Groton — Tamara Lanier decided she had to do something.

In response to the alarming rise in heroin overdoses in the region over the last few months, Lanier turned to her church to help her turn her impulse into action. After just a week of organizing, she lined up more than dozen speakers representing all facets of the community being affected, from hospitals to courts and police, treatment programs, social services and local governments.

“We have to come together to combat this issue,” she said at the start of a forum Wednesday at St. John’s Christian Church, attended by about 50 people.

During the forum, several speakers said response to the crisis needs to mature beyond the many separate efforts by different groups into communitywide, coordinated actions.

“It has to be a community effort,” said Kenneth Edwards Jr., inspector with the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office. “If you want to help, there’s a role for everyone.”

Dora Schriro, commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, announced during the forum that all 11 state police barracks around the state will be equipped with drop boxes for unused prescription drugs. Getting opioid medications out of homes is an important way to prevent addiction, she and others said, because prescription opioids are a main pathway to heroin addiction.

“If you don’t need it, don’t keep it around,” she said.

Another new initiative in response to the crisis is the creation of a new opioid addiction hotline, said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. She invited people in the audience to display posters she provided that provide information about the hotline, (800) 563-4086, where addicts and their friends and family can get information about counseling, medication to combat addiction, self-help groups and detoxification.

In 2015, she said, 19,000 people were admitted to treatment programs in the state for opioid addiction, the majority of them 18- to 25-year-olds.

“Heroin and other opioids have replaced alcohol as the primary drug being used,” she said.

Jean Jordan, president of the New London NAACP, said the epidemic of cheap heroin is affecting all communities in the region.

“There’s the drug addiction part, but the second part is the drug dealing,” she said. “That’s an economic issue we need to look at.”

Celeste Goe, a minister at the church who moderated the program, urged people not to ignore drugs when they encounter them in their community.

“We have to rid our streets of the dealers,” she said. “If you see something, say something. You never know when it may come to your front door.”

Statewide, eight to 11 people die in Connecticut every month from heroin or prescription opioid overdoses, said Charles Grady, media liaison for the FBI in Connecticut. He said more attention needs to be given to overuse of prescription opioids and the doctors who are prescribing them.

“Not everybody who is a drug dealer lives in the projects,” he said. “So many addicted persons become addicted from their doctors.”

In New London, Mayor Michael Pasero said his staff is developing a comprehensive response to the crisis. It will include education and prevention programs at schools and youth groups, as well as efforts to get people into recovery, outreach from the city to recovery services, and continued focus on the problem by police.

“But we’re never going to police or arrest our way out of this problem,” he said.

The city’s human services office, he said, is developing a new program to enlist trained volunteers to reach out to overdose patients at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital to guide them into treatment.

“We want to connect people at the hospitals with an angel who can help them get into treatment, using AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) model,” he said.

The Southeastern Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence is eager to work with the community in responding to the crisis, said Patrice Thomas, director of support services at SCADD. The community, however, needs to recognize some of the biggest obstacles. Too often, he said, insurance plans only cover short-term treatment, when only long-term treatment is effective. There is also a lack of residential treatment facilities for women, he said.

j.benson@theday.com