New Jersey Sees New Bills to Battle Addiction

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently signed two new bills to help his state fight addiction. “We remain firmly committed to confronting the stigma of drug abuse and addiction in the Garden State,” Governor Christie said (Siegel, 2015).

The first bill requires “state colleges and universities who have at least 25 percent of their student body living on campus must have a sober-housing residence within the next four years” (Siegel, 2015). According to New Jersey Senator Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), “Schools that have this kind of housing have higher GPAs and lower dropout rates.”

The second bill allows people in drug court to be enrolled in medication-assisted treatment (MAT). In August of 2014, New Jersey was awarded money from the federal government to expand access to MAT such as methadone and Suboxone, but saw a “major pushback from law enforcement” (Siegel, 2015).

New Jersey has one of the highest rates of overdoses in the country.

References

Siegel, Z. (2015). Gov. Christie signs two major addiction bills in garden state. Retrieved from https://www.thefix.com/gov-christie-signs-two-major-addiction-bills-garden-state