TRENTON – The newly launched Opioid Data Dashboard can help in the fight against opioid addiction. The New Jersey Department of Health designed the site to provide data to public health practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and the public.
The dashboard features information on drug-related deaths, prescription monitoring program stats, naloxone (commonly known as Narcan) administrations, hospital visits, treatment admissions and discharges, among other data. This data is supplied by the Department of Health and New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, among others.
It’s funded through a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Improving public access to opioid-related data trends is vital to stemming the tide of this type of addiction in New Jersey,” DOH Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal said. “More than 100 people die every day in the United States from opioid-related drug overdoses, and it is our sincere hope that information contained in the dashboard will guide prevention efforts and lead to data-driven decision making in combating this devastating epidemic.”
The dashboard complements real-time data distributed through the website of the Office of the New Jersey Coordinator for Addiction Response and Enforcement Strategies’ (NJCARES), housed within the NJAG’s Office. That site shares county specific information.
“New Jersey’s efforts to tackle the opioid epidemic depend on smart, data-driven policies and collaboration between government agencies,” Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said. “Drawing on information that the Office of the Attorney General has posted on our NJ CARES website, the Department of Health’s opioid data dashboard illustrates what we can do when we work together.”
The dashboard can be accessed at state.nj.us/health/populationhealth/opioid/.
