Second Of Three Part 'Drug Trend' Discussion To Be Held May 21

Basking Ridge, NJ (May 13, 2014)  -- The Bernards Township Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse is hosting the second of three dialogue nights next Wednesday, May 21st. These dialogue nights are in response to the feedback from the March 13th Town Hall meeting entitled “Cycle of Pills to Heroin: Drug Trends in Our Community”.

This month’s program will take place on Wednesday, May 21st from 7:00 pm until 8:30 in the Warren Craft Room at the Bernards Township Municipal Building. Entitled, “The Definition of Addiction: Is it Adolescent Angst or Substance Abuse?” this discussion will go into detail about addiction and its many different features.  Participants can learn the difference between adolescent behavior and substance use and abuse. This evening will feature presentations from clinicians in the field of substance abuse, including Lorin Gaffen who was present at the original “Cycle of Pills to Heroin: Drug Trends in our Community”.  This dialogue night will also feature local testimonials and community perspectives of addiction.

“We took the feedback from our Town Hall meeting and are offering three concentrated dialogue nights before summer begins,” says Carol Bianchi, Township Committee Member and Municipal Alliance Chairperson, “We wanted to continue the conversation we started that evening with the panel and keep it open to the public. We hope community members will come out to these dialogue nights to learn more about substance abuse and how to combat it”.

This month’s program will take place on Wednesday, May 21st from 7:00 pm until 8:30 pm. Entitled, “The Definition of Addiction”, this discussion will go into detail about addiction and its many different features.  Participants can learn the difference between adolescent angst and drug use. This evening will feature presentations from clinicians in the field of substance abuse, including Lorin Gaffen who was present at the original “Cycle of Pills to Heroin: Drug Trends in our Community”. This dialogue night will also feature local testimonials and community perspectives of addiction.

 The final dialogue night will be on Wednesday, June 11th from 7:00 pm until 8:30 pm. The June program is entitled “The Discipline of Recovery”. Topics from that evening will include getting clean and staying clean, sober living and support. Members from the March 13th panel who shared their stories of recovery will be present at this dialogue night.

For more information, please contact Municipal Alliance Grant Coordinator, Kaitlin Kordusky at (908) 204-2523 or email alliance@bernards.org.

The mission of the Bernards Township Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse is to provide consultation, programs, training and resources to members of the Bernards Township community with the goal of preventing and reducing the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs through education, support of events and programs and presence in the community. For more information and to view results from the Student Stressors or American Drug and Alcohol Survey, visitwww.bernardsalliance.org.