Atlantic City, New Jersey has a population of 39,558 and it has a crime index of 1 – 100 being the safest. All this according to neighborhoodscout.com. If you lived in New Jersey you have a 1 in 324 chance to become a victim and I you lived in Atlantic City, New Jersey you have a 1 in 50 chance of becoming a victim of violent crimes. For every one thousand resident there are 95 that will be a victim. Atlantic City has one of the highest crime rates in America. That is when you compare it to all communities of all sizes. And not surprisingly, nearby Edison drug rehabs are kept quite busy, as well.
Pressofatlanticcity.com reported in March of 2012 that Atlantic County’s schools know that marijuana, prescription pills and alcohol is still the main concerns for all of the officials but they are also worried about newer more dangerous drugs like bath salts and synthetic marijuana. These have absolutely been the target of a recent statewide ban. It has been observed in many local schools and the law enforcement agencies have heard about the problems with these so-called designer drugs elsewhere, but it is noticed that they don’t seem to be the choice here. Atlantic City Police Officer Robert Berg, a Drug Abuse Resistance Education Officer for 13 years said, “I didn’t hear much about that until a couple of weeks ago, when they were making it against the law. There is not real study or data on it, so it’s difficult to say.”
Glenn Hausmann, a Hamilton Township schools resource officer, said, “But Atlantic County’s schools aren’t seeing it. Some things just don’t catch on. I don’t know what it is about South Jersey. Weed is always here. It’s here to stay.”
The Commissioner of Education’s Report on Violence, Vandalism and Substance Abuse in New Jersey schools shows that marijuana use increased nearly 29 percent from 2008 to 2011.
Jo-Ann Goldberg, director of Mainland Regional High Schools’ Child Study Team, said, “Basically, what I see is that students are using marijuana to self-medicate. What the student and /or parents do not realize is that there is a strong relationship between marijuana use and mental health problems.”
At this time Hausmann commented with, “Prescription pills are also a big problem because of the easy access, who deals mainly with middle school students. Students will often wind up sick in the nurse’s office from prescription drug abuse. I have a pretty good rapport with the students despite being a lot older and ‘not hip’. I think they just trust me. They have not mentioned the synthetic marijuana or bath salts. The ban is a good thing. I think New Jersey stayed in front of it.”
These are the things going on in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Drugs are in all parts of the city. Atlantic City is one of the top 100 cities in the US that is considered the most dangerous to live in. If you know someone who wants to get off drugs get them to an inpatient treatment center or one of the prescription drug rehabs where they can get safe and natural ways to detox and withdraw. Something can be done about it.