New Jersey's Opioid Strategy Shows Gains as Overdose Deaths Decline

MILLBURN, NJ – November 25, 2025 – As New Jersey prepares to take stock of its year-long battle against the opioid epidemic in an upcoming webinar, emerging data reveals a promising trend: fatal overdoses in the state are on a significant downward trajectory. This decline signals a potential turning point, shifting the narrative from one of unrelenting crisis to one of measured progress, driven by a strategic pivot towards data-driven harm reduction and multi-agency collaboration.

The final 2025 session of the "Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day Learning Series," scheduled for December 4, will feature insights from state law enforcement on the year's challenges and successes. Hosted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), the Office of Alternative and Community Responses (OACR), and the Opioid Education Foundation of America (OEFA), the event serves as a public checkpoint for a state that has been at the epicenter of the nation's opioid crisis. While the webinar focuses on reflection, the underlying data provides a compelling story of a state beginning to see returns on a revamped, public health-focused strategy.

A Story Told in Numbers

For years, the statistics painted a grim picture for New Jersey. The state witnessed a devastating peak in 2021 with over 3,100 confirmed overdose deaths, a tragic high exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, however, the tide has begun to turn. Confirmed deaths dipped slightly in 2022, followed by a more substantial 11% drop in 2023.

The trend has accelerated dramatically. Data from the first half of 2024 showed a remarkable 26% decrease in suspected overdose deaths compared to the same period in 2023. Preliminary figures for the first quarter of 2025 suggest this downward momentum is continuing. This progress, which mirrors a similar but less pronounced national decline, is being attributed by public health experts not to a single silver bullet, but to a constellation of coordinated efforts. The most significant factor cited is the widespread proliferation and use of naloxone, the opioid-overdose reversal medication, alongside a concerted effort to reduce stigma and expand access to treatment. The webinar's focus on 2025's data trends, presented by Captain Jason Piotrowski of the New Jersey State Police, will provide a critical official analysis of this encouraging, yet fragile, progress.

From Enforcement to Engagement: A New Playbook

A key driver of New Jersey's evolving approach is a fundamental shift in the role of law enforcement, moving from a primarily punitive stance to one of active partnership in public health. This transformation is embodied by both the webinar's keynote speaker and the state's new organizational structures.

Captain Piotrowski, who now serves as the Executive Officer of the Forensic and Technical Services Section, was instrumental in developing the New Jersey Drug Monitoring Initiative (DMI) from 2014 to 2023. His work has centered on leveraging data not for arrests, but for intelligence-led outreach and prevention. His academic pursuit of a Master of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University further underscores a deep integration of law enforcement and public health principles.

This philosophy is now institutionalized. In March 2024, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin formally established the Office of Alternative and Community Responses (OACR). This new office consolidates and coordinates the state's non-traditional responses to addiction and mental health crises. It oversees innovative programs like "ARRIVE Together," which pairs police officers with certified mental health professionals on crisis calls, and "Operation Helping Hand," which proactively connects individuals who have experienced non-fatal overdoses with recovery services. The creation of the OACR marks a formal commitment to treating addiction as a public health issue, with law enforcement serving as a crucial conduit to care rather than solely as an enforcement arm.

Following the Money: Strategic Investment in Recovery

Bolstering this strategic shift is an unprecedented infusion of capital. New Jersey is directing its more than $1 billion share from national opioid lawsuit settlements with a clear, data-informed plan. In June 2025, the state's Opioid Recovery and Remediation Advisory Council released its inaugural five-year Strategic Plan, prioritizing long-term solutions over temporary fixes. The plan focuses on four pillars: housing, harm reduction, treatment, and coordinated wraparound services.

Throughout 2025, the state has made significant investments aligned with this plan. In September, Governor Phil Murphy's administration announced an allocation of over $130 million to expand harm reduction centers and support families affected by the crisis, along with a separate $10.85 million to bolster community-based treatment for the uninsured. These funds are critical for building the infrastructure needed to sustain the recent gains in reducing overdose deaths.

Policy and regulatory changes are also creating a more favorable environment for treatment. As of January 1, 2025, New Jersey expanded behavioral health benefits under its NJ FamilyCare (Medicaid) program, better integrating mental health and substance use disorder services. Furthermore, a waiver issued in February aligned state rules for Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) with more flexible federal regulations, reducing administrative barriers to accessing care. Proposed legislation, such as the HOPE Initiative Act, aims to further leverage the expertise of organizations like PDFNJ to enhance public awareness.

The Enduring Role of Awareness and Prevention

While harm reduction and treatment expansion are yielding tangible results, the foundational work of prevention and public education remains a cornerstone of the state's strategy. The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, best known for its two-decade-long, award-winning public service advertising campaign, continues to play a vital role in this arena.

The "Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day" initiative and its accompanying Learning Series, which has reached over 10,000 professionals annually, are designed to saturate the state with messages of prevention and awareness. "This webinar offers a much-needed moment to take stock of what we’ve accomplished and where we still need to go,” stated Angelo M. Valente, Executive Director of PDFNJ, in a press release. “Understanding the full scope of this year’s efforts is critical as we plan for a stronger and more unified response in 2026.”

While it is difficult to draw a direct causal line between awareness campaigns and overdose statistics, their value is in creating an environment where policy changes and harm reduction can succeed. Research has shown that such campaigns are effective at closing specific knowledge gaps, such as the link between prescription painkillers and heroin use, and motivating families to have crucial conversations about risk. By reducing stigma and educating the public, these efforts build the community support necessary for the long-term success of public health interventions. The upcoming webinar represents the intersection of all these efforts—data analysis, policy implementation, and public education—coming together to forge a more resilient and effective response to one of the greatest public health challenges of our time.