New Jersey Addiction Treatment Guide

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has articulated his stance on the drug addiction via his stated concern for the opiate epidemic in New Hampshire. As detailed in the New Yorker, when Governor Christie was a 2016 presidential hopeful, he traveled several times to New Hampshire, including to a drug treatment facility. The governor’s mother was reportedly addicted to cigarettes, which he says gives him a unique personal insight into addiction in general. Further, Christie is governor of a state steeped in a heroin crisis. Approximate 8.3 in every 100,000 New Jersey residents succumb to a fatal heroin overdose annually, which is a rate greater than three time the nationwide average.

For Governor Christie, compassion and treatment are the most needed public response to the American drug epidemic. Notably, Governor Christie’s political rhetoric subtly emphasizes that heroin abuse is a much a problem for America’s middle class as it is for lower income groups. While it is true that the middle class is his core constituency, he does not protect middle-class use of heroin by covering it up. Governor Christie provides anecdotes to the public about middle-class drug use to draw attention to it and therefore ensure that this group also gets help. The more substance abuse is understood to be the disease that it is, the more public attention can be brought to the full spectrum of individuals who experience it—from the poorest segment of society to the most affluent.

Governor Christie is not alone in his desire for drug rehabilitation for those in need of it. As the statistics provided in this discussion make clear, myriad New Jersey residents are affected by substance abuse. Public and private organizations in New Jersey, as will be discussed, make numerous efforts to ensure that the state’s residents receive help for substance abuse. In addition, the state also has first-rate rehab facilities for residents and individuals who choose to travel to New Jersey for their recovery needs.