Governor Christie:
We need to be the people who fight for those families who lose their loved ones. They may have the strength to fight themselves, but sometimes they don’t and we need to be the ones to fight for them, and we need to be their voices. They’re overwhelmed and many of you in this room, I know, because I’ve met a number of you who have had this problem in your own family and you know how crippling and debilitating it can be.
We have people in this state who care enough about you and your cause to be your voice as well. And that’s what today is all about and everything that we will be doing from here forward is all about, is about empowering those families and those folks with this disease to be able to recover.
We hope and trust that this will become a National model for states across the country. We’re doing it not only for the people of the State of New Jersey but we’re doing it in our role as Chairman of the President’s Commission on Opioid Addiction to set an example for the President, for his Administration, for the Congress and for the rest of the country. Sixty-four thousand people died of an overdose in America in 2016.
That is thousands more than the people who died at the height of the HIV/Aids epidemic. And I remember the marches on Washington and other major cities to demand action from the government to deal with the death that was going on. Where are our marches? We can do everything we can as a government but we become much more powerful when the people that we govern walk with us, and by being here today you’re walking with us.
Through all the efforts that you’ve made before today you’re walking with us, and I hope for all the efforts that you’ll be inspired to continue and expand beyond today you’ll walk with us. Because if we do we will deal with this problem. We will save lives. We will make great change for people who really need it.
That’s why I’m doing this, that’s why I believe so strongly in it, and that’s why I feel like it’s my mission over the last couple of years of this Governorship to make sure that not only do we do the programs we need but that everybody hears that this is a disease, that recovery is possible, and that help is within reach, you just have to ask.
We need to be the people who fight for those families who lose their loved ones. They may have the strength to fight themselves, but sometimes they don’t and we need to be the ones to fight for them, and we need to be their voices. They’re overwhelmed and many of you in this room, I know, because I’ve met a number of you who have had this problem in your own family and you know how crippling and debilitating it can be.
We have people in this state who care enough about you and your cause to be your voice as well. And that’s what today is all about and everything that we will be doing from here forward is all about, is about empowering those families and those folks with this disease to be able to recover.
We hope and trust that this will become a National model for states across the country. We’re doing it not only for the people of the State of New Jersey but we’re doing it in our role as Chairman of the President’s Commission on Opioid Addiction to set an example for the President, for his Administration, for the Congress and for the rest of the country. Sixty-four thousand people died of an overdose in America in 2016.
That is thousands more than the people who died at the height of the HIV/Aids epidemic. And I remember the marches on Washington and other major cities to demand action from the government to deal with the death that was going on. Where are our marches? We can do everything we can as a government but we become much more powerful when the people that we govern walk with us, and by being here today you’re walking with us.
Through all the efforts that you’ve made before today you’re walking with us, and I hope for all the efforts that you’ll be inspired to continue and expand beyond today you’ll walk with us. Because if we do we will deal with this problem. We will save lives. We will make great change for people who really need it.
That’s why I’m doing this, that’s why I believe so strongly in it, and that’s why I feel like it’s my mission over the last couple of years of this Governorship to make sure that not only do we do the programs we need but that everybody hears that this is a disease, that recovery is possible, and that help is within reach, you just have to ask.
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