The sign, by the Washington Township administration building, is a sobering reminder that this crisis is continuing to have an effect on neighbors, family, and friends right here in Warren County.  

According to the Warren County Prosecutor’s office, there were 35 deaths due to overdoses in the county in 2017 and dozens of “saves” as a result of NARCAN deployments.  Already in 2018 there have been 16 OD deaths in the county.  Since 2016, there have been a total of 75 reported deaths so far.   

The Coalition for Healthy and Safe Communities (a program of the Family Guidance Center) in collaboration with Warren County Law Enforcement, Parent to Parent Addiction Services of Warren County, the Warren County Recovery Advocacy Team (an affiliate of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) NJ) and Washington Township have been working together to raise awareness of the opiate epidemic that Warren County is not immune to. The Family Guidance Center has been serving Warren County for over 60 years and offers a host of community and school programs that are intended to prevent the abuse of opioid use.

“People are dying monthly in Warren County to drug addiction,” said Jeanne Cassano, Supervisor of Prevention Connections, a program of the Family Guidance Center. “It’s not just a problem that’s elsewhere. It’s happening everywhere and we are not sheltered to the reality of this nationwide crisis.” 

“No age group is immune from the opioid crisis,” added Richard Burke, Warren County Prosecutor. “In Warren County overdose deaths have ranged in age from kids in their teens to folks in their 50s.”   

Thankfully, NARCAN has saved many others from death. It is not uncommon for first responders to be called to a possible overdose where NARCAN is then deployed to save a life. In the past few years first responders have administered NARCAN hundreds of times. If first responders were not able to carry this life saving drug, Warren County deaths would have been much higher.  Well over half the municipalities in Warren County have now responded to an overdose call where NARCAN had to be administered to an individual.     

Meanwhile, the purpose of the Route 31 sign is to continue to raise awareness to the drug problems in Warren County.  

“We will continue to report on the number of deaths and overdoses that are happening county wide in an effort to call attention to the drug problems in the county,” said Burke. “We hope through these efforts we can make people understand that this problem is not going away. This is a community wide problem which can only be overcome by a community wide effort.”   

“We have to come together and agree that no matter what the cause of death, people are suffering; families are suffering,” added Cassano. “We are getting there but we still have a lot of work to do.”

There are a number of countywide prevention, treatment and recovery support services in place throughout the county and within specific municipalities.  If you want to get involved to help with these efforts you can find information on the Warren County website under Warren County Addiction Awareness Task Force or by calling the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Communities at 908-223-1985.