ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and the Orange County Heroin Task Force announced the launch of a new website Friday.
The "Heroes against Heroin" website is aimed at increasing education and awareness about heroin overdoses and deaths in Central Florida.
"The best way we can confront this epidemic is through education and prevention (ensuring that) every citizen, every person who lives here, (has) the information to make the right decision," Jacobs said.
Jacobs said law enforcement can't defeat this crisis alone. She's hoping the new website will get results in this nationwide fight.
"Too many citizens don't know where to get help. This is going to give them tools: What are the resources? Who can they call? What can they read?" she said.
The task force adds this site will provide valuable information that could potentially save someone's life.
"Our young people, our families, our teachers will have access to so many tools in this toolkit that will help them beat this addiction, this horror of heroin and opioid addiction, that has come against our community and so many families," Orange County Schools Superintendent Dr. Barbara Jenkins said.
The new website is one of 37 recommendations adopted by the task force.
Others already implemented include treatment and counseling programs at the jail, as well as equipping local law enforcement with Narcan. The drug is already credited with saving more than 100 lives.
"That's a hundred times that we've had an opportunity to not just save a life, but help people get on the track of recovery," Jacobs said.
Now that President Donald Trump has declared the opioid crisis a national emergency, the task force is hoping the new website will start a conversation about prevention and be a resource for people who are struggling with addiction.
"People can't make that decision if they don't know where to get help," Jacobs said.