It’s a known fact that New Jersey is struggling with an awful opioid epidemic. The statistics of overdoses and fatalities due to opioids is terrifying for a teen in this area, as kids as young as 16 are dying all around us. These issues should be addressed at school and at home, so teens know the dangers of narcotics.

This crisis has claimed the lives of over 7,000 New Jersey residents since 2012. Deaths from drug overdoses likely topped 2,000 in 2016, killing more people than guns, car accidents and suicides combined, according to analysis by NJ Advance Media.

The majority of the deaths involved heroin, but the rise of fentanyl could soon make it NJ’s deadliest drug.  Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid originally designed to treat end-stage cancer patients. It can be up to 25 times more powerful as street-level heroin. Right next to us in Bergen County, there has been 79 recorded overdose deaths thus far in 2017. But law enforcement officials have been able to save 177 more with Narcan, an overdose antidote that is now in the hands of most law enforcement agencies in the state.

While we live in the middle of the opioid crisis, it’s extremely important to be aware of the realities of drug use. You may think it’s “fun” to try it, but that can lead you down a path of addiction and misery.