2015 Drug Trends in New Jersey

Drugs are an issue not just in the U.S., but around the world as well and addressing this huge issue is of absolute importance for everyone. Drug addiction can cause multiple health issues and it can eventually lead to death in various ways (overdosing being one of them only).

New Jersey is facing problems with drug addictions as well, and one of the major concerns is related to heroin. According to specialists, heroin can cause addiction from the very first shot and the most alarming thing is the fact that more and more people in New Jersey gain access to this drug. While some of the people out there may be tempted to believe that heroin addiction is an issue related to the urban areas mostly, the truth is that this drug is widely available in suburban and rural areas as well and that one hit has become as cheap as $1. Even more, some of the drug dealers are ready to make home deliveries as well as long as the users are ready to pay for a small fee. While the first hit costs $1, heroin addicts admit that as the addiction evolves, they can end up spending as much as $200 every day to fuel their addiction.

Just to give you an idea of how serious this issue is in New Jersey (and not just in the urban area), you should know that the highest per capita rate of treatment admission is encountered in Cape May, with a rate of 25. Even more, specialists agree to the fact that the online means of communication, as well as the mobile phone communication, have enabled more and more people to gain access to the drug. By using coded names, they can simply order their hits and, as mentioned before, the dealers will deliver them for a small fee.

The drug-related deaths in New Jersey have increased with more than a half (53%, to be more precise) from 2010 to 2012 and this has made it extremely clear for the authorities that measures have to be taken in the direction of preventing drug use as much as possible. Also, studies show that young people are more prone to develop this addiction and the data shows that out of the 8,300 people who were admitted into drug treatment facilities in New Jersey in 2012, more than 40% were less than 25 years old – a very alarming fact that has pushed authorities even further into their attempt at preventing this addiction as much as possible.

People who have studied this issue have found out that heroin addiction is derived from addiction to painkillers. A large number of those who are addicted to heroin started taking prescription drugs first. Since the prescription drug problem is a national one and since these drugs have slowly become less available, a lot of the people who used them turned to heroin as one of the easiest accessible drugs out there.

According to the Ocean County prosecutor, Joseph Coronato, the issue of heroin abuse should be addressed by addressing the issue of prescription drugs first. According to the 2013 data, 113 people died as a result of an overdose, which is double than the number of people who died one year before that. Even more than that, most of these deaths were related to prescription drugs.

The programs launched in 2012 to monitor the use of prescription drugs have not eradicated the issue yet. The practice of “doctor shopping” (asking for prescriptions from multiple physicians) is still widely encountered and close monitoring of all the cabinets out there should be mandated by the law.

Another issue related to drug use in New Jersey is connected to the admission rate into the facilities that could offer help to those addicted to heroin or other drugs. According to the testimonies made by multiple families, their heroin addicted children died while on the waiting lists because the insurers did not give them the “go” to obtain the necessary treatment. Even more, many of these families and individuals were forced to claim that they had become suicidal or that they suffered from alcohol addiction to be admitted into a program.

Last, but not least, New Jersey is considering implementing recovery high schools where teenagers who have just come out of a rehabilitation center can continue their recovery without being pursued by drug dealers (according to the studies, an overwhelming 93% of the high school kids are approached with the purpose of being sold drugs the first day they are back at school after having followed a rehabilitation program).