As Opioid Crisis Worsens, Westwood Holds Addiction Awareness Walk

WESTWOOD, NJ — A remembrance event for the lives lost to addiction will take place in Westvale Park this Sunday.

The walk will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include the Silent Memorial, a presentation of 400 lives lost to addiction to build awareness on the growing epidemic in New Jersey.

Former Governor of New Jersey Jim McGreevey will be the keynote speaker. Mark Musella, Bergen County’s Prosecutor, is set to attend this Sunday’s event.

The opioid crisis took more than 3,000 lives in the Garden State in 2021, according to the New Jersey Health Department. Governor Murphy signed legislation earlier this year to combat this. Harm reduction centers, places where drugs can be used safely, can be authorized to distribute sterile syringes and provide certain support services to persons who use drugs intravenously.

This crisis, which affects millions of people across America, worsened since the pandemic.

In 2020, 40.3 million in the United States people aged 12 or older had a substance use disorder. But around seven million people had an alcohol and illicit drug disorder, according to a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report.

These disorders are usually chronic diseases caused by uncontrolled overuse of illicit drugs. Sometimes they can even result from excessive cigarette and alcohol use.

Alcohol use disorder was the highest among young people between the ages of 18 and 25, according to a SAMHSA report. The same trend was also seen in marijuana and prescription drug use.

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