The newly-formed Heroin/Opiate Task Force of Mercer County (HOTFMC) held a press event recently to discuss its initiatives.
HAMILTON -- Last year, 55 people died in Mercer County from a heroin or opiate overdose.
"The numbers are real," former Hamilton Councilman Kevin Meara said. "Overdose deaths are up from 38 in 2014 to 55 in 2015, while there has been over 90 Narcan deployments since November 2014."
Those statistics are why in January, Meara along with other local officials, residents and medical professionals created the Heroin/Opiate Task Force of Mercer County (HOTFMC) to combat the heroin and opiate epidemic.
At a HOTFMC press conference recently at the Ray Dwier Center in Hamilton, members launched the group's new website ItStopsNow.com - which provides information on the heroin epidemic as well as resources on how to get help if you or a loved one is suffering from addiction.
"This health epidemic is having a devastating effect on families and claiming the lives of more and more residents everyday," the website says.
HOTFMC says their mission is to reduce the county's heroin and opiate introduction, distribution, addiction, overdose and death rates. Their vision is to make the community aware of the epidemic through public safety, education, medical and business programs.
"A group of like-minded people began discussing a need for a task force to address Mercer County's heroin/opiate epidemic and decided that such an effort was necessary and overdue," HOTFMC said in a statement.
Meara - one of the task force leaders - founded Hamilton-based nonprofit City of Angels with his wife in honor of their son K.C. Meara who died in 2008 of a heroin overdose. He has since traveled around the tri-state area advocating for the awareness of heroin and opiate addiction and the growing national epidemic.
"One of the immediate initiatives that HOTFMC is tackling is assisting Mercer County municipalities with hosting individual RED Nights Out," Meara said. "RED stands for Raising and Educating a Drug-free community and promotes an awareness night that enlists the whole community...residents, businesses, BOEs (boards of education), law enforcement and medical entities."
In addition to the RED Night Out, some initiatives the task force are looking into include focus groups, various police training programs, veteran treatment courts, recovery support groups, a "peer-based" recovery center and regional access to detox or treatment beds.
Another program as detailed by HOTFMC would employ recovery coaches for drunken driving and drug possession arrests, a police-sponsored program for addicts to go to for treatment and an initiative to release information to the public on the Medicine Drop Boxes found at local police departments.
"Look at the impact that Narcan deployment by police departments has had on saving lives in Mercer County," Robbinsville Police Detective and HOTFMC volunteer Scott Kivet said in an announcement. "That is why we are looking at other measures that will provide law enforcement with more opportunities to directly impact this epidemic."
The HOTFMC announcement states that for every $1 invested in addiction treatment and education, $11 is saved in law enforcement and medical costs.
Dr. Seeta Arjun - of In Focus Urgent Care in West Windsor who has treated young people with frug abuse disorders - said education and awareness programs are necessary to stop the heroin and opiate epidemic.
"First, I believe that these deaths are preventable and by implementing the right public awareness initiatives for a disease that is steeped in stigma, we can save lives," Arjun said. "And second, by knocking down the barriers to treatment access and building on aftercare support as offered by City of Angels, we can rely less on Narcan deployments, as more of these kids enter recovery."
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