Westmoreland officials have taken to the Internet to publicize the county's drug problem, which has resulted in 49 deaths so far this year.  A 90-second public service announcement detailing the escalating drug problem debuted this month. The video can be viewed on YouTube and will air on local television stations later this summer....(Times-Tribune)

Working to stem the tide of heroin overdoses and deaths in Berks County and throughout the state, Sen. Judy Schwank joined other elected and health officials today to talk about the "Heroin Crisis Facing Pennsylvania."...(Source)

Pennsylvania ranks in the top 10 states in per capita heroin and opioid deaths, yet is one of the weakest when it comes to regulating prescription drugs.  Improving that is just one of many reforms sought by advocates who spent four hours Tuesday morning testifying before state lawmakers....(WITF)

The gathering at Reading Area Community College was the second of four such hearings being held across the state by the  Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency of the Pennsylvania General Assembly..(WFMZ)

The bad news is that Pennsylvania has yet to come to grips with the menace of prescription drug addiction.  The good news is that it is possible, given successful efforts Florida, where prescription drug overdose deaths have fallen sharply....(Lancaster New Era)

Pennsylvania is moving into a leadership position. In fact, Pennsylvania is now in the top 10 in the nation. Recently, we learned from the newspapers that Pennsylvania moved from 14th to 7th place in drug overdose deaths...(Bucks County Courier Times)

When it comes to prescribing pain medications for patients with chronic diseases, Pennsylvania is doing OK - but could be doing better.  That's according to the 2013 "Achieving Balance in State Pain Policy: A Progress Report Card," which gave the commonwealth a "B" grade...(WESA)

The Luzerne County Coroner's Office reported 13 heroin-related overdose deaths this year, but heroin alone accounted for only two of them.  The remaining deaths resulted from polypharmacy overdoses, a blanket term used to describe overdoses that result from the use of a combination of drugs...(Standard Speaker)

Representing addiction treatment and law enforcement, we speak together with one voice: It's time for our state to step up and enact prescription drug monitoring legislation. Forty-eight states have already done so. What are we waiting for?...(Erie Times-News)

As legislators across the country pass anti-heroin bills and health officials hold community summits, prosecutors in more states are pursuing homicide, and similarly serious charges, against those who provided the deadly doses....(USA Today)

(Illinois) It's time to erase the common stereotype of a heroin abuser as a person lurking stoned in a dark alley with a dirty needle sticking out of an arm, Lake County health care and law enforcement leaders say....(Daily Herald)

(Maryland) Maryland saw a 33 percent increase in drug overdose deaths in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time last year, state officials said Thursday as they announced a renewed focus on fighting the rise of fentanyl-laced heroin...(WBAL)

(California) A heroin user found unconscious at his home in east San Diego was saved by a deputy who used an overdose antidote that the San Diego County Sheriff's Department recently began carrying...(7 San Diego)

(New Jersey) The first life-saving dose was given around 3:30 p.m. Sunday to an unconscious man during a well-being check in the 1500 block of Broad Street in Cinnaminson...(Courier-Post) 

(Indiana) The rate of accidental overdose by prescription drugs in Allen County has been above the national average. Monday night the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health board learned how much and suggestions for a national drug monitoring system....(News-Sentinel)

(Missouri) At issue for Missouri lawmakers is whether such a database represents government overreach into personal privacy and whether having such a tool can actually do anything to decrease drug addiction...(KBIA)

(Missouri) His frustration stems from this: Missouri is the only state in America that has declined to keep a prescription drug database - the primary tool the other 49 states use to identify people who acquire excess prescriptions for addictive painkillers and tranquilizers, as well as the physicians who overprescribe them....(New York Times)

Poisonings through drug overdose have tripled in the U.S. in the past three decades and, according to a recent report published earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 46 Americans die every day from an overdose of prescription painkillers. These prescriptions are primarily opioid or narcotic pain relievers....(Liberty Voice)

(Connecticut) State Rep. Tony Hwang, along with members of the Fairfield fire and police departments, held an informational press conference on the use of the life-saving drug naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, by front-line first responders in combating heroin overdose....(Fairfield-Sun)

Lost in the publicity about the exponential rise in accidental drug overdose deaths are the faces and broken hearts of the many hundreds of thousands of family members and friends of loved ones left behind -- families devastated by the loss of a loved one in this most tragic and stigmatizing way....(Huffington Post)

(Canada) The service also helps reduce the spread of infectious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis C by reducing needle-sharing. And "it creates an opportunity to start a conversation" which, in turn, can lead to people getting the help they need - from a place to sleep to addiction treatment...(Globe and Mail)

(United Kingdom) Two children suffered life-threatening drug overdoses after playing with powerful painkilling skin patches, prompting the medicines regulator to issue a warning over their use....(The Telegraph)