Mcdonald the new director of our new uh member of the free holder board uh melinda cane uh councilwoman Torres from camden city deputy chief sockeye and members of the camden County opioid addiction task force as many of you know a few years ago we started the task force here in camden County we uh became immediately engaged in educating the public in a very aggressive manner about the uh the problem of this disease we've had a very difficult time in fighting this disease it continues to be the number one problem here in camden County we face no greater challenge than fighting this You use disorder with just killing hundreds per year here in camden County so far this year we've lost 63 residents to an overdose we've had 100 and 47 North can deployments two thousand eighteen we lost 300 and 17 12 residents in camden County and uh since two thousand 17 we've got a total of 600 and 50 residents that we know of uh die from an overdose this problem Now jasper rated by the introduction of fenton oil into this uh into this uh opioid use disorder fenton all is something that is very hard to detect it is something that makes the dose of the drug dose much more deadly and I can tell you just a couple of weeks ago I went to the funeral of of someone who unfortunately passed away from an overdose 28 years old not announce of heroin was found in his system the only thing found in his system is spending all so obviously he thought he was having a uh a dose of heroin and it was all federal he died immediately uh that's why We are so happy today to have senator mendez here to address the situation of the legislation that he's proposing is exactly what we need to start turning the tide on defense and all coming into the United States or senator on behalf of the board of freeholders and opioid addiction task force thank you and welcome to camden city Thank you uh real director Kelly thank you for your leadership in this regard and in so many other things it's great to be on a beautiful day on the canon waterfront let me thank the deputy uh director of the Canada border freeholders as well uh long time serving member of the freehold the board I appreciate very much your being with us uh as well as um uh so many other leaders in the community our newest freeholders join us as well councilwoman tours uh and many others I'm glad to be here Camden with so many leaders committed to ending the opioid addiction uh I appreciate uh director capella and a cheap uh as what the chief as well uh for coming to talk about the challenges of cameron's residence and uh the uh challenge that officers face on the front lines of this crisis every day and I also wanna thank Patricia the shields and her uh uh Colleagues from project hope for being here years ago I helped secure the funding to jumpstart construction on project hopes community health Center and is great to see it become a leading provider for camden residents struggling with substance abuse here in New Jersey it's hard to find anyone who hasn't been touched by the opioid epidemic in some way in 20 eighteen alone a record three thousand 100 and 63 New Jersey's died of drug related Overdoses including prescription cane Hill uh hang uh killers heroin and intentional already within the first three months of 20 19 drug overdose has claimed the lives of more than 600 people across our state behind these staggering numbers is unimaginable hang of children who've lost parents and parents who lost children a brothers Lost sisters and sisters who've lost brothers of employees who've lost workers and workers who have lost colleagues I've long believed that we cannot overcome the opioid epidemic unless we all work together law enforcement government officials health providers and so on because a doctor can provide medication assisted treatment but she alone cannot stop fencing over making it onto the streets of our cities a police officer can save a life by administering nark ham but he alone cannot provide health coverage to the uninsured a custom Agent can sees pencil at our ports but they cannot stop China from manufacturing this points we need to fight the opioid epidemic from every angle that's why I fought for and continue to defend the affordable care act which extended coverage to nearly a million New Jersey ans and stopped health insurance from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions like substance abuse disorder that's why oppose Republican efforts to end medicaid as we know it because one in four Americans battling addiction depend On medicaid that's why often several provisions in the comprehensive opioids legislation that passed the Congress last fall and is now part of the law including legislation to expand treatment options keep more families together during recovery and encourage the use of alternatives to opioids in emergency rooms these are all steps in the right direction and yet the body count continues to climb that's apparently because today's battle against opioid looks very different than it did even just a few years ago over the last Appears the potent synthetic opioid known as pension Al has poured into our country from China and saturated our communities with deadly consequences in fact the Center for disease control and prevention found that in 20 17 mental contributed to nearly 40 percent of the 72000 fatal overdoses that took place across America and contrary to President trump's claims building a Wall on our southern border isn't a real solution you can build a Wall High as the empire state building and it won't stop drug traffickers from sneaking this poison to our legitimate points of entry just last year the point the port of Philadelphia right across the River was one of the largest ever intentional bus in our history canine teens discovered a hundred and 10 pounds of mental about one point seven million dollars worth hidden in a shipment of iron oxide from China we also know Chinese sensational funnels into the United States through Mexico earlier this year customs and border officials announced the largest seizure in history 200 and 54 pounds of sentinel pills and powder hidden inside a cucumber truck at a legal port of entry law enforcement estimated at this bus alone would have been enough for a hundred million lethal doses just think about Mental from China that could have killed a hundred million people in our country I spent years fighting to increase security at our ports including making sure every piece of cargo is scanned for illegal drugs weapons and other threats but China shouldn't be trafficking this venomous drug into the United States to begin with it has to stop last December I was encouraged to see the administration puts China to ban a wider range of dental related substances being manufactured in their country but as we All know China has a long history of disregarding its international obligations and struggling to enforce its own drug wars we need real accountability if we wanna save American lives that's why last week I long with senator chuck schumer and others introduced the fenton Al sanctions act this new bipartisan legislation would ensure that the Chinese government host traffickers and manufacturers accountable for the fencing that's poisoning Americans every single day Would devote nearly a billion dollars over the next five years to catching the rotten actors running this murderers marketplace from professional manufacturers to traffickers to financial institutions we require the President to publicly report on these actors annually we create a congressional Commission to study fenton all trafficking and present Congress with new additional steps to fight back our legislation would also impose real pressure on the Chinese actors involved in the fenton all trade under the fence Sanctions act the chemical and pharmaceutical companies quote producing this poison would be blacklisted from us markets the bottom line is that we can't simply take china's word for it when they say that they'll crack down on potential manufacturers especially when American lives are at stake with the frontal sanctions act we can send a clear message to the Chinese government they must hold their citizens and their companies accountable and if they don't the United States will investing in Security targeting pension Al producers expanding access to lifesaving treatment these are the kind of smart strategies we need to save American lives Here's what we don't need we don't need bluster about a border Wall that won't stop the flow of fenton all in American towns and cities we don't need a legal assault on the affordable care act that jeopardize access to treatment for millions we don't need budgets that stripped the state and Treasury departments of funding they need to protect our interest we need all hands on deck health providers law enforcement customs and border agents skilled diplomats and officials at every level of government working together to end the scourge of opioid addiction and to save American lives and that's exactly why Falling for and working towards here today in candy without let me introduce deputy chief Joe rosado on behalf the camden police Department to talk about some of the challenges that they have and after him a pantry Patricia the shields of project hope chief Like to thank senator mendez for what his efforts are bringing legislation and they'll hold the Chinese government accountable we did not know of any federal mills here in camden camden County where South Jersey I'd like to thank freeloader director Kelly assistant director Mcdonald from their support for us given us the tools that we have on a daily basis we attack the federal problem with the same unique operational tactics as we do heroin investigations beverage in the vast amount of resources by all stakeholders in the County region in a coordinated effort we meet on a daily basis with the camden County prosecutor's office the state police the attorney general's office and sheriff's Department and we coordinate our efforts in order to steamy the flow of this poison into the city This past Saturday night though it's like a story that a card area there's a female 31 years of age from boost in Pennsylvania was at the gas station at 28 eighty one 90 from Avenue she was unconscious she had 21 month old boy in a car seat in the back seat of her car and the young officer got waved down the officer assessed the female realized she was overdosing was able to give her an arcane and save her life but what Disturbing is she came here from both win purchase heroin thinking she's it's heroin but in reality of these overdoses it's not heroin it's fatal she went to the family dollar she stopped with their son in the backseat injected this poison it had no idea how she wound up at the gas station You think about the tragedy that was averted here her life was saved but if it's not from the social service agencies in Maryland cash force and all the efforts by the medical community to try to help with this addiction so far since we've started the plane nor can we saved 400 and 21 lives with market 400 and 21 lives at the end of the day the we have to stop the federal from coming into the city we do not have the ability to do that I applaud senator mendez for his efforts with this thank you Good afternoon my name is Patricia shields I'm here from project hope federally qualified health Center Center here in camden city I have three things I wanna share with you today the first is I wanna express my thanks to senator mendez and the bipartisan effort of the senators who are working to protect People from the illicit flow of sensational in this country are threat level is high it is unbelievably high it is beyond critical were under attack and as much as we done we are not able to control this we need help from the outside senator mendez thank you I wanna share my perspective as a ceo of a community health Center um we are federally qualified health Center we provide primary health care with integrated behavioral health and substance abuse treatment in two thousand and 13 we started providing medication assistant treatment with the box zone and vitriol so I'm I'm proud to say that we were one of the first in the city to be able to provide these services since that We've served over 12 hundred individuals with medication assistant treatment you may not know F H cs are really unique in their ability to provide integrated services you can't find this in a traditional medical practice we have behavioral health we have substance abuse we have primary care physicians and it's all under one roof so you don't have to be for referred to x y and z And hope that you make a connection in order to get the comprehensive services that you need camden city is really fortunate there are three F q cs here cam care project hope and osborne what we've seen since two thousand 13 there's more opportunities for opioid treatment there's been an expansion of the educational awareness around the harm Associated with opioid use physicians Writing far fewer prescriptions for opioids there's databases that enable doctors to see what else they're their patients may be receiving from other physicians despite all this the overdose weight has increased the fence and all that is on the Street is 50 times more potent than heroin and a hundred times more potent than more theme the flow Professional pass to stop I thank senator mendez um for this and for his longstanding support of all the federally qualified health centers the 20 - three that are in the state of New Jersey the 12 hundred that are across the nation we have the privilege of providing services to people regardless of their ability to pay and we provide high quality service the third thing that I want to share with you today is the perspective of my chief medical officer doctor linda Kelly she's the person responsible for the design and the delivery of our awesome health care services and for expanding the medication We are privilege to offer Thank you Pat I don't have much to say um I'd like to actually just use the words of my patients when we started providing medication assisted treatment in two thousand and 13 we saw a number of individuals initially in their five s in their 60 s some even in their 70 s who been using heroin for more than half their lives 30 years 40 years and surviving you know still Working still taking care of their families still doing what they need to do so you wonder why come in now for treatment why are you interested now and stopping if you've been doing this all these years and the answer is it's not heroin out there anymore it's death I learned mostly from my patients and um there is no heroine out there that is not on adulterated with fennel it's what we see on our urine drug screening every day it's what's patients tell us it's the desperation that they come in with that they need treatment right this very minute so this work in preventing fencing from coming into this country is exactly what we need we need more treatment and I'm happy to teach any physician or provider who wants to do to know how to do it I'm happy to teach them but ult Lay the flow of it of the substance needs to stop thank you Should be you know we're very I know I know I know doesn't have any money on it though okay thank you to um to uh hat to the doctor to achieve to the director and everybody coming together to make sure we can fight this scourge without I'm happy to answer a few questions