Parents Made Aware of Heroin’s Danger [AUDIO]

Monmouth County's heroin epidemic is being brought to the attention of parents and children through a series of seminars titled "Heroin Kills."

Hosted by the prosecutor's office, presentations throughout the county point out the drug's availability, its low cost, and high potency.

During a presentation at Neptune High School on Wednesday night, Monmouth County prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni warned the drug isn't just a product of inner cities and poor areas, but omnipresent everywhere.

"It's people who live in inner cities, but it's also people who live in rich towns like Rumson and Fair Haven," Gramiccioni said. "It runs the spectrum."

Monmouth's presentation was similar in many ways to the presentations being done in Ocean County to address their heroin problem. Monmouth County had roughly 70 heroin overdose deaths last year, less than its neighboring county to the south, but enough for Gramiccione to declare it an "epidemic."

Parents worry their children can be vulnerable to the drug.

"He walks from school to the basketball courts and he walks for extra help at school, so he's out there," said a Neptune parent regarding her son. "The only thing we tell him is, make good choices."

Additional forums are scheduled for Ocean Township High School on Thursday and Holmdel High School on Feb. 25. Both begin at 7 p.m.