By Zo Terrana
Staff Writer
Trenton’s substance abuse issue has marked a long and tenacious battle with the nation's broader drug epidemic crisis. This concern, bleeding into cities and neighborhoods across the United States, has had ramifications for millions of people since the late 1990s. In Mercer County, specifically Trenton, the concern has been palpable as the city's substance abuse issue has impacted the public health and safety sector along with families in specifically marginalized communities.
The College has bridged the gap between the institution and the Trenton area to help educate the next generation of the student body through the College’s nursing and public health departments. To help address this public health and safety issue within Mercer County, the College has taken pride in their department's efforts to develop the next generation of community health leaders.
“I think it is important to build a community of trust,” Yachao Li, a professor of public health at the College stated. “It’s important because oftentimes people don’t trust officials in local communities.”
Li has stated that state funding is a critical component of treating substance abuse issues within cities like Trenton to help bolster prevention efforts for people. Community organizations thrive off funding, thus the right governmental choices are important in helping with Trenton’s drug addiction issue.
“TCNJ Nursing can make a meaningful impact in Trenton by expanding student involvement in community‑based care,” said Tracy Perron, a professor of nursing at the College. “Through partnerships with local harm‑reduction groups, shelters, and clinics, nursing students can help deliver essential services like health screenings, wound care, overdose education and linkage to treatment. By combining clinical practice with community engagement and trauma‑informed practice, TCNJ can help provide services to those in the community who need them most.”
The College’s nursing and public health programs provide community outreach to inspire future advocates of these sectors to help prevent issues from systemic poverty. Students are taught how to make a difference and change within these fields to foster safer and healthier communities in place like Trenton.
“The intersection of health and safety is critical — when we criminalize health conditions, we
actually reduce public safety because people avoid healthcare and communities become destabilized,” Li said. “Evidence supports treatment-centered and harm-reduction approaches.”
The Trenton Police Department has recently been involved in accusations of “excessive force” against Trenton citizens, who in some cases weren’t armed according to a United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and United States Attorney’s Office District of New Jersey report published on Nov. 21, 2024. The report concluded that the department's excessive force was allowed due to “weak oversight” within the department itself.
The report details over-policing within Trenton occurring due to “Warrantless Stops, Searches, and Arrests,” violating the Fourth Amendment. For an officer to stop a person there must be reasonable suspicion that a person is engaged in criminal activity. To stop and frisk someone, an officer must have reasonable suspicion that the person is armed and dangerous. The report identified various officers that engaged in patterns of disregarding these constitutional laws.
This over-policing within communities like Trenton increases drug stigmatization amongst people suffering from substance abuse disorder. Trenton families are caught between a nexus of substance abuse disorder, over policing and stigmatization, all contributing to Trentonians unable to access proper health treatment.
“In Trenton, low‑income residents struggling with substance use technically have treatment centers available, but poverty creates major barriers to actually accessing those services,” Perron said. “Issues like unstable housing, lack of transportation and inconsistent insurance coverage make it much harder for people to stay engaged in treatment. So while the services exist on paper, the care they receive is often less adequate because the social conditions around them make consistent treatment almost impossible.”
Education is an integral part of combating this addiction issue which is a "multilayered" concern according to Li. Educational policy can assist in school reform for Trenton’s youth contributing to better access to schooling to help teach the next generation of the Trenton community. Student loan forgiveness can expand higher educational reach for a community who is economically disadvantaged to help provide assistance in educational purposes.
“Education largely coordinates with the health outcomes and people's behaviors,” Li said.
This policy will take more initiatives within local government to initiate the transformation Trenton needs for future generations.
“Policy matters because individual effort alone cannot overcome systemic barriers,” Li said.
“A person can’t work out of poverty if systemic racism limits job access. Policy is about removing barriers and creating opportunity.”
Trenton’s African American community is largely affected by the city's fentanyl and overall drug usage issues produced by generational poverty.
“The key concept is structural inequality,” Li stated. “Poverty isn’t about individual choices, it's about systemic barriers to income, housing, healthcare and education. These barriers have a
documented history rooted in segregation, redlining and discrimination.”
The city’s African American population is the second most common race group to live below the poverty line according to DataUSA, with the Hispanic sector being number one.
To hinder the impacts the drug concern has on Trenton’s public safety and health, the people of Trenton need a pathway to living a higher quality of life.
“People living in poverty face constant stress, unstable housing, unsafe neighborhoods, food insecurity and limited access to healthcare,” Perron said. “In Trenton, substance use is deeply tied to cycles of trauma and poverty, and many residents use drugs as a coping mechanism when other supports aren’t available.”
This trauma does not only reach the parents, children are susceptible to these traumatic experiences brought on by drug usage within their community. This concern drastically harms Trenton’s youth public safety when narcotics are prevalent.
“There have been more incidents where children have gotten a hold of these products and taken them to school, sometimes confusing them for candy, consuming them and causing medical emergencies,” said Officer Albert Rhodes, Ewing’s police chief.
Communities of color within Trenton face a difficult employment sector as various economical and structural barriers provide obstacles for employment according to Li. Employment hurdles necessitate job instability thus a lower access to adequate health services.
“Poverty and the drug issue are deeply connected,” Li said. “When people lack economic opportunity, safe housing and healthcare access, substance use becomes both a symptom and a coping mechanism. Addressing poverty is therefore central to addressing the drug crisis.”
