FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 12. 2025

Contact: Lisa Batitto, news@drugfreenj.org

Community Strategies to Fight Opioid Addiction Topic of Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series Webinar

MILLBURN - The 2025 Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series will continue with a webinar focused on community-based strategies to combat opioid use. This educational event is a collaboration between 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), and is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, March 13.

The webinar, titled "Community Strategies to Fight Opioid Addiction," will feature Dr. Melissa Pielech, a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies; and Tiffany Wilson, senior counsel and director of the Office of Alternative and Community Responses.

"Addressing the opioid crisis requires a collaborative effort at the community level, engaging individuals, families, and local organizations in prevention and response," said Angelo Valente, Executive Director of PDFNJ. "This webinar will highlight effective strategies that communities can implement to reduce opioid misuse and support those in recovery.”

PDFNJ hosts the series in collaboration with OEFA and OACR 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 10,000 in 2024. Participants from diverse professional backgrounds, including certified health education specialists, dentists, nurses, nurse practitioners, optometrists, pharmacists, physicians, physician assistants, psychologists, social workers, EMTs, and athletic trainers earned over 6,000 continuing education credits in 2024.

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.

In 2024, there were 1,803 suspected overdose deaths in New Jersey, with the majority linked to some form of opioid. The epidemic continues to take its toll through the use of heroin, prescription opioids, and synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

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 230 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.