Camden County sees significant drop in overdose rates

(Gloucester Township, NJ) – Recently, the NJ ROIC-Drug Monitoring Initiative released its annual report for the first half of 2024 and found that from January to July, Camden County has experienced a 39% drop in overdose deaths compared to last year. This incredible progress proves that the expansive initiatives enacted by the Board of Commissioners and several community partners are having a real, tangible impact on the community.

“We have worked tirelessly to combat this insidious epidemic and to see in real time that our efforts are working is an indescribable feeling,” said Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. “This report shows that curbing overdose is possible through a variety of harm reduction measures such as making Narcan and medically assisted treatment, widely available. Furthermore, what can’t be discounted is the wide range of educational initiatives we have funded and produced to warn the public of the deadly impact of fentanyl.”

In addition to the fall in fatal overdoses, there has also been a sharp decline in Naloxone administrations in the first half of the year. According to the NJ Department of Health, between January and June of 2023, there were 851 naloxone administrations given in Camden County as compared to the same period of this year, when there were 511 administrations. Similarly, the rate of fatal overdoses in Camden County has fallen year after year since 2022. There were 295 total drug related deaths in 2023, a significant decrease from 354 deaths back in 2022.

“Camden County’s 2024 Drug Monitoring Statistics, showing a dramatic reduction in fatal overdoses, is evidence of the successful collaboration between Board of Commissioners, law enforcement, medical, and mental health professionals,” said Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay. “Contributing to this success is Camden County law enforcement’s modification of its role in combatting the opioid crisis by actively navigating those suffering from substance use disorder to life saving resources and treatment. Camden County’s multi-discipline approach to reducing and overcoming addiction has been nationally recognized and acknowledged as an example for other jurisdictions across the country.”

The fight against the opioid and overdose epidemic kicked off in 2014, when the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force was formed in response to the devastating impact that the opioid crisis has had on the community. This task force is comprised of students, parents, teachers, civic organizations, medical professionals, public health providers, law enforcement and religious leaders and its main purpose is to increase awareness of opioid abuse and addiction, reduce the demand for these substances, promote available resources for help and support the development of additional resources to treat and prevent addiction to opioids.

“This 39% drop in overdoses proves once again that investing in harm reduction measures and medically assisted treatment is the key to beating the opioid epidemic once and for all,” Congressman Donald Norcross said. “I’m proud of the efforts we’ve taken in Camden County to combat this epidemic, and I’ll continue pushing in Congress to use the measures taken by the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force as a model for the rest of the nation.”

Over the course of the last 10 years, Camden County has enacted several transformative initiatives aimed at ending overdose, ending the taboo around talking about addiction and getting those in need proper resources such as rehab, therapy or medically assisted treatment. These efforts include:

• Installing naloxone boxes in every school, park and county owned building to expand access to this life saving, overdose reversing medication.
• Crafting a nationally recognized Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) program at the Camden County Correctional Facility that has shown to reduce overdoses of participants on a large scale after release.
• Using funds from the Opioid Settlement to introduce a mobile Buprenorphine pilot program where medically assisted treatment is dispensed from an outreach van and provide take home Naloxone kits to overdose and substance use disorder patients treated in emergency departments
• Launching an extensive fentanyl awareness campaign to raise awareness about what fentanyl is and how deadly it can be.
• Providing free Narcan training sessions, fentanyl test strips, NaloxBoxes for social service organizations and mental health support for those who have lost a loved one to substance use disorder.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this progress would be impossible without the collective effort between the Board of Commissioners and our partners,” Cappelli continued. “Fighting right alongside us have been the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Mental Health and Addiction, local, state and federal officials, law enforcement, all of our health care partners including Cooper University Health Care and many more individuals and entities.”

Anyone seeking addiction assistance should call 1-844-ReachNJ (732-2465), which provides free professional support for those facing addiction and their loved ones. If you are a Camden County resident suffering from substance abuse disorder, please call the Office of Mental Health and Addiction at (856) 374-6361.

“This news is significant as elected officials, local and regional health systems, non-profit organizations, and community groups have been working collaboratively and diligently to address issues related to substance use disorders in our community.  At Cooper University Health Care and our Center for Healing, we have worked hard to create an integrative, evidence-based, multi-disciplinary program to meet people where they are and get them the help that they need,” said Dr. Rachel Haroz, center head for Cooper’s Center for Healing. “It has been our honor to work with County and State officials and all of our community partners to make meaningful changes. A 39% reduction in mortality is a testament to this work and reinforces how critical these collaborations and initiatives are.”

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