The Joint Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction held its first of many forums this year at Binghamton University.

Community members shared their stories and possible strategies to tackle this issue.

State leaders are trying to gather ideas from residents and officials to shape future legislation.

An advocate said there's still a long road ahead, but she's happy about the progress made on reducing the stigma and offering more treatment services in the area.

"I think that the veil of this has been lifted," said community adovcate Penny Stringfield. "People are talking about it. There is not any single person in this community that isn't someone affected by it and the more we talk about it, the more we're going to move ahead."

The next forum will be on Thursday, February 15 at Pace University in Westchester County.