as the opioid epidemic continues to steal the lives of New Jersey residents one campaign has put its focus on boots on the ground called not one more this effort is led by several Statewide organizations that are meeting addicted people where they are in Ocean and Monmouth counties our mental health writer Bobby Breyer is with me to tell us more about the campaign that he's been following Bobby good to talk to you as always tell us about this not one more campaign and how it's really changing the face of opioid treatment in South Jersey sure yeah Joanna the not one more campaign is a Grassroots effort started back in 2019 by a number of Statewide organizations including the New Jersey organizing project the New Jersey resource project and sea change recovery Community organization and essentially what they're doing is trying to stem the impacts of the opioid epidemic by completely getting rid of it while also trying to end the stigma associated with it another one of their primary goals is to make sure that some of the people most directly impacted by the opioid epidemic and their families are the ones who are able to stand up and speak out so that they will be able uh to make sure as they had said that the funds coming from a lot of these opioid settlements in the next 15 to 18 years are not misappropriated in counties like ocean and Monmouth so what's interesting we're seeing more and more efforts to reach people where they are efforts to to push into communities this is a door-to-door effort they're bringing rescue kits what can you tell us about that you know this is something that they've been doing now uh for weeks uh primarily on weekends uh with with what they're calling opioid overdose rescue kids provided by the New Jersey uh harm reduction Coalition essentially what these rescue kits include are almost like a first aid packet uh full of help including uh Narcan xylazine testing strips and Fentanyl testing strips as we know xylazine and Fentanyl are continually showing up in drug supplies and are often uh the the primary reason for overdose deaths not only in New Jersey but across the country these kits also include things like a fact sheet about what to look for during an opioid overdose crisis and also a CPR breathing mask so essentially these door-to-door campaigns are are not only handing out these kits in some of the hardested areas it's also to let people know in in counties like ocean in Monmouth of these funds that are coming their way in the next 15 to 18 years and to make sure that they have the ability to really advocate for the things that they need Bobby from your reporting what can you tell us about some of the challenges that are unique to South Jersey we know the opioid epidemic has affected every corner of the state but what's unique about folks in South Jersey including access to transportation yeah Joanna that's really the main key that a lot of people that have spoken with uh including uh neighbors that have spoken with in towns like Mystic Island have touched upon that really the lack of access to Transportation or as what some folks have called Transportation deserts are really critical uh in these situations um you know for somebody looking to uh to as they say get clean in recovery it may have access to something like a New Jersey Transit bus to Atlantic City or Toms River in Southern Ocean County but what they may not have access to is a car or reliable transportation so a lot of times what Advocates have called for is a lot of these mobile medication assisted units these are essentially vans that go out to Rural and underserved areas of the state to provide medication like methadone and other things to kind of meet people where they are rather than people having to go to the services themselves excellent reporting Bobby Breyer great work that they're doing down in South Jersey thank you for bringing it to us thank you Joanna support for the medical report is provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association [Music]