Gov. Murphy signs ‘Overdose Awareness Day’ resolution during COVID-19 health emergency
TRENTON » The COVID-19 pandemic has completely overshadowed America’s opioid addiction crisis.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday quietly signed a resolution designating Aug. 31 of each year as “Overdose Awareness Day” in New Jersey.
The new law received minimal attention this week as the Garden State acknowledges it lost 2,900 residents to fatal drug overdoses in 2018 compared with more than 14,000 residents who died from novel coronavirus complications since March.
Democratic Assemblymen Anthony Verrelli of Hopewell Township and Dan Benson of Hamilton pushed hard for this joint resolution establishing Overdose Awareness Day statewide.
“Every single life lost to an overdose is a tragedy made all the more heartbreaking with the knowledge that many of those deaths could have been prevented if more people had a better understanding of this serious issue,” Verrelli and Benson said Monday in a joint statement. “The purpose of designating an Overdose Awareness Day in New Jersey is to ensure our participation in an existing international effort to prompt more discussions about overdose prevention and allow families to share the grief many feel they cannot outwardly express because of the stigma surrounding their loved one’s death.”
In certain parts of the world, Aug. 31 is regarded as International Overdose Awareness Day, a global campaign spearheaded by Australian public health advocates.
On Monday, Murphy published a tweet highlighting International Overdose Awareness Day and noting he had “signed legislation designating today, August 31st, as ‘Overdose Awareness Day.’”
“Every New Jerseyan lost to an overdose is a loved one gone too soon,” Murphy said in his tweet. “We’re committed to doing everything we can to #EndOverdose. If you or a loved one is struggling: http://ReachNJ.gov.”
More than 67,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2018, the vast majority involving opioid abuse, whereas the COVID-19 public health emergency generated a U.S. death toll exceeding 180,000 this year to date, data show.
Murphy signed several measures into law on Monday, including the Overdose Awareness Day resolution, but the governor’s press office focused greater attention on the newly enacted legislation authorizing municipalities and counties to issue coronavirus relief bonds.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis has left no corner of our state untouched,” Murphy said Monday in a press statement. “In the absence of much-needed federal assistance, this legislation will provide an important tool to New Jersey’s municipalities and counties, allowing them to have access to the funds needed to continue serving residents.”
Murphy, a proud supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, on Monday also signed legislation criminalizing racially motivated false 9-1-1 calls.
“Using the threat of a 9-1-1 call or police report as an intimidation tactic against people of color is an unacceptable, abhorrent form of discrimination,” Murphy said in a press statement. “This irresponsible misuse of our 9-1-1 system places victims in a potentially dangerous situation, and can erode trust between Black and Brown New Jerseyans and law enforcement. Individuals who choose to weaponize this form of intimidation should held be accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Far from a major press release, Murphy’s press office on Monday announced the governor signed Senate Joint Resolution No. 85/Assembly Joint Resolution No. 178 into law without providing any public statements concerning Overdose Awareness Day here in New Jersey.
The measure, however, speaks for itself.
“Substance use disorder, particularly when it involves opioid drugs,” according to the resolution Murphy signed into law, “is seen by both the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization as a fast-growing epidemic that can all too easily lead to overdose and death.”
“Recognizing Overdose Awareness Day in New Jersey sends a strong message to former and current substance users,” the resolution states, “namely, that they are valued, and that overdose death is preventable.”
In addition to designating Aug. 31 as Overdose Awareness Day, the resolution also requests New Jersey’s sitting governor to “observe a moment of silence on August 31 of each year and to annually issue a proclamation calling upon public officials and the citizens of this State to observe ‘Overdose Awareness Day’ with appropriate activities and programs.”