COURT HOUSE – Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland announced an invitation to the public to attend a community presentation detailing the opioid epidemic that is affecting Cape May County, the state, and the entire country. This will be a joint presentation by the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, and the Division of Criminal Justice. United States Attorney’s Office Opioid Coordinator Erica Liu will be attending. The presentation will be open to the public July 12 and run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Christ Gospel Love Center Church, 2209 Route 9 South, Whitesboro, NJ.
As part of the presentation, Access to Reproductive Care and HIV Services (ARCH) nurses will conduct opioid overdose prevention training to anyone wishing to participate. Upon completion of the training, participants will be issued a kit free of charge containing Narcan and all essential items to potentially help save someone’s life in the event of an overdose caused by opioids.
Pastor Edgar D. Robinson of Christ Gospel Church offered to open the doors to the “Love Center” and host the event. The presentation will provide the community with information related to the current tragedy of opioid addiction sweeping across the country.
Prescription opioid abuse has fueled heroin use and with the introduction of controlled dangerous substances such as fentanyl and carfentail, our community has seen a sad and rapid increase in overdoses and oftentimes death as a direct result of these dangerous drugs.
The training will help educate the community to identify physical traits of these drugs, learn current local street lingo, identify signs of abuse and resource outlets and contacts for persons in need of recovery. The training will also cover the current state of law enforcement’s role in combating the issue all while working in partnership with state, federal and local law enforcement agencies and partners in the addiction and recovery fields.
There will also be representatives from various local prevention and recovery agencies in attendance and readily available to answer all public questions related to services provided by their agency. Agencies who will be in attendance are Cape Assist, Cape Counseling, Family Matters, Cape Addiction Recovery Services (CARES), South Jersey Aids Alliance and Cooperative Care, Christians United For Recovery (CURE).
Sutherland urged anyone who has been sadly affected by the devastation of opioid addiction or addiction to any controlled dangerous substance including alcohol to come out and bring a friend to become more informed. Information concerning this epidemic is a valuable tool to help keep loved ones safe and in many cases potentially save someone’s life.
For any questions concerning the event or to schedule a future event, please contact the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office at (609) 465-1135 and request to speak to Lt. Joseph Landis.
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