{"id":449,"date":"2018-06-07T02:19:14","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T02:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/?p=449"},"modified":"2018-07-07T17:41:23","modified_gmt":"2018-07-07T17:41:23","slug":"in-newark-dea-launches-comprehensive-plan-for-battling-opioid-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/07\/in-newark-dea-launches-comprehensive-plan-for-battling-opioid-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"In Newark, DEA launches comprehensive plan for battling opioid epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.pbs.org\/viralplayer\/3013326364\/\" width=\"512\" height=\"332\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.njtvonline.org\/news\/author\/briana-vannozzi\/\"><span class=\"author\">Briana Vannozz<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pablo Pizarro, pastor at Assembly of God Church in Newark recalled, \u201cI\u2019ve walked into bathrooms where my mother had a bag stuck to her, track marks all over, and she was overdosing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the opioid epidemic at an all-time high, stories like that of Pablo Pizarro told this morning at a DEA press conference in Newark are becoming all too common, and breaking the cycle of violence and addiction generated by drugs is becoming increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve seen my father put a fork in her ear and blow her eardrums open. I\u2019ve seen my father hit her with a bat, intoxicated, and blow her knee cap. I should have been a drug addict, I should have been in the streets, but today I\u2019m trying to fight for the very same kids who\u2019ve seen what I saw.\u201d said Pizarro.<\/p>\n<p>Newark is now the ninth city in the U.S. designated under the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s \u2018360 Strategy,\u2019 a comprehensive, three-pronged approach to help cities grappling with severe rates of heroin and prescription drug abuse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDEA does one thing very well: drug enforcement. But we recognize that this issue is much larger and more complex and enforcement alone is not enough to make lasting changes in our communities,\u201d said DEA Special Agent in Charge of New Jersey Division Valerie Nickerson.<\/p>\n<p>The program focuses on enforcement; keeping drugs out of the community and cracking down on trafficking by coordinating with law enforcement agencies throughout the state; diversion control; holding doctors and pharma companies accountable for overprescribing or skirting the law, which could mean losing their licenses or abilities to prescribe; and a community outreach to engage schools, churches and grassroots groups to promote prevention.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are specifically targeting those individuals who are bringing drugs into New Jersey, absolutely, and as we know, most of the fentanyl and the heroin is coming from China or Mexico,\u201d said Agent Nickerson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the time folks focus completely just on violence, on the homicides and things that are happening, and most of those things are happening because of their relationship to drugs,\u201d said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.<\/p>\n<p>Essex County leads the state in the number of drug-related overdose deaths, with 156 so far for 2018 and over 1,200 statewide according to the Attorney General\u2019s office. Nationally, there are 174 drug overdose deaths per day, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust in one of our major Newark hospitals, there\u2019s been over 500 percent [increase] diagnosis in ER visits due to opioids and an 89 percent increase in hospitalization,\u201d said Dr. Mark Wade, director of the Newark Department of Health and Community Wellness.<\/p>\n<p>Under New Jersey\u2019s U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, the state started the first ever opioid unit. It\u2019s believed to be the only in the country, with six designated criminal prosecutors, a health care fraud unit and a partnership with the office of the Attorney General.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe average number of cases brought last year by our office: 39. In the three months since our reorganization: 67. We\u2019re up 79 percent, and that\u2019s because my folks are working harder. We\u2019ve redoubled our efforts on this front because we know it\u2019s a serious epidemic.\u201d said Carpenito.<\/p>\n<p>Newark has already rolled out the Newark Cares Program with the public schools and police department aimed at helping kids who\u2019ve experienced childhood trauma.<\/p>\n<p>The 360 Strategy was deployed in South Jersey about six months ago. The DEA won\u2019t speak to specifics there, but said they are seeing a decrease in violent crime and the amount of Narcan deployed. It\u2019ll take at least a couple of months\u00a0 before they can track results in Newark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Briana Vannozz Pablo Pizarro, pastor at Assembly of God Church in Newark recalled, \u201cI\u2019ve walked into bathrooms where my mother had a bag stuck to her, track marks all over, and she was overdosing.\u201d With the opioid epidemic at an all-time high, stories like that of Pablo Pizarro told this morning at a DEA press [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[23,2,21,22,17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Newark, DEA launches comprehensive plan for battling opioid epidemic - NEWARK SPEAKS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/07\/in-newark-dea-launches-comprehensive-plan-for-battling-opioid-epidemic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Newark, DEA launches comprehensive plan for battling opioid epidemic - 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