TOMS RIVER -- The township intends to join a growing list of states and cities that have filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers, claiming they misrepresented the dangers of opioid painkillers, officials announced Thursday.

Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher and Council President Al Manforti said Toms River has hired the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Motley Rice, LLC to represent the township.

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Toms River will not pay the law firm, which will instead take a percentage of any settlement money the township may receive, the mayor said. The council voted unanimously to hire the law firm following an executive session Aug. 22.

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"It affects every corner of our society," Manforti said of opioid addiction. "Everyone knows someone whose family has been affected by it."

Police Chief Mitch Little said there were 49 drug overdose deaths in Toms River last year, and 10 of the department's 160 police officers work full-time on narcotics cases. Three of the officers work full-time with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

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More than 2,000 pounds of prescription drugs were turned over to the police department last year, Little said.

The video above shows the sharp increase in drug-related emergency room visits in the last decade.

Police officers used Narcan, an opiate antidote, to make 221 saves of overdose victims in 2016, Little said. He said overdose deaths have dropped a bit this year, with between 15 and 20 deaths so far in 2017.

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But shortly before Thursday morning's press conference, the chief learned that a 27-year-old woman had died of an overdose on Adams Avenue.

Little said police have been seeing more and more overdoses this year caused by Fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid.

"The manufacturers knew from Day 1 that opioids were addictive," Kelaher said. He blamed drugmakers and their representatives for pushing opioid use to doctors, while not accurately describing the addictive nature of the drugs.

"The epidemic is now in full force in our area," the mayor said. "Heroin is a curse on our society."

Kelaher said that the law firm approached Toms River officials about a potential lawsuit. He said he believes the township is the first in the state to agree to file suit against drugmakers.

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Oklahoma, Missouri, Ohio and Mississippi are among the states that have filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers, claiming the companies marketed opioid painkillers while downplaying the addictive nature of the drugs.

Watch the videos below to learn about the heroin and opioid problem at the Shore.

Cities and counties in other states, including New York, Illinois and California, have also taken legal action over companies' marketing of opioids. Experts have compared the lawsuits to the actions taken against tobacco manufacturers in the 1990s.

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The drug companies have strongly denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the lawsuits.

A bipartisan group of states -- including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Alabama -- is also investigating opioid manufacturers, as are committees in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

Kelaher said he is not yet sure which drugmakers will be targeted by the township's lawyers.

Opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin, killed more than 33,000 people in the United States in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year in Toms River, 742 of the 1,284 residents admitted for substance abuse treatment were admitted for abuse of heroin and opioids, according to statistics provided by the township.

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Ocean County had the second-highest number of overdose deaths in the state in 2015 -- 157. That number rose to more than 200 last year.

"We are ready to hit the ground running to help Toms River," said Andrew D'Arcy of Atlantic City-based law firm D'Arcy Johnson Day, personal injury specialists who will be assisting the township. "It is only through strong leadership and an all-around approach that real change can happen."

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, jmikle@gannettnj.com