Carbon County has been battling the growing drug epidemic for the past few years.

Great strides have been made in combating this problem that affects thousands of residents, including expanding drug counseling services in the county prison, passing state legislation and installing drug take-back boxes in area police departments.But the first line of defense in this war on drugs has to come from family members, neighbors and the communities.Oficials teamed up with Pennsylvania Link and Carbon County Area Agency on Aging to host "Spot the Signs of Drug Abuse in Your family and Neighborhood," to educate seniors on drugs, symptoms and prevention methods. Carbon County District Attorney Jean Engler was joined by state Rep. Doyle Heffley, Jamie Drake of Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission and Carbon County Detective Jeff Aster.Approximately 100 county seniors, as well as representatives from a number of agencies attended the seminar.Engler said that since 1989, when she started her career in law enforcement, the number of annual cases filed has ballooned from approximately 300 in 1989 to over 1,300 in 2014.Reasons for the increase in caseloads is primarily due to the growing drug addictions.Not all cases are directly drug related, she said, but noted that underlying drug cases can include theft, assaults, robberies and more, all of which can be a result of a person needing money to feed the addiction.Engler's department and county officials have implemented a number of programs to deal with addiction.The county hired a detective to handle drug cases and created the drug tipline, a confidential 24-hour phone service where residents can leave anonymous tips related to drug activity in Carbon County.A full-time drug counselor was hired at the prison who can begin rehab services while people are incarcerated and help transition to outside rehab services upon release from jail.Engler also spoke about drug take-back boxes, which began in Carbon County last year.The secure boxes can currently be found in six area police departments: Jim Thorpe, Palmerton, Lehighton, Mahoning Township, Weatherly and Lansford and can beutilized by residents who have prescription drugs that are not being used anymore.In addition to the county initiative, Heffley said a number of laws have either passed or are being looked at to help with the drug problem.Over the past few years, he has worked on the creation of a prescription drug registry, as well as the passing of legislation to permit Narcan to be given to first responders, such as police and basic life support, to use during overdoses. He hosts drug expos in Carbon County."When people come to my office and tell me they lost a child to addiction, it's heartbreaking," he said. "It has hit our society like a ton of bricks. Did you know 70 percent of those abusing prescription drugs are getting them from family and friends or out of a medicine cabinet?"Heffley said the keyto curbing this problem is education and prevention.He also stressed that if you are not using a prescribed medication such as Percocet but it is in your house, you need to either get rid of it or secure it so a child or grandchild can't get into it.