Nationwide, September marks National Recovery Month
By Danielle Davies
Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), Recovery Month is held annually every September to “increase awareness and understanding of mental and substance use issues and celebrate the people who recover.”
While it’s a national awareness initiative, it’s especially poignant here in Cape May County, where just this past June, we lost a 13-year-old boy to the opioid epidemic.
As the mother of two children, ages 8 and 12, this keeps me up at night.
Like many of my friends and neighbors—and undoubtedly like many of the residents of Cape May County—my husband and I want the best for our children… we want them to grow up safe, healthy and with a bright future ahead of them. It’s devastating to think of the future this young man might have had.
And yet, he’s not alone. While his death is shocking and devastating, he is one of a growing number of people who have died from drug overdose this year. As of Sept. 7, as reported by the Herald, Cape May County has seen 24 deaths, and 134 overdoses (up from 68 last year) so far in 2017.
Our county needs to do better.
We have some great resources working on behalf of addiction and recovery in Cape May County, but this is a problem that requires a broad and integrated perspective. As Sheriff Candidate Rich Harron often says, we need an “All Hands on Deck” approach to this epidemic. We need more treatment and counseling options, as well as recovery support services, but we also need to focus on prevention by providing better opportunities for our young people.
Our struggle with the opiate epidemic affects us all… it’s time we worked toward an approach that helps us all.
I’m running with Greg Wall for Freeholder because I believe that the voices of those in our addiction and recovery community are too often going unheard. The only way to effectively advocate for them—for us—is to get involved.
Vote for change this November. Vote for Davies and Wall for Freeholder.
Paid for by the Cape May County Regular Democratic Organization
P.O. Box 104, S. Seaville, NJ 08246
