Wildwood, NJ -- For more than four decades, Cape Assist has been on the front lines working to prevent substance misuse and take proactive measures to protect youth and ensure healthy habits. As substances in the home are an often-overlooked danger, Cape Assist has teamed up with local partners and community members through its Care to Lock campaign to ensure medication and recreational substances are secure while raising awareness of the importance of safeguarding these items in the home.
Cape Assist’s Care to Lock campaign is working to address this issue by offering a way to safely lock substances away and keep them out of reach for free. The organization is distributing free lock boxes to the residents with prevention educational materials explaining the importance of safely locking away substances to keep away from children and youth. A community-wide effort that began in spring 2024, the Cape May County Healthy Youth Coalition and Lower Township Healthy Youth Coalition, both Cape Assist initiatives, have partnered with real estate agents, Beach Homes Team, Long & Foster, Hope One of Cape May County, Family Health and Prescription Center in Woodbine, Reef Family Pharmacy, Shore House Canna, Sea & Leaf, and two municipalities to help distribute Care to Lock boxes and prevention education materials to residents. Nearly 60 Care to Lock boxes have been distributed to residents and summer rental owners through these community partners.
The Care to Lock campaign focuses on getting residents to recognize the hidden and often overlooked dangers of unsecured prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, and other recreational substances such as alcohol and cannabis are to children and youth. “While we routinely lock our doors and secure valuables, most of us leave the medicine cabinet wide open. Many also forget to lock away alcohol and other recreational substances that can pose a risk to youth,” said Cape Assist’s Lower Township Healthy Youth Coalition Coordinator Jodi Corbett. “By partnering with local businesses and our realtor partners, we can ensure homes in south Jersey are taking proactive measures to protect our youth from potential exposure.”
The Care to Lock campaign is particularly significant in New Jersey, as legalization efforts have shifted public perception around marijuana use. By emphasizing the secure storage of these substances and promoting open dialogues on substance misuse prevention, the campaign aims to protect young people from the adverse effects associated with early substance exposure.
For the campaign, Cape Assist was able to purchase combination lock boxes from a $600 donation from the Greg DiAntonio Memorial Foundation, along with additional grant funds. Care to Lock boxes are available for businesses and local community members at no charge. Other partners for the campaign include the Upper Township Mayor’s Wellness Campaign, the Lower Township Clerk’s Office, and the Cape May County Health Department. Partners continue to be added regularly. The campaign aims to expand throughout the county with the goal of placing 100 additional Care to Lock boxes in homes and businesses in the coming year.
Shore House Canna, a cannabis dispensary in West Cape May, is also a supporter of the campaign. The business plans to display a Care to Lock box in their building. “Any way that we can promote safety is important, and it’s nice to have a realistic way of demonstrating how to be safe too,” said Hailey Shaw of Shore House Canna. “Education is the best power, and Care to Lock fits right into that goal of educating people about safety. Being a responsible adult when it comes to substances is important whether you are a parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or guardian. The Care to Lock boxes are also a way to show people that they can have conversations about it over dinner and that it becomes easier to talk about.”
The Care to Lock boxes come complete with information on the Care to Lock campaign, helpful materials for parents and legal guardians to better safeguard youth from the dangers of early substance exposure, local resource information, and upon request, can include opioid overdose-reversal Narcan kits. The Care to Lock boxes are free for Cape May County residents and organizations and can be requested through the Cape Assist website, www.capeassist.org/caretolock
