Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe was joined by County Executive Ed Day to announce details of a new community action plan to battle the region’s burgeoning heroin and prescription drug epidemic.

It’s been called a scourge and some say even Sloatsburg has wrestled with the problem of prescription drug and heroin addiction.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said that in Rockland, residents are more likely to die from a drug overdose than a traffic crash. “This must change,” Zugibe said, speaking at a press conference Monday, with Rockland County Executive Ed Day at his side.

Zugibe announced a new community wide initiative coordinated by his office to battle what he cited as the “region’s burgeoning heroin and prescription drug epidemic. Rockland’s effort is a collaboration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), state and local law enforcement agencies and in partnership with a number of Rockland County agencies, including the Rockland County Department of Mental Health and the Rockland Council on Alcoholism & Other Drug Dependence Inc. (RCADD).

Zugibe said that the effort will focus on “trends and treatment” and involve targeted enforcement, treatment and prevention, and education.

“We can’t put our heads in the sand,” said County Executive Day. “The heroin scourge is impacting all of Rockland County. It’s happening to wealthy families, to poor families. It doesn’t know any boundaries. That’s why it’s critical that every level of government work together with treatment experts and schools to reverse this devastating trend and improve health and public safety in our neighborhoods.”

The District Attorney’s Office will work will local treatment providers and continue to focus on young adults, the demographic group that Zugibe said has been most impacted by the surge in heroin and prescription drug use. Law enforcement will focus simultaneously focus on identifying and dismantling drug trafficking networks throughout the region.

“While we relentlessly pursue the criminals who profit from the pain and tragedy of others,” said Zugibe, “this community action plan will allow us to stamp out this epidemic. Our broad coalition of public and private partners will work to raise awareness of the dangers of heroin and prescription abuse.”