The latest collaborative effort in the state’s fight against the opioid epidemic, a 25-page handbook released Wednesday, is calling on municipal leaders to take action in their towns and cities.

Compiled by a subgroup of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the municipal toolkit details the top 10 steps local leaders can take to address opioid addiction.

Some of the steps, such as designating a municipal point person to handle substance abuse inquiries and developing a one-page fact sheet as a resource guide for residents, are specific.

Others, including becoming an advocate for policy change and increasing public awareness and engagement, are more open-ended.

“Local officials have the capacity and obligation to lead their communities through this epidemic by providing practical responses to combat this crisis,” said Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield first selectman and chairman of the Drug Abuse Prevention Workgroup, in a prepared statement.

In southeastern Connecticut — where first responders in many towns carry the overdose-reversal drug naloxone and most if not all communities have a prescription drug drop box — many local leaders already are working to fight the epidemic.

From 2012 through the end of 2015, drug overdoses claimed the lives of 2,149 people in Connecticut, with a growing number dying each year.

A projected 832 more will die this year for the same reason — hundreds more than are expected to die in car accidents.

Experts and statistics have pointed first to heroin, and now to a much more powerful opioid, fentanyl, as the primary culprits in the dramatic increase.

Ledyard Mayor Michael Finkelstein, a former Ledyard police lieutenant, said his town has worked to understand substance abuse through the efforts of the Ledyard Prevention Coalition.

The coalition, funded through a grant to promote drug-free communities, also is known as the Ledyard Safe Teens Coalition and was established in 2007.

One of the biggest things town officials have noticed, Finkelstein said, is that middle and high school students seem to have a “distorted view” of prescription drugs.

As a result, Ledyard earlier this year hosted a forum at its high school.

“It wasn’t simply, ‘Hey, don’t do drugs,’ it was athletes who became addicted, it was mothers who lost a child, it is multiple avenues trying to get through to kids and parents so they understand,” Finkelstein said.

East Lyme First Selectman Mark Nickerson stressed the importance of reaching youths "on the edge" of drug use — those who could go down a very dangerous path — through "a constant barrage of information."

"This isn't a joke. This isn't social use," he said. "This is in a snap of a finger going from a good time to a death sentence."

He said East Lyme — where all first responders are trained and equipped with naloxone, a prescription drop box is located at the police station and Nickerson acts a point person — already is following the report’s 10 recommendations.

In his role, Nickerson can help people find beds in rehab facilities, locate Narcotics Anonymous meetings and direct addicts to outreach groups.

Police officers also serve as resource coordinators in the community.

"You make a difference by touching one person at a time and maybe saving one life at a time," he said.

New London Human Services Director Jeanne Milstein, the city's point person for substance abuse issues, said New London has been ahead of the curve when it comes to addressing what she called a “regional issue and a public health crisis.”

Milstein said the city, which helped host the region's first student-led forum on opioid addiction, continues to partner with the NAACP and local grass-roots organizations as part of a public awareness campaign.

Under Milstein’s guidance, New London also is working toward a system of voluntary certification for sober houses and, in collaboration with Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, plans to support an effort by Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery to bring a recovery community center to New London.

In Montville, Mayor Ronald McDaniel said the town has hosted a community forum on the issue, funded billboard campaigns aiming to de-stigmatize addiction and applied for and used various grants from the Southeastern Regional Action Committee.

“We’re trying to do things in a holistic manner ... not work against one another,” McDaniel said.

In addition to having first responders equipped with naloxone and a prescription drug drop-box in town, Montville sponsors activities for kids — such as sports teams or after-school programs — in an attempt to be proactive about the issue.

In Groton, Town Manager Mark Oefinger said the opioid crisis has been at the forefront of discussion, largely because of Town Councilor Joe de la Cruz, a founding member of Community Speaks Out.

The town is taking multiple steps suggested by the report, Oefinger said.

"Our chief of police has been very involved in some of the regional activities and also the mayor is involved in a committee that the (Council of Governments) had put together maybe six months ago," Oefinger said. 

"It’s a tough issue. There’s absolutely no easy fix,” he added.

Groton does not have a single person that handles addiction issues but several people. For example, police are working on not just arresting people but trying to find them real help, Oefinger said. In addition, the police department has a prescription drop box to encourage people to safely dispose of unused drugs.

Lawrence + Memorial Hospital also provided the town's first responders with Narcan, a drug to counteract overdoses, he said. 

On top of efforts at the local level, two task forces are working regionally: the Regional Community Enhancement Task Force, a law enforcement group aiming to work up the drug supply food chain, and the Norwich Heroin Task Force, which consists health and law enforcement officials from all sectors who work to streamline the city’s approach to the epidemic.

Grass-roots groups such as the Groton-based Community Speaks Out and the Stonington-based Shine A Light On Heroin also have hosted events and worked diligently to help those who are or whose loved ones are struggling with addiction.

McDaniel said suggestions like the ones released by the CCM might be useful, but they fall short of making long-term treatment — the most effective method for combating addiction — easier to get.

"We're all saying the right things," he said. "But it takes money for treatment, and unfortunately nobody's got any funds for this."

Day Staff Writers Martha Shanahan, Nate Lynch, Greg Smith and Kimberly Drelich contributed to this report.

l.boyle@theday.com