ALBANY – The statewide campaign to combat heroin was upped a notch this week in a continuing effort to eradicate the opioid epidemic.

On Tuesday, the New York State Combat Heroin Campaign launched a series of online advertisements that will appear on social media and select websites over the next four weeks. This is in addition to billboards, posters, and network and cable television commercials that underscore the message, “addiction can heppen to anyone at any time, but there is help available.”

The goal is to warn of the dangers of alcohol overuse and abuse of prescription opioid medications that often act as a gateway to heroin use. Every ad refers those who need help to the state’s 24-hour addiction HOPEline.

In the southern tier, billboards will appear on highways in the Binghamton area. Billboards will also go up in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Westchester County.