Congressman Tom Reed wants the Obama administration to see first-hand how the upstate area is being impacted by the opioid abuse epidemic.
He's joining other representatives in the region in requesting that a representative of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy to hold a hearing in upstate New York to highlight and raise awareness on this issue.
"And by raising that priority in a bipartisan way and in a way that hopefully will get the attention of folks in the region, we can figure out how best to attack this problem and also put it on the radar of Washington, D.C."
Reed says addressing this issue takes a multi-faceted approach, including making sure law enforcement is adequately equipped and trained, and to make sure mental health and other resources are also available for people who want help.
According to Reed's office, there were roughly 23 hundred drug overdose deaths in the state in 2014.
And between 2009 and 2013, upstate New York counties saw the number of heroin overdoses jump by 417 percent.