OLD BRIDGE — Township and state officials will come together Oct. 16 at Old Bridge High School to address the issue of prescription-drug abuse.
“Facing an Unpleasant Reality Together” will focus on opiate and prescription drugs that have been known to lead to heroin use, according to Mayor Owen Henry.
The event will take place 7-9 p.m. in the Old Bridge High School auditorium, 4209 Route 516. The event is open to the public and free to attend.
“This is to inform the public that this problem starts at home in the medicine cabinet. This is to inform the public to look for warning signs and how to communicate with your kids and deliver the resources that are available,” Henry said.
Speaking at the event will be Henry, Doug Collier of the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, Capt. Robert Weiss of the Old Bridge Police Department, Superintendent of Schools David Cittadino and a parent who has been affected by drug use, Henry said.
“We have had eight fatalities here in town over the past year,” Henry said. “That number over time has been in the 20s for overdoses. We have made a number of arrests and taken a substantial amount of drugs and people off the streets, but we can’t arrest our way out of this problem. This has to be local government, police and families. This has to be society-wide to stop this.
“It is a shame. [Prescription drugs] we fight are designed to help people in pain, and in the long run, they are killing someone due to abuse.”
After the initial presentation, Henry said he will moderate a panel discussion with the speakers and other township officials, which will include questions from the public.
“This event will not be filmed; there will not be any audio recordings of it — nothing. There will be a lot of personal stories told here, and this is just for the people in the room,” he said.
Henry said a drug drop-off box will soon be located at the Police Department, where residents can drop off unused prescription drugs to avoid keeping them in their homes.
“Probably about two or three weeks after the event, we will start that. We did a drug drop-off event with the Police Department once or twice per year before this, but this will be 24/7, all the time,” he said. “We need to work out some logistics before we do this, that is why it is not there now. We have the box, but we need to install a camera there just to make sure [everything is safe with the box].”