New White House initiative will try to combat heroin deaths

On Monday, the White House will announce a new initiative that brings together law enforcement and public health coordinators in an effort to curb an uptick in heroin overdoses and deaths.

The $2.5 million program will be funded for one year in 15 states across New England and the northeastern part of the United States, The Washington Post reports. The death rate from heroin overdoses has quadrupled over the past 10 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, and the use of heroin has sharply increased in the areas covered by the initiative.

Under the program, 15 drug intelligence officers and 15 public health coordinators will work together to determine where the heroin is coming from, how and where it is being laced with a toxic additive, and who is giving it to dealers on the streets. After they collect data and intelligence, they will share what they have uncovered with local law enforcement departments. "If somebody from Brooklyn is arrested with heroin in Burlington, Vermont, we may not hear about it for months, when that information could allow us to see a trafficking pattern that lets us focus on who to go after," an official told the Post. The program will also train first responders on how to administer medication in order to reverse an overdose.

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