Sponsored by:
Assemblyman VINCENT MAZZEO
District 2 (Atlantic)
Assemblyman JOSEPH A. LAGANA
District 38 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
Assemblywoman MARLENE CARIDE
District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Senator PATRICK J. DIEGNAN, JR.
District 18 (Middlesex)
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Caputo, Assemblywoman Jimenez, Assemblyman Space, Senators Turner and Greenstein
SYNOPSIS
Requires DOE to develop educational fact sheet for distribution to parents of student-athletes and cheerleaders concerning use and misuse of prescription opioids.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the use of prescription opioids by students who participate in sports and supplementing chapter 40 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, shall develop within 120 days of the effective date of this act, an educational fact sheet that provides information concerning the use and misuse of opioid drugs in the event that a student-athlete or cheerleader is prescribed an opioid for a sports-related injury.
b. A school district or nonpublic school that participates in an interscholastic sports program or cheerleading program shall distribute the educational fact sheet annually to the parents or guardians of student-athletes and cheerleaders and shall obtain a signed acknowledgment of the receipt of the fact sheet by the student-athlete or cheerleader and his parent or guardian.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, to develop an educational fact sheet that provides information concerning the use and misuse of opioid drugs in the event that a student-athlete or cheerleader is prescribed an opioid for a sports-related injury. The bill requires school districts and nonpublic schools that participate in interscholastic sports or cheerleading programs to distribute the fact sheet annually to the parents or guardians of student-athletes and cheerleaders, and to obtain a signed acknowledgement of the receipt of the fact sheet by the student and his parent or guardian.
It is the sponsor’s intent to ensure that young people and their parents are educated as early as possible about the dangers of opioid abuse and addiction. It is critical to provide this information to students who participate in athletics to make certain that, in the event they are prescribed an opioid for an injury, they will be fully knowledgeable of the risks of misuse.