On October 6, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) will commemorate the sixth annual Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day by hosting a webinar examining the state and the nation’s progress in addressing the opioid crisis.

Dr. Jamie Mells, Lieutenant Commander of the U.S. Public Health Service’s Division of Overdose Prevention with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will serve as the keynote speaker for the webinar, “Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day: How You Can Help Fight the Opioid Epidemic.”

The webinar is being held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, October 6, and is a continuation of the PDFNJ Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series being held in collaboration with the Office of the New Jersey Coordinator of Addiction Responses and Enforcement Strategies (NJ CARES), which is responsible for overseeing addiction-fighting efforts across the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

The webinar will headline Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day, which has been held in New Jersey on October 6 since 2016. The statewide initiative, organized by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, mobilizes the prevention and treatment communities, community leaders and concerned citizens to raise awareness of the potential for dependency on prescribed pain medicine and its link to heroin and fentanyl use.

“Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day provides New Jersey residents an opportunity to unite and fight the opioid crisis that has ravaged the state over the past few decades,” PDFNJ Executive Director Angelo Valente said. “This webinar will help people better understand where we stand in our fight against this epidemic and what actions our communities can take to address the issue.”

To learn more about the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day and to register for the webinar, please visit knockoutday.drugfreenj.org.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is a private not-for-profit whose mission is to educate New Jerseyans about substance use prevention. PDFNJ’s public service advertising campaign is the largest in New Jersey history, earning 190 awards and more than $200 million donated in print space and broadcast time.

SOURCE: Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey