Westmoreland County sheriff deputies will begin carrying medicine that can help to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose. Sheriff Jonathan Held said Wednesday his office received 50 doses of naloxone through a donation from a Virginia-based pharmaceutical company...(TribLive)

...McKay spent a week in agony in his family's home. When he finally was admitted to a treatment center in Washington, his health insurance only covered him for three days of detoxification and 13 days of inpatient rehab - not enough time to heal a four-year addiction...(PennLive)

Perhaps not surprisingly the barriers to addiction treatment are particularly onerous for the 1.4 million Pennsylvanians who don't have private insurance and aren't eligible for Medicaid...(PennLive)

Redding police are one of the first departments in the area to carry a potentially life-saving medication in order to combat one of the leading causes of injury death in the United States - drug overdoses...(Redding Pilot)

The grass roots, citizen-based Wayne County Heroin Prevention Task Force will hold its first public meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Honesdale High School.  Speakers will include officials with the county coroner's office and Drug & Alcohol Commission, District Attorney Janie Edwards and representatives from the state Office of the Attorney General and state Sen. Lisa Baker...(Wayne Independent)

A new survey shows doctors are writing fewer  prescriptions for narcotic  pain killers. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found 9 in 10 primary care doctors say prescription drug abuse is a moderate or big problem in their communities...(CentralPA)

...A state law, which went into effect last week, can allow Clark's EMTs, as well as police and firefighters to give the drug.  The law also allows friends and family of addicts to be trained on how to use the drug on their loved ones...(TribLive)

A Good Samaritan law now in effect in Pennsylvania should go a long way to preventing opioid overdose deaths and, hopefully, make a dent in the heroin abuse problem in the state, physicians and first responders said...(Daily Item)

...But last year, she was confronted with a choice. She could keep her addiction and lose Dani, then 2, and her older brother Brayden, then 6. Or she could get treatment and start clean with her family...(Observer Reporter)

There have been more than 3,000 heroin overdose deaths in Pennsylvania since 2009, according to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.  Many of them have occurred in South Central Pennsylvania. ..(WITF)

(New Jersey) Families of heroin addicts can get Narcan kits to prevent overdose deaths through a pilot program that state officials tout as a way to save lives while getting people into treatment...(NJ Advance Media)

(New Hampshire) With heroin overdoses in New Hampshire reaching epidemic levels, a state representative wants to change the law to let more people carry a drug that can reverse the effects of an overdose...(WMUR)

There's new indications that administering the drug naloxone to halt an opioid overdose is the best strategy, advocates of naloxone distribution said...(Juvenile Justice Information Exchange)

(Georgia) A Holly Springs police officer, armed with a taxpayer-funded drug, saved the life of an overdosing drug user over the weekend...(11Alive)

(Maryland) The announcement by state officials Tuesday that 140 Maryland pharmacies will begin stocking a medication that can reverse the effects of heroin overdoses comes at a time when deaths from abuse of the drug are rising throughout the state...(Baltimore Sun)

(Kentucky) Just eight lifesaving kits for those at risk of overdosing on heroin will be available at two free clinics this week in Northern Kentucky...(Cincinnati)

(Maryland) The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) today announced a partnership with Walgreens, CVS Health, Safeway and other pharmacies to stock Naloxone in stores across Maryland and to train their pharmacists on Naloxone administration. Naloxone, also known by its brand name Narcan, is a life-saving medication that can quickly restore the breathing of a person who has overdosed on heroin or prescription opioids...(DHMH)

(Vermont) Discussions are in the works to allow school nurses to administer to their students a drug that reverses the effects of an opiate overdose...(VPR)

(New York) A police officer who arrived first at the scene of a suspected heroin overdose Tuesday night successfully revived an unconscious man, Camillus police said...(Syracuse)

According to a new study released by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, nearly half of all primary care physicians in the U.S. say they are becoming less likely to prescribe opioids to patients for pain management...(Digital Journal)

(New York) A life-saving antidote for heroin users saved two Putnam County teens from overdoses Saturday and a Nyack man Sunday in separate incidents, police said...(Journal News)

(Virginia)...The audience asked if there are Good Samaritan Laws for reporting overdoses in Virginia. Actually, there is NOT a Good Samaritan law for reporting overdoses in Virginia. In 2013 the Virginia Legislature considered such a law and proposed a bill (VA HB 557 Overdoses; safe reporting, [H 1672]) that would provide immunity from prosecution for those calling for help for a person in medical distress from an overdose...(Fairfax Times)

(Illinois) When a homeowner buys a fire extinguisher, the goal is to be prepared. The hope is to never have to pull the pin and actually use it. For Crystal Lake police, the same scenario occurs at the beginning of every shift, when patrol officers are issued Narcan, a nasal medication that reverses opiate overdoses...(Daily Herald)

The epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse continues to take a deadly toll in the United States, with fatal overdoses involving drugs such as Oxycontin and Vicodin tripling over a decade, a new report shows...(News Star)

(Maryland) Maryland Gov.-elect Larry Hogan (R) said he plans to declare a state of emergency regarding Maryland's struggles with heroin addiction and create a task force to figure out why the number of overdoses has steadily increased...(Washington Post)

(Singapore) He is one of the most vocal champions in the fight against drug abuse. But few know that Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli has a personal stake in seeing that no child becomes a victim of drugs...(Asia One)