(AP) U.S. senator and local leaders met Monday in Pottsville to talk about the ongoing heroin crisis in the county.

"We know there's an opioid problem," Melissa Kalyan, administrator of Schuylkill County Drug and Alcohol Program, said.She talked about what the department and Clinical Outcomes Group Inc. is doing to help stem the tide of drug use in the county.Federal efforts to combat the growing epidemic were also discussed. Kalyan was joined by Dr. John Stefovic, who provides medication-assisted therapy to clients who attend COGI, Schuylkill County Commissioner Gary Hess and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.Naloxone is available to police and first responders. Citizens are also able to get naloxone at pharmacies. Those who go through a training session are also permitted to get the lifesaving medicine.Hess said drug use is an "epidemic that surrounds, not just all over the state and all over the country, but definitely right here in Schuylkill County." Schuylkill County instituted a drug treatment court earlier this year to address the drug problem.Casey discussed the federal efforts to combat the opioid epidemic in the country through the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act and the 21st Century Cures Act. Both were signed by former President Barack Obama and provide funding to address the opioid crisis."Wherever you live, in a town the size of Pottsville or Scranton or a much larger urban area, increasingly and over the last couple of years we've had terrible tragedies in small towns and rural areas," he said.Casey said efforts to undo parts of the Affordable Care Act can have long-lasting implications for those who need help with drug problems and behavioral health issues that can accompany them."We could step back years if we do the wrong thing on the ACA and Medicaid," he said.Citing an Oped article in "The Hill," a Washington, D.C.-based publication, Casey said significant funds cost be lost. "Repealing the mental and substance use disorder coverage provisions of the ACA would withdraw at least $5.5 billion annually from the treatment of low income people," the article states.Stefovic said compassion needs to be shown to those suffering from addiction. "The vast majority of the people that we treat did not go out and decide to get addicted," he said.When someone is addicted it affects not just the addict, but also their family and others. "We have to start accepting this as a disease process," he said.Getting help quickly can give an addict a better chance of overcoming their addiction, Stefovic said. The 77 people who died last year due to drug-related causes didn't have to die."The question is how high it's going to go this year," he said.Schuylkill County Coroner Dr. David J. Moylan III said Monday 12 people have died of suspected drug-related deaths so far this year. "We are on the pace to have 60 deaths for the coming year. Although this is a slight improvement for the total we had for r 2016, we are still at crisis levels," he said. Schuylkill County Deputy Coroner Deb Detweiler said of the 12 people, eight are males. Preliminary toxicology tests show three had oxycodone in their system, two had methamphetamine, two had a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, one had heroin, one had fentanyl, and three are pending, she said.Final toxicology tests are not back yet from NMS Labs, Willow Grove.