FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24. 2024

Contact: Lisa Batitto, news@drugfreenj.org

Preventing Opioid Misuse & 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 that focuses on preventing opioid use and dependency. 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 Thursday, February 27, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The webinar, titled "Preventing Opioid Misuse and Addiction," will feature Dr. Holly Geyer, a hospitalist and addiction medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona; and Dr. Saira Jan, vice president and chief pharmacy officer of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and professor emerita at Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

"Prevention remains one of the most powerful tools we have in combating the opioid epidemic," said Angelo Valente, Executive Director of PDFNJ. "This webinar will provide essential knowledge to help individuals and professionals recognize risk factors for opioid misuse and take proactive steps to prevent addiction before it begins."

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 2025 Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series launched on January 30 with a webinar titled "The National Opioid Crisis: Current Trends & Solutions."

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 the previous year.

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 1,765 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.