This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Ocean County Mall Responds to the County’s Recent Spike in Drug Overdoses

Ryan & Ryan, Neighbor
|

TOMS RIVER, NJ, OCTOBER 2, 2013 –  According to a recent article published in the The Asbury Park Press, Ocean County's drug overdose rate has almost doubled since 2012 with an overwhelming 83 resulting deaths this year alone. Ocean County Mall will host an educational drug awareness weekend on Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19 in conjunction with The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in Center Court.

The weekend will provide attendees with knowledge and education surrounding drug use in hopes to spread awareness amongst local teenagers and young adults. Heroin and prescription pain killer abuse has seen a sharp rise in deaths in Ocean County during 2013,and  has caused numerous tragedies throughout the community.

Several organizations will participate through out the weekend including The Juvenile Unit of Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, The Ocean County Heath Department, DART Coalition of Ocean County and Project  Drive lead by Peter Curatolo. These participants will be on- site engaging with attendees, handing out brochures and informational flyers and much more. The Juvenile Unit of Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office will have interactive fatal vision goggles that they will use to conduct demonstrations simulating the perspective of an impaired driver. There     will also be live skits performed by local high school drama students revealing the harsh realities associated with drug use.


"We believe that this event will help spread valuable information about the recent spike in drug overdoses in Ocean County, said Tara Melodick, director of marketing and business development for Ocean County Mall. "Education and awareness is critical in the fight to help curb drug abuse and to prevent these tragedies from occurring at such a high rate going forward."

Ocean County Mall is located at the intersection of Hooper and Bay Avenues in Toms River, New Jersey, and is owned and managed by Simon Property Group Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. A single-level, super-regional shopping center, Ocean County Mall is anchored by Macy's, Boscov's, Jcpenney and Sears and has more than 130 specialty stores. Additional Simon Property Group information is available at www.simon.com. Visit www.oceancountymall.com for the latest mall events and retailer updates. Ocean County Mall is now on Facebook; check out www.facebook.com/oceancountymall. Follow the mall on Twitter: @oceancountymall


Find out what's happening in Toms Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Toms River