FILE - In this Wednesday, May 11, 2011, file photo, a man prepares heroin he bought on the street to be injected at the Insite safe injection clinic in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The facility is promoted by its founders as a safe, humane facility for drug abusers. A report released Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine revealed that a safe haven for drug users to inject themselves with heroin and other drugs has been quietly operating in the United States for the past three years. Researchers didn’t disclose the location of the site. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

DENVER | Colorado officials hope a two-fold approach will prevent the growth of the state’s heroin epidemic.

Federal and state officials on Tuesday announced plans to focus on prosecuting dealers while training local law enforcement to help people addicted to the drug get treatment through a state hotline.

Officials say they have to simultaneously cut the availability of heroin and act as a link to resources for people addicted to it.

According to an updated report also released Tuesday, 228 people died in Colorado in 2016 from overdoses. That amounts to 4.1 deaths per 100,000 residents.

The effort doesn’t have any new financial backing.

Officials with the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Area say they will direct $4 million in existing funds toward law enforcement task forces focused on heroin.

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