'Time to Talk' About Heroin at RFH

As local law enforcement and school officials see it, "it's time to talk" about the alarming rise in heroin-related deaths and epidemic use and abuse in Monmouth County.

So, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni will be speaking and hosting a conversation, aptly dubbed "It's Time to Talk," on the subject in the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School auditorium tonight at 7 p.m.

RFH is sponsoring the multi-district event along with Red Bank Regional High School and the elementary school districts of Fair Haven, Little Silver and Shrewsbury.

What Gramiccioni has been calling epidemic use and abuse of the drug among young people knows no boundaries and must be confronted as a stark reality, he has said.

Area residents, he said, can no longer afford to say "not in my town" when addressing the spike in heroin use, addiction and overdosing, he said in a released statement. Heroin, the prosecutor has said, is being used by students as young as 12 and all are at risk.

“It is enslaving our kids,’’ Gramiccioni said at a presentation in Manasquan earlier in the school year. “There’s no two ways about it.’’

"In order to ensure the health and well-being of our children, the adults entrusted with their care need to have difficult discussions with them throughout their lives," RFH Student Assistance Counselor Dr. Suzanne Fico said. "These conversations need to occur prior to destructive decision-making, and statistics are showing us that, sadly, at least one of them needs to be about heroin."

There have been more than 37 deaths related to an overdose of heroin in Monmouth County so far this year, according to records, Gramiccioni said. In 2012, there were 70 heroin-related deaths. The jarring rise is the reason for the problem being labeled an epidemic.

A couple of key facts that Gramiccioni will discuss are:

• There have been 10 homicides in Monmouth County so far this year, but 37 have died from heroin overdose.

That’s compared to the heroin of 20 years ago that had purity levels in the single digits, Gramiccioni said.

All residents, especially parents of area students, are encouraged by Gramiccioni and school officials to attend the special presentation and communicate with children.

Manasquan-Belmar Patch Editor Keith Brown contributed to this report.