Prominent state and area leaders in the fight against opioid drug addiction and heroin overdoses outlined their attempts to combat the disease Wednesday night at a town-hall meeting in Tamaqua.

Lehigh Carbon Community College faculty member Todd Zimmerman, who was troubled by a "60 Minutes" episode he watched last year on the rural heroin epidemic, organized the five-member panel including state Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine, Secretary Gary Tennis with the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, Schuylkill County Judge James P. Goodman, Carbon County Judge Joseph Matika and Schuylkill County District Attorney Christine Holman.How the epidemic started was the result of a perfect storm, Levine said."In the medical profession, there was more of an emphasis placed on assessing acute and chronic pain," Levine said."At the same time, we were seeing the development of some very powerful and addictive opioid pain medication. That medication treated the pain more effectively, but it also came with the dark side of addiction."After getting hooked on pain medication, it's not uncommon to turn to heroin.Around 2,500 Pennsylvanians died of drug overdoses in 2014, Levine said, and for 2015, the data is expected to be worse.According to Holman, 31 percent of the first 500 criminal cases filed in Schuylkill County in 2015 involved illegal drug use. Heroin was the lead drug in 61 of those 158 cases.No 'magic bullet'What are state and county officials doing to curb the problem?Levine said the answer isn't easy."There is no magic bullet or rehabilitation," she said. "It's a very difficult treatment."The state is working on developing a prescription drug monitoring program to red flag both patients who "doctor shop" and physicians who too easily prescribe opioid pain medication."For our overdose patients, we are going to work really hard on establishing a warm and firm handoff from the hospital to a referral for treatment," Levine said. "It's important for us all to remember that addiction is a disease, not a moral failure. There absolutely has to be the encouragement and opportunity for individuals to get help, not just be sent back on the street."Get drugs off streetFrom a law enforcement perspective, Holden said, a continued effort must be made to get the available drugs off the street."Since 2014, we've had two successful drug sweeps right here in Tamaqua," she said. "These don't happen overnight. They are the result of a lot of hard work and there will be more of it. While we can't arrest our way out of the problem, we can take away resources."The old line of thinking when it came to drug offenders was "lock them up and throw away the key," Goodman said.That philosophy has shifted and judges are now tasked with helping nonviolent offenders return to a life of normalcy.Drug courtsElsewhere in the state, that has come through the rising popularity of drug courts."There is an 85 percent success rate for defendants who receive the proper level of care and length of stay in rehabilitation facilities," Tennis said. "That means those 85 percent are not repeats in the criminal justice system. Drug courts have been proven effective."Drug courts are generally 12-18 month programs and provide judicially supervised, individualized treatment plans to rehabilitate offenders.Goodman said Schuylkill County has applied for a $350,000 federal grant to get its program off the ground."When you do well, there are incentives and when you don't there is punishment," Goodman said. "Violent offenders would not be eligible. We do have a committee together here in the county and we are working to model a program after other counties."Carbon County, though not as far along as Schuylkill, is also looking at drug court implementation."It's been a slow process, but it's more important than ever to get the ball moving on this," Matika said. "Our options are limited without a drug court. Our studies have shown we would save $3,000 to $13,000 per defendant in savings from reduced prison costs, revolving door arrests and trials."Zimmerman said he hoped Wednesday's event continued a much-needed discussion and helps toward a long-term goal."The drug war won't end, there is simply too much supply," he said. "But I think we can lessen addiction and overdoses and part of that is attacking it from multiple sources as we have here tonight."