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Advocates urging for opiate overdose prevention and safe syringe access in Asbury Park will offer a free Naloxone overdose prevention training on March 19, at 6:00 p.m. at the LGBTQ Youth Outreach Center at 805 Fourth Ave, according to a release from event organizers.

The training, coordinated with The South Jersey Aids Alliance [SJAA], is for anyone who may be at risk of an overdose, may encounter someone overdosing, or knows someone who may be at risk of an overdose from opiates, including those who have friends or relatives that take prescription opiates. Police, fire and other emergency personnel are also invited to attend.

“We have already had a person who participated in our overdose prevention program come back to us and report that she was able to administer the drug and save her friend’s life,” said Georgett Watson, COO of the SJAA. “We think this will be the first of many lives we can save with this program.”

Promoting the use of Naloxone to combat overdoses is a key provision in New Jersey’s Overdose Prevention Act, which provides explicit criminal and civil protections to medical professionals who prescribe the drug and laypeople that administer it in overdose situations. The Act also provides protection from arrest for possession of drugs or paraphernalia for people who call for help when witnessing an overdose.

Attendees will receive training on how to recognize the signs of a opiate or heroin overdose as well as how to administer the anti-opioid antidote. The antidote can temporarily reverse the effects of a fatal or near fatal overdose, allowing more time for critical medical care to be administered.

Overdose prevention printed materials will also be available for attendees and the first 20 registered attendees will receive a free Naloxone kit, which will be prescribed to them by an on-site, authorized prescriber.

To register, email Asbury Park resident Randy Thompson at randito3001@gmail.com

Thompson and other advocates have petitioned city policymakers at various council meetings to support putting Naloxone in the hands of the city police and first responders, however, city officials have decided to hold off on until the state attorney general’s office issues guidelines for usage, according to Mayor Myra Campbell.

“A part of it may be including how to properly administer [Naloxone],” Campbell said. “The city wants to make sure that whatever departments use it, that there will not be a lawsuit levied against that department. We are on safer standing an solid ground if we get a directive from the attorney general’s office.”

“Having the SJAA coming to the City to do a free Naloxone training is exactly what we need,” said Thompson, who has invited city council members to the training. “It meets the need of the community as Asbury Park is in the ‘Top 40’ heroin using communities in the state, but also gives our elected officials a chance to see the training and get educated on the issue.”

Mariel Henderson, a Point Pleasant resident who has been in recovery for seven years, said there is an opiate problem here in Asbury Park as well as greater Monmouth and Ocean counties and a lot of people are unaware the act gives legal protection to individuals who attempt to help an overdose victim.

“When I was getting high, I would not have called the police,” she said.

Shannon Preston, a social worker and program manager for the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey, is working with the city to draft an ordinance that would implement a syringe access program in the city.

“Harm reduction programs such as syringe access improve the overall health of the community by helping individuals connect with health care and support resources they might not otherwise have been able to access,” Preston said.

The VNA operates Project R.E.A.L., the LGBTQ youth center where the training will be held.

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