**Editor’s note – click here for a .mp4 file of Assemblyman Blankenbush speaking after today’s press conference**

Today, at a press conference in Albany, Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush (R,C,I-Black River) and his colleagues in the Assembly Minority Conference released their findings and recommendations to address the heroin epidemic in New York State. The Heroin Epidemic – A Report on Heroin Use, Treatment, Prevention & Education Efforts in NYS was composed after Blankenbush and other Assembly Minority members held several forums across the state and gathered testimony from those impacted by heroin.

“Today, we took a powerful first step toward remedying the devastating, widespread heroin epidemic afflicting our communities,” said Blankenbush. “The honest, emotional testimonies we heard in our forums provided us with an opportunity to open up the dialogue and work together to find solutions to this horrible addiction. Hopefully, this report will serve as an outline for New York State to work with our communities to battle this epidemic together and ease the suffering of those affected.”

The Assembly Minority Conference Task Force on Heroin Addiction held seven statewide forums last year to gather testimony from local officials, law enforcement, health care providers, recovering addicts, and parents of addicted individuals. Blankenbush hosted one of the forums, held in Carthage.

** The Assembly Minority Conference Task Force on Heroin Addiction’s Final Report can be viewed here: >goo.gl/iQkMtx**