UPDATE: A slightly shortened version of the presentation given by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni at Manasquan High School Tuesday is attached to this story.

Heroin use is has reached epidemic proportions. Its abuse is not just an urban problem that happens somewhere else, or to someone else. Those were some of the sobering messages delivered to parents at Manasquan High School's "Back To School" night in a short presentation by Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.

The presentation was the first that Gramiccioni has made to parents of high school aged children this year. Talks are in the works with other county high schools and a version is being tailored to the students themselves, he said. But Gramiccioni said the message was important to get out to parents, in part to debunk widely held myths that heroin use is some other worldly thing that happens on television or in urban areas, and in part to arm parents with cold hard facts about the proliferation and danger the drug poses in Monmouth County.

"It is enslaving our kids,'' Gramiccioni said. "There's no two ways about it.'' The presentation was stark:

· There have been 10 homicides in Monmouth County so far this year, but 37 have died from heroin overdose.

· In the Freehold Regional High School District area, 721 people - students and non-students -- have sought professional help for heroin addiction along with 164 in the various sending districts that make up Manasquan High School.

· 80 percent of people begin using heroin with friends, but 80 percent of addicts who overdose are found alone. "This is why we need to change the conversation,'' Gramiccioni said.