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Suffolk County Offering Heroin Treatment To Inmates Upon Release

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Before inmates who are serving time for heroin-related crimes are released from the Suffolk County jail, they will be given the opportunity to be part of a new program.

The pilot program, said Assistant Deputy County Executive Tim Sini, will combine counseling and the medication Vivitrol free of charge, which prevents a person from craving heroin.

"This program provides a new medically assisted treatment model to inmates who are re-entering our community with the objective of reducing recidivism," Sini told reporters, including WCBS 880's Sophia Hall, "so as to better assure public safety and to save enormous costs."

According to county officials, there were more than 250 opioid-related deaths in Suffolk County and 493 other lives saved by using the heroin overdose antidote Narcan.

"As we all know, we are experiencing an opioid epidemic in Suffolk County," County Executive Steve Bellone said in a news release. "Obviously the real tragedy is in the many families and friends who have lost love ones to this epidemic. We need to tackle it on all fronts --- prevention, treatment and law enforcement and Suffolk County is engaged in some promising initiatives on all of one of these fronts."

The county program is being supported by various private and public stakeholders, officials said.

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