Shore Regional Hosting Discussion on Spike in Heroin Use by Children

By Christopher Sheldon

Shore Regional High School is hosting a discussion for parents about talking to their children about the dangers of heroin use in the wake of the recent spike in heroin-related deaths. 

The public service campaign was created by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), in collaboration with the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, and the County Prosecutors in Monmouth, Ocean, and Cape May Counties.  

The discussion will be held at the school Monday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. and will be hosted by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.

“We are facing an epidemic of heroin use, driven by young people seeking cheaper alternatives to Oxycodone and the other opiate pain pills that have become a primary gateway drug,” Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said in a release from the school. “We’re attacking this problem at its roots, through prevention and education efforts, as well as through law enforcement operations that identify and take down heroin mills, and crack down on the diversion of prescription painkillers.”

Gramiccioni said in a release that parents cannot "turn a blind eye" to the possibility that students may be using drugs in local school districts.

“The situation is critical – young people are dying at an alarming rate," he said. "Everyone must start talking about the deadly effects of heroin, and the conversation must begin from the point of view that any teenager may have already fallen prey to this unforgiving drug."