DEA NJ Hosting Youth, Family Drug Awareness Summit April 28

WILDWOOD – The Drug Enforcement Administration, New Jersey Division, (DEA) will be hosting a Youth and Family Drug Awareness Summit as part of DEA’s 360 Strategy for Southern New Jersey. The summit will be held April 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Wildwoods Convention Center, 4501 Boardwalk, Wildwood.
The summit will be attended by students in grades four through eight, as well as their parents. DEA’s 360 Strategy responds to the current heroin and prescription opioid crisis. The 360 Strategy takes an innovative three-pronged approach to combating heroin/opioid use through law enforcement actions, diversion control, and community outreach.
The summit will consist of:
• Keynote speaker Aric Bostick – nationally renowned motivational speaker
• Hidden in Plain Sight presentation for parents
• Fundamentals of Leadership for Youth presentation
• A peer-to-peer workshop on accomplishing goals
• Youth leaders from Williamstown High School
• Presentation on the dangers of vaping and other informational sessions
Also at the summit will be Marvels! Captain America, New Jersey State Police SWAT, Bomb, K9, and aviation displays, Philadelphia Flyers Bob “the Hound” Kelley, DEA Dance Team, ELKS Elroy the Elk, and much more.
The goals of the 360 Strategy include stopping the deadly cycle of prescription opioid misuse and heroin abuse by continuing to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations responsible for supplying communities with drugs. A large part of the strategy includes the building of relationships with community organizations, healthcare professionals, and government agencies to combat the epidemic.
The mission of the DEA is to enforce the controlled substances laws and regulations of the United States and bring to the criminal and civil justice system of the United States, or any other competent jurisdiction, those organizations and principal members of organizations, involved in the growing, manufacture, or distribution of controlled substances appearing in or destined for illicit traffic in the United States; and to recommend and support non-enforcement programs aimed at reducing the availability of illicit controlled substances on the domestic and international markets.