Bill Would Put Drug Names On OD Victims' Death Certificates

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A bill that would require greater transparency in opioid deaths passed the Assembly recently.

The bill passed by a vote of 73-2, with five representative not voting. Assemblyman Kevin Rooney, a Republican representing the 40th Legisative District, co-sponsored the legislation.

The bill, if signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy, would require death certificates to include the name and class of drug that contributed to an overdose death.

"Too many people are dying of overdose, but the cause of death doesn’t reflect it," said Rooney. "More accurate data will give us a better idea of the severity of the drug problem we are facing. We need to understand exactly what we are dealing with."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses data from death certificates in reports on overdose statistics throughout the United States.

Nearly 3,200 people died of drug overdoses in New Jersey in 2018 — the first time that many people died of overdoses in the history of the state. The 3,163 deaths were a 15 percent increase over the 2,750 deaths in 2017, according to the Office of the Attorney General.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com