The White House is planning to implement strategies to curb rising rates of fatal-heroin-overdose cases. An announcement for a plan will be announced on Monday to pair law enforcement officials with public health workers to encourage treatment rather than prosecution of addicts.

The Washington Post reported that funding of $2.5 will initially be provided to the program by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The program will cover 15 states in the US.

The plan will give rise to tracing of the sources of heroin. A lethal opiate additive has led to rise in overdose deaths and the plan will focus on identifying who is distributing the drug to dealers.

According to the newspaper, the initiative has been devised to deal with steep rise in heroin use and deaths. New England and other Northeastern states are special areas of focus under the plan.

A four-fold rise has been recorded in heroin overdose deaths in the US between 2002 and 2013. US health officials said in July that the lower costs coupled with increased abuse of prescription opiate painkillers was the major cause behind the rise in heroin use and deaths.

The White House program will allow 15 drug intelligence officers to work in tandem with 15 health policy analysts to collect data on heroin-overdose cases and determine how the drug is being distributed to local law enforcement.

“Our approach needs to be broad and inclusive. Law enforcement is only one part of what really needs to be a comprehensive public health, public safety approach”, said a senior White House official.