study recently completed and published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that exposure to medical marijuana advertising could lead to increased use of marijuana by youth.
The study, which recruited Southern California students an average age of 13 years old from 2010 to 2017, asked participants if they had seen medical marijuana advertising, if they intended to use marijuana in the next six months, how many days they had used it in the previous month and how often they had experienced negative consequences of using marijuana during the past year.
Adolescents who reported that they had greater exposure to marijuana advertisements were more likely to report having used marijuana in the last month and were more likely to report that they expected to use marijuana during the next six months, according to the study.
These findings are troubling, especially considering the negative short-term and long-term effects it can have on teenagers’ undeveloped brains. Authors of the study stressed the importance of educating children on the effects of marijuana use and also suggested tightening regulations for marijuana advertising, similar to those in place on tobacco and alcohol.
As New Jersey leaders continue to debate potentially increasing legal access to marijuana, it is critical that those leading the conversation place children’s health as the top priority.
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PDFNJ Wins Five Jersey Awards, Highlights Do No Harm at Opioid Conference
The past week has included several honors for the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey.
Last Wednesday, we received five awards at the NJ Ad Club’s 50th Annual Jersey Awards. The Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall Series was the big winner, taking home first place in the Not for Profit/Pro Bono Work sub-category as well as the trophy for Best of Public Relations, awarded to the top winner from the entire category.
The town hall series, supported by a grant from The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, began in April 2017 and was hosted for audiences from every county in the state. More than 13,600 people participated either in person or online via live stream at the town halls, which provided New Jersey residents with a comprehensive understanding of the causes and effects of the opioid epidemic.
The series made a positive impact in educating the public about the dangers of opioids and helped organizers to develop a better understanding of how the opioid crisis has impacted different communities throughout the state. It was an exciting honor for the NJ Ad Club to recognize those efforts with two awards.
PDFNJ also received first-place awards in the Public Relations: Advocacy/Political Multimedia Campaign category for the second annual Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day; the Out of Home: Transit Shelter category for the “Before They Prescribe, You Decide” campaign; and the Music: Original Music Competition/Non-Jingle for Commercial category for the song “Invisible,” written and performed by Anna Toby Rabinowitz and Anna Zibit as part of the 2017 Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Songwriters Contest organized by LIFE Center Stage and the Community Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Morris.
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The Opioid Epidemic Is Depleting the Nation’s Workforce
While the opioid epidemic has impacted every community throughout the United States, its effects have not been confined to homes and neighborhoods.
The crisis also has had devastating consequences on the country’s workplaces, according to an editorial written by Christopher J. Swift, chairman and CEO of the insurance company The Hartford.
The National Bureau of Economic Research has concluded that the opioid crisis is partly responsible for the labor force participation rate decreasing by 4 percentage points since 2000. As Swift cites, an online survey in 2016 found that about half of men who were out of the workforce had taken pain medication the day before being surveyed. About two-thirds of this group had taken prescription pain medication.
These statistics show that employers cannot ignore opioid misuse and addiction. These issues can have a negative effect on businesses’ bottom lines, but more critically, they can lead to unsafe working conditions.
Employers can be proactive in maintaining safe working environments establishing and maintaining a drug-free workplace policy. The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey offers a free initiative, Drugs Don’t Work in NJ, which provides employers and businesses all the tools necessary to establish and maintain workplace policies and procedures.
This epidemic has impacted every part of society. It will take a unified effort — at home, at work and at school — to help solve it.
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PDFNJ to Participate in White House Sports and Fitness Day
Today, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is honored to be one of several organizations represented in Washington, D.C., to recognize White House Sports and Fitness Day.
The Partnership and students from St. Francis Academy in Union City will join President Trump, former Yankee great Mariano Rivera, government dignitaries and other professional athletes to focus on the importance of youth sports. A story published this morning on NJ.com detailed the Partnership’s role in today’s event.
Involvement in athletics can be an extremely positive experience for children and teens by promoting a healthy lifestyle, encouraging teamwork and providing an opportunity to have fun. Providing young people with the chance to participate in sports also can be an important aspect in substance use prevention.
By highlighting sports’ beneficial impact on physical and emotional wellbeing, the president can bring renewed attention to importance of promoting a healthy lifestyle, which includes living substance abuse-free.
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Statewide Town Hall Series Concludes Tonight in Mercer County
It’s hard to believe, but tonight the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey will be hosting the final countywide town hall of the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall Series at The College of New Jersey in Mercer County.
This series, supported by a grant from the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, began in April 2017 and after tonight will have engaged residents from all 21 counties in the state of New Jersey.
The Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Halls have been a valuable tool for developing a better understanding of the opioid epidemic and its impact on every community in our state. The series has also discovered best practices at the local level which are currently being replicated throughout the state.
Town hall attendees have become better informed about the opioid crisis. 97% of participants responded that they learned new information or facts about the prevalence of opioid abuse in their community by attending a town hall. Educating New Jersey residents about the risks associated with opioids is a key starting point for addressing this issue.
More importantly, those who have attended town halls have expressed their intention to take action in the fight against the opioid epidemic. Over 85% of town hall participants said they were likely to take steps, such as disposing of unused medications, asking questions when prescribed opioids by a doctor, or having conversations with others on what can be done to prevent opioid misuse.
Please join tonight’s conversation on the opioid epidemic in Mercer County at 6:30 at The College of New Jersey and be a part of the solution to this epidemic.
This first phase of the PDFNJ/Horizon Foundation for New Jersey’s Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Halls may be concluding, however the hard work and effort necessary to overcome the opioid epidemic continues.
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Opioid Prescriptions Declined in 2017
As of earlier this month, 1,076 people in New Jersey had died from a drug overdose since the start of 2018. Statistics like these continue to paint a grim picture of the opioid epidemic in the state and throughout the nation.
However, signs of progress in this fight are beginning to show.
A recent study released by IQVIA showed that the volume of opioids prescribed declined significantly last year.
In 2017, prescriptions decreased by 10.2 percent, accelerating the continued drop in prescriptions that has occurred since 2011, when the amount of opioids prescribed peaked at 240 billion milligrams of morphine equivalents (MME).
High doses of opioids, defined as 90 MME or more per day, fell by 16.1 percent last year, according to the study.
Perhaps most encouraging was that the number of patients starting opioid therapy who had no previous experience with opioids during the prior year fell by 7.8 percent. This statistic shows that many fewer people than in previous years were introduced or reintroduced to the risks of opioids.
As we celebrate National Prevention Week, it is encouraging to see positive developments in this aspect of prevention.
Meanwhile, the number of people beginning medically assisted treatment (MAT) nearly doubled from 44,000 per month at the end of 2015 to 82,000 per month at the conclusion of 2017.
This combination of statistics indicates that progress is being made in the opioid epidemic as fewer Americans are being introduced to potentially dangerous opioid prescriptions, while more are receiving treatment for their addiction.
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Substance Abuse in the Workplace on the Rise
Regardless of where in New Jersey we live or work, substance abuse impacts all of us. As I have mentioned many times before, no family or community is immune and a recent article in ROI-NJ shows that the places we work or volunteer are also not immune.
Whether you are a manger, a business owner, a volunteer coordinator or local leader, the fact that a recent study found that new data shows significant jumps in positive testing for marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine in the past few years in New Jersey, is a concern for all of us.
Next week PDFNJ will be holding our annual meeting on the impact of drug use in the workplace, and I invite all of you to attend and find out how, together, we can address this issue.
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Don’t Miss a Second Chance to Hear the Shout Down Drugs Prevention Concert
If you were at Daytop New Jersey last Friday night, you were treated to one of the most exciting nights of the year for the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. Seventeen musical acts, comprising 31 New Jersey high school students, gave tremendous performances of original substance use prevention songs at the 14th Annual New Jersey Shout Down Drugs Prevention Concert.
It truly was inspiring to see such a talented group of students spread messages on the value of living a healthy, drug-free life and to do it in front of an audience of hundreds of people.
I’d like to thank all of this year’s participants in the Shout Down Drugs contest for their hard work and dedication, as well as the panel of judges who had the difficult task of picking winners from the 17 great performances. I’d also like to thank this year’s sponsors: our host Daytop New Jersey, the New Jersey Broadcasters Association, Investors Bank and 1450 WCTC.
If you weren’t fortunate enough to be at the concert, you still have a chance to listen to it this Friday at 6 p.m. on 1450 WCTC or at www.wctcam.com.
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DEA to Hold National Prescription Drug Take Back Day this Saturday
This Saturday will be an important day in the fight against the opioid epidemic. The Drug Enforcement Administration will be holding the 15th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day across the country to encourage Americans to properly dispose of unused and expired medications.
Millions of Americans misuse prescription drugs, which they often can access from a friend or family’s medicine cabinet. It’s crucial that families get rid of these medications so that they don’t fall into the wrong hands. In two Take Back events held during 2017, the DEA collected nearly 2 million pounds of unused medications.
New Jersey residents can find a take back location by visiting takebackday.dea.gov. If you miss your chance to dispose of medications on Saturday, you can still get rid of them at drop-off points near you through the American Medicine Chest Challenge.
PDFNJ, along with the DEA – New Jersey Division, the Office of the Attorney General and several local law enforcement agencies, helped spearhead the first statewide day of disposal in the nation more than 10 years ago, when 25,000 New Jersey residents took advantage of the event to dispose of unused medicines. The DEA replicated the New Jersey initiative on a national level and created the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
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Don’t Miss DEA 360’s South Jersey Summit
On Saturday, April 28, a special event will be taking place for Southern New Jersey residents. The South Jersey Youth and Family Drug Awareness Summit will be held at the Wildwood Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This event is part of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s 360 Strategy, a three-pronged approach to battle the heroin and opioid epidemic through enforcement efforts, diversion control and community outreach. In 2016, more than 2,200 New Jerseyans died of drug overdose, and none of the state’s 21 counties was spared from this devastating epidemic. Southern New Jersey was designated as a subject for the program earlier this year, and the summit is an important aspect in the community outreach effort.
Fourth through eighth grade students and parents from Mercer, Ocean, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May counties are invited to this conference.
Students in grades 4 and 5 will learn about setting goals and youth leadership, while 6th through 8th graders will learn about addiction, dangers of vaping and making changes in their communities. Parents will learn about social media hiding apps, helping their kids make healthier choices and how and where teens might hide drugs in their rooms in a Hidden in Plain Sight presentation.
Students also will get to enjoy the company of several special guests, including Marvel’s Captain America, as well as a performance by a 2017 winner of PDFNJ’s New Jersey Shout Down Drugs competition. Families in attendance will have the opportunity to purchase a weekend pass to Morey’s Pier at half price.
If you are a South Jersey resident, don’t miss this event. Not only will it provide vital information on how to protect your family from substance use, it also offers a great opportunity to spend quality time as a family.
For more information and to register, visit www.WakeUp-SouthJersey.com.