- Hey, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with a conversation with Angelo Valente, Executive Director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey.

The website is up.

Angelo, good to see you again.

- You as well, Steve.

Thank you for having me.

- The website is up.

Let everybody know what the partnership is.

- Sure.

So the partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey's main mission is to share information for families on how to protect themselves from the dangers and scourges of drug use.

In New Jersey, what we've seen is that we've really made a great effort in educating New Jersey residents about how to protect themselves and their families.

- Talk about where we are in terms of opioid deaths from overdose.

My information is we're down.

Not my information, the information is we're down, but it's more complex than that.

Is it not, Angelo?

- Steve, we have some real good news to share.

Over the last five years, we've seen a steady decline in overdose deaths in New Jersey.

However, we're still at a staggering number of individuals and families that are losing a loved one to this epidemic.

So in no way is that, we're at a situation where we can declare victory.

Certainly we like what we see.

We like the idea that more and more people are getting the messages that we're delivering, are looking at ways to be able to look at alternatives to opiates when they're faced with that decision.

And this is particularly true with young people.

We've seen a real shift over the last half number of years on how people react when they're offered an opiate, looking at an alternative and having that discussion with their doctor.

- What about seniors and opioids?

- Well, that's another story.

I mean, what we've seen over the last several years is that seniors have become the most vulnerable population and are being impacted more so than some of the other age groups.

In fact, those individuals in New Jersey, 55 and older, were the largest segment of individuals that were affected by drug overdoses over the last several years.

And part of the reason for that is that seniors are more likely to be exposed to opiates, to be given an opiate because of a injury, because of postoperative care.

And in many cases, they're mixing those drugs with other drugs as well, with alcohol, and it's causing real serious problems in New Jersey and throughout the country.

- So Angelo, let's talk about this because we've had so many conversations on the air and offline about these issues.

But what I'm curious about is, and there's been so much work that the partnership has done in engaging healthcare professionals, clinicians.

When you talk about seniors who are getting opioids prescribed, and full disclosure, I have as well after a surgery or whatever it is, and in my mind, I'm like, I'm going to do everything I can to avoid it.

Don't always.

But I'm always worried about mostly because of our conversations, trust me, there's a point here, Angelo, that I could potentially become addicted.

That being said, to what degree has the medical community as it relates to seniors and the prescribing of opioids been involved, engaged, and actively participating in what needs to be done?

Because there are alternatives that we should talk about.

- Absolutely.

New Jersey has really been in the forefront.

We were the first state in the nation to establish a law that required a conversation to take place between a prescriber, a doctor, a dentist and a patient.

And that conversation we think has really made tremendous strides in bringing awareness about the potential for dependency in addiction, which it only takes five days for dependency to set in.

So any one of us, it could easily become dependent on opiates with a very short prescription or very short number of days being prescribed these opiates.

So I think what we're seeing is that the medical community over, at least over the last decade, has really made strides as well in looking at alternatives and looking at ways to be able to help protect people.

But we still have a ways to go before we get to a level where we feel that every medical professional is on board and has the same kind of opinion about opioid alternatives.

- Angelo, let's talk about this, the $1.3 billion, the opioid settlement, the money from pharmaceutical companies, right, who manufacture opioids.

$1.3 billion through 2038 from opioid manufacturers, distributors, retailers.

Where is that money now and where do you believe it should be going?

- So currently the money's being distributed, really at two levels at the state level and at the county level.

And at the county level, what's happening currently is many counties are looking and evaluating where to most effectively spend these funds.

The state is doing a similar, has a similar process.

It's established a commission to look at where these monies should be spent.

As far as the partnership for a drug-free New Jersey, we've always been advocates of using these funds for multiple purposes.

First and foremost to support those individuals that have been impacted by the opioid epidemic, whether that be long-term support services for those individuals, certainly looking at treatment and making treatment accessible.

We also believe that there should be a set aside for prevention because unless we continue to prevent people from going down that path, there's not going to be enough money in the whole universe to be able to deal with the consequences of individuals and families.

- Angelo, I'm sorry for interrupting.

Back up.

Money go for prevention.

Be more specific.

What are we talking about?

Public awareness, education?

- I think it's a combination of education in our schools.

Certainly we need to be able to have messaging that the general public is receiving.

I think Steve, if we look at what we've done in the state over the last decade.

The public awareness has been a big part of the reason- - It has.

- Of the success we have.

I mean, we, if you are a parent and you go into an emergency room with a child for a sports injury, you're a lot more aware today than you were 10 years ago- - Absolutely.

- About the dangers of an opiate being prescribed to that child.

If you go into a dentist's office for a wisdom tooth extraction, parents are now much more willing to have that discussion and look at ways to be able to deal with that acute pain without getting an opiate for their child.

So, so that's a big part, I think, of how we're going to be able to address this, not only currently, but going into the future.

- Before I let you go, Angelo, the, you folks at the, at your organization, at the partnership had a New Jersey Healthy Aging Summit.

Real quick, what was that and was it very much connected to the opioid addiction issue?

- Yes.

The Healthy Aging Summit was a focus on individuals in New Jersey, 55 and older.

As I mentioned a little bit earlier, that's the group that's most vulnerable at this point.

And what we did is we looked at being able to bring a very specific message to that individual, those individuals.

We talked about the fact that whether or not you're 16 or 65, you still are very vulnerable to becoming dependent in only a short period of time from an opiate.

So look at alternatives, whatever your age is.

- Angelo Valente, Executive Director.

Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey doing important work every day.

Angelo, thank you, my friend.

We'll talk soon.

- Thank you very much.

- You got it.

Steve Adubato here.

That's Angelo Valente.

We'll be right back after this.

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