JACKSON – Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said Sunday night that he wants the Heroin Addiction Response Program to expand to Little Egg Harbor, Stafford, Lacey, and Jackson townships.
Coronato was speaking to a group at the Jackson United Methodist Church about the opiate epidemic in the county. The HARP program allows users to turn themselves in, and hand over any drugs they have, without any threat of charges or jail. Instead, they are brought to a treatment center for addiction. There have been 56 people helped in this way, he said.
HARP is a pilot program in New Jersey. For now, it is only available in Manchester and Brick. Coronato said his vision is to expand it to Stafford and Little Egg Harbor first, and then probably Jackson and Lacey.
