(Westmoreland) The county has seen an increasing number of overdoses in recent years from heroin and prescription painkillers. Drug addiction has a huge impact on crime in the county, law enforcement officials said, because addicts steal or sell drugs to pay for their habit...(Post-Gazette)

(Lancaster) A group has formed in Lititz dedicated to the "prevention, awareness and assistance" for those suffering from heroin and prescription drug addiction in the Warwick School District...(Lancaster Online)

(Delaware) After two years of action, a brief update on the effectiveness of the Heroin Task Force was presented Wednesday morning by County Council at their regular meeting.
..(Delco News Network)

(Delaware) Police officers equipped with the heroin overdose reversal drug Naloxone have successfully revived 14 people since the passage of David's Law in September, according to the Delaware County District Attorney's office...(Mainline)

(Delaware)...The 14-year police veteran suspected a heroin overdose and quickly administered doses of Naloxone, a nasal spray known commonly as Narcan, which can revive victims and perhaps save their lives.  The victim survived...(Philly)

(New York) A documentary on a Yorktown teen who died of a heroin overdose six years ago is being shown the same day that the community prepares to say goodbye to a young Croton-on-Hudson man who died the same way...(LoHud)

(Montana) For two years, Jodie Barwiler tried to save her son from the grips of heroin addiction. Now, three months after he died from an overdose, Barwiler speaks out about a drug that kills thousands every year..(Flathead Beacon)

(Ohio) The chances of Ross County being chosen by the state to pilot the Heroin Partnership Program were advanced after a meeting Thursday in which several county and city agencies presented to state agencies the need for assistance to curb the prevalence of the drug...(Chillicothe Gazette)

The federal health authorities reported Thursday that nearly one-third of women of reproductive age had had an opioid painkiller prescription filled every year from 2008 to 2012. Experts said the practice carried considerable risks for birth defects...(New York Times)

(Tennessee) Health officials say prescription drug abuse in Tennessee is an epidemic, and taxpayers are shouldering much of the burden...(WBIR)

(Florida)...Five years ago, Florida was labeled the prescription drug capital of the U.S. Seven people died every day from overdoses - until the Florida Legislature started a crackdown. The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program made opiate pills more expensive on the street, and left many addicts with a choice: Get treatment, or find a substitute...(Health News Florida)

(South Dakota) A proposal allowing trained first responders and police officers to carry an opiate overdose antidote will help fight drug fatalities in South Dakota, Attorney General Marty Jackley told a state Senate panel Wednesday shortly before it passed the measure...(Rapid City Journal)

I was a senior at Cornell University when I was arrested for heroin possession. As an addict - a condition that began during a deep depression - I was muddling my way through classes and doing many things I would come to regret, including selling drugs to pay for my own habit...(Washington Post)

Exactly how opioid drugs should best be used to treat patients who are in pain remains unclear. In fact, the scientific evidence on the topic is so scarce that doctors have little choice but to rely on their own experiences in treating patients to make decisions, a new report concludes...(Live Science)

(Arizona) "When we are young we are not as concerned with death and other such trifling things, so it's difficult to bring younger patients into treatment and they're more difficult to retain," says Dr. Elias Robles-Sotelo, a psychologist and professor of addictive behaviors at Arizona State University...(Tuscon Sentinel)

(Vermont)...Some of Vermont's policy changes started before Shumlin's now-famous address; many started in other states; and their impact can't be fully assessed in only a year. But, taken as a whole, they represent a comprehensive approach and a shift in the ways health and criminal justice systems treat drug addiction...(Governing)

(Maryland) In an attempt to gather more immediate intelligence and evidence about illegal drug dealing, Harford County's sheriff has started sending narcotics detectives on all medical calls for heroin overdoses...(Baltimore Sun)

(North Carolina) On Jan. 13, a press release went out from the Carrboro Police Department announcing that an officer had become the first in the department to administer naloxone, an opiate antagonist, to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose. The overdose had occurred the previous night. What the police department might not have known was that the Carrboro officer was the first law enforcement agent in the state to reverse an overdose with Naloxone...(INDY Week)

(Oregon)...The LOPD became the first police force in Oregon to adopt the use of Naloxone kits when Johnson introduced them to the department last year. Forty-three officers went through a training program in November on how to administer the drug, and Johnson said "virtually all of our officers" working patrol and traffic now have nasal inhaler kits in their squad cars...(Portland Tribune)

(Georgia) Heroin abuse is on the rise in Columbus. In fact, more people died from accidental heroin overdoses last year than in 2013, according to Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan.
..(WTVM)

(New York) With drug overdoses, seconds can be the difference between life and death. And one local organization is now training inmates with previous drug convictions, to keep themselves from overdosing...(TWC News)

(Virginia) With newly released statistics revealing a dramatic rise in the number of heroin overdoses and deaths in Loudoun in recent years, local authorities are increasingly focused on combating the widespread and deadly trend...(Washington Post)

(Delaware)...There have been no reports of those particular stamped brands in the state yet, Delaware Health and Social Services (DHSS) says, but there have been reports in New Jersey of overdose deaths. In those cases, patients suffering from an overdose did not respond to the administration of naloxone, a drug used to reverse opiate overdoses. New York and Pennsylvania authorities said they've also identified the drug on their streets...(Delaware 105.9)

(Virginia) The Virginia attorney general and a Fairfax County father are coming together to urge lawmakers to attack the growing epidemic of heroin and opioid drug overdoses...(NBC Washington)

(Ohio) A new Ohio law, Substitute House Bill 367, signed by Governor John Kasich in December, requires schools to teach students about the dangers of prescription painkillers, a leading gateway drug to heroin abuse...(Daily Advocate)

(Michigan) Approximately 25 deputies have been provided with Opioid overdose kits that include a nasal spray containing Naloxone to aid in reversing the effects of an opiate drugs, including heroin...(MichiganLive)

(New Jersey) The fastest way for an adult to get a treatment bed for heroin addiction in New Jersey today - get arrested. It's a growing reality in the Garden State, one that's troubling for treatment providers and substance abusers alike...(NJ Advance Media)

(New Jersey) Governor Christie's plans to streamline access to drug-treatment services, described broadly during his State of the State address last week, earned him a chorus of praise from specialists who said the administration had dedicated more resources to combating addiction than any other in history...(North Jersey)

(Arizona) With heroin use surging across Arizona, treatment facilities are expanding into residential communities here where narcotics officers estimate nearly 1,500 addicts move into the small city every three months...(Camp Verde Bugle)

(West Virginia)...But the child's words cut like a knife, because she's not alone in feeling bewildered - family members are also still in shock about the November 2014 heroin overdose death of her mother, Tiffany Everhart, who would have celebrated her 24th birthday in February...(The Journal)

(New York) The drug fentanyl - suspected of being an accomplice in an outbreak of heroin overdoses in the Oneonta area in recent days - is being increasingly mixed with the addictive opiate before being marketed to users "chasing a better high," a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent said Thursday...(Daily Star)

(Kentucky) Heroin is on the agenda. The 2015 General Assembly has begun. It is clear that the heroin issue will be addressed in some fashion. Nine bills at the time of this writing have been filed. One such bill, Senate Bill 5, has already passed the Senate. But, before we make a big mistake, again, let's take a deep breath and reflect. ..(Courier-Journal)

(West Virginia) Some West Virginians who overdose on heroin could survive if a drug used commonly in many other states was administered to them. It is Naloxone, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin wants to ensure more overdose victims have access to it...(The Intelligencer)

(Georgia) Brookhaven police have a new weapon in their arsenal. One that fights drug poisoning, also known as overdosing, which is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, police say...(Reporter Newspapers)

(Canada) A fledgling harm-reduction initiative in British Columbia is being credited with reducing the toll of opioid overdoses - and could play an important role in responding to an increase in illicit use of the dangerously potent drug fentanyl...(The Globe and Mail)