FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 22, 2024

Contact: Lisa Batitto, news@drugfreenj.org

Webinar to Present Pain Management Alternatives to Opioids

MILLBURN ­– Medical professionals will focus on alternative pain management techniques that do not involve opioids in the fifth webinar in the 2024 Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series. The series is a collaboration of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), the Office of Alternative and Community Responses (OACR) and the Opioid Education Foundation of America (OEFA).

The webinar, titled “Treating Pain Without Opioids,” is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 30. It will feature discussions on safe prescribing practices and local laws regarding opioid prescriptions. This session aims to equip physicians, dentists, nurses and other health care workers with the knowledge and tools to manage pain effectively without relying on opioid medications.

This session's speakers include Dr. James Bailey, chair of the Neuromusculoskeletal Institute at Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, and Sarah Vi Cerreto, a nurse clinician at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center.

“Exploring and understanding non-opioid pain management strategies is crucial for combatting the opioid epidemic,” said Angelo Valente, Executive Director of PDFNJ. “This webinar is part of our ongoing effort to provide healthcare professionals with the knowledge to reduce the reliance on opioids for pain treatment.”

PDFNJ hosts the series in collaboration with OEFA and OACR, which was formed in March 2024 in an effort to coordinate the law enforcement and public health response to the intersecting public health crises of substance use and mental health (including the work of the Office of the New Jersey Coordinator for Addiction Responses and Enforcement Strategies “NJ CARES”), across the Department of Law and Public Safety and throughout the State.

The Learning Series has grown each year since it was created in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with attendance reaching nearly 10,000 in 2023. Participants have learned from experts from a wide range of backgrounds and expertise, including representatives of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the New Jersey Department of Health, the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as many universities and state and local organizations involved in the fight against the opioid epidemic. Speakers have included New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Regional Director Dr. Dara Kass and award-winning author Sam Quinones.

The series 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.

To learn more about Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day and for a schedule of webinars, please visit knockoutday.drugfreenj.org.

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Best known for its statewide anti-drug advertising campaign, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is a private not-for-profit coalition of professionals from the communications, corporate and government communities whose collective mission is to reduce demand for illicit drugs in New Jersey through media communication. To date, more than $200 million in broadcast time and print space has been donated to the Partnership’s New Jersey campaign, making it the largest public service advertising campaign in New Jersey’s history. Since its inception the Partnership has garnered 226 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.