|
OVERDOSE NEWS BULLETIN
News from across the Commonwealth and the Nation
March 13, 2015 to March 20, 2015
|
|
|
03-19-2015
-Naloxone
-Overview |
County coroner discusses naloxone
(Schuylkill) The Schuylkill County Police Chiefs Association learned more about naloxone at its monthly meeting Wednesday at the Schuylkill County Courthouse...(Republican Herald)
|
|
03-19-2015
-Naloxone
-Distribution
-First Responders |
|
|
03-19-2015
-Heroin
-Criminal Justice |
AG office to pay for Penn Township narcotics overtime
(Westmoreland) In a deal billed as the first of its kind in Westmoreland County, the state Attorney General's Office is offering to pay the overtime costs for a Penn Township narcotics detective to help its investigators attack the drug trade in Southwestern Pennsylvania...(TribLive)
|
|
03-18-2015
-Prescription Abuse
-Awareness
-March 27 |
Drug presentation for seniors planned
(Carbon) The Pennsylvania Department of Aging, Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources and Carbon County Area Agency on Aging on March 27 will host a drug presentation geared toward senior citizens, those with disabilities, caretakers, providers and social workers...(Times News)
|
|
03-18-2015
-Naloxone
-Distribution
-Law Enforcement |
Police in York County will get drug to help heroin overdose victims
(York) A drug that can stop or reverse heroin and opioid overdoses will be available to law enforcement agencies across York County by the end of the week. York County Commissioners on Wednesday authorized the district attorney's office to obtain and distribute the drug naloxone, also known as Narcan...(ABC27)
|
|
03-18-2015
-Drug Court
-New Initiative |
Northampton County to start drug court
(Northampton) County Prison is no longer dogged by overcrowding problems, but Judge Craig A. Dally still questions why so many cells have to be occupied by inmates whose primary problem is being hooked on drugs...(Morning Call)
|
|
03-17-2015
-Addiction
-Overview |
Heroin just a start: Progression of an addict
(York) Police in York County blame heroin dependency for an increase in crimes, including retail theft and other offenses, such as prostitution, committed to support the addiction...(York Dispatch)
|
|
03-17-2015
-Overdose
-Overview |
Overdoses a sad reality for Coroner Pam Gay
(York) When York County Coroner Pam Gay is called to overdose scenes, victims sometimes still have syringes in their arms - and sometimes, there's still solution in the syringe...(York Dispatch)
|
|
03-17-2015
-Drug Abuse
-Criminal Justice |
Federal prosecutor, DAs join to fight drugs, guns
(Western) The city's top federal prosecutor is teaming up with district attorneys in four outlying counties in hopes of "choking" the flow of guns and drugs into and through the 25-county western Pennsylvania federal court district...(Tribune Democrat)
|
|
03-17-2015
-Naloxone
-Law Enforcement |
DA upset with antidote rejection
(Wayne) Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said she is disappointed borough council rejected a plan to provide the police department with an antidote that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses...(Wayne Independent)
|
|
03-17-2015
-Naloxone
-Training
-March 24 |
Learn how to counteract an opiate overdose at Warminster events
(Bucks)...they are holding a naloxone training session from 7 to 9 p.m. March 24 with the help of the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission Inc., Prevention Point Philadelphia and the Council of Southeast Pennsylvania Inc. Attendees will leave with a free naloxone kit and a prescription for the drug, which costs about $40 a dose...(Bucks County Courier Times)
|
|
03-16-2015
-Naloxone
-Distribution
-Law Enforcement |
Police would be able to aid overdose victims
(Wayne) As a result of the Wayne County District Attorney's Drug Task Force joining a Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol program, they have received a supply of Naloxone, also known as Narcan, and disburse it to the local police departments to be proactive in the fight against heroin addiction and overdose...(News Eagle)
|
|
03-16-2015
-Naloxone
-Rescue
-Law Enforcement |
Caln police use 'Narcan' to avert fatal overdose
(Chester) A police officer prevented the death of a 31-year-old woman when he used a life-saving drug while responding to a report of an unconscious woman in a township home, according to the Caln Police Department...(Daily Local)
|
|
03-15-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Overview
-Stigma
-Personal Stories |
|
|
03-15-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Overview
-Personal Story |
|
|
03-15-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Overview
-Personal Story |
No end in sight for heroin epidemic
(Berks)...He is one of the legion of heroin users across the nation whose helplessness around the drug keeps them on the edge of disaster. Leh, 26, who faces a date in Berks County Court next week, said that when his mother called police on Jan. 5, he was on a heroin binge...(Reading Eagle)
|
|
03-14-2015
-Opioid Abuse
-Suburbs |
Overdose epidemic surges in suburbia
(Philadelphia)...The scourge of primarily heroin addiction, which seemed to suddenly gain momentum outside the urban line in the mid-2000s, has only grown in lethality in suburban and rural communities regionwide and, indeed, across the two states, despite law enforcement's efforts to curb it...(Washington Times)
|
|
03-13-2015
-Overdose
-Task Force
-Recommendations |
|
|
03-15-2015
-Overdose
-Statistics
-Methodology |
How Scientists Compare Drug Use Across Generations
(National) How do you compare the rates of drug use or overdose by different generations...To study the phenomenon experts look at statistics on drug use by different generations. But there are challenges with trying to compare different birth cohorts by just looking at raw data...(Wall Street Journal)
|
|
03-14-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Personal Story |
After a daughter's heroin overdose, a mother's grief
(Alaska)...The pictures taken by police are hard to look at: a young woman's lifeless body, crumpled on the linoleum floor. She wears a polka-dot sundress, her skin blotched purple and white...(Alaskan Dispatch)
|
|
03-14-2015
-Prescription Abuse
-Personal Stories
-Veterans |
The death of baby Ada Mae and the tragic effects of addicted veterans
(Wisconsin)...Ada Mae's death is one of dozens of tragedies that begin to hint at how the flood of narcotics from the VA scarred this region. It begins with the veterans themselves, who have become addled and addicted and who have overdosed. The collateral damage ranges from distraught sisters to fatherless children and dead girlfriends...(Reveal News)
|
|
03-20-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Overview
-Personal Story
-Documentary |
Recovered heroin addict: Problem is worse than imagined
(National) After traveling to 40 states over the last 11 months, producing a documentary on the devastation that heroin causes, a New Jersey filmmaker and former addict told a crowd in Dover that the worst is yet to come...(Fosters)
|
|
03-20-2015
-Treatment
-Naloxone
-Law Enforcement |
|
|
03-19-2015
-Drug Court
-Personal Story |
Drug Court Graduate: It Saved My Life
(South Dakota) The Minnehaha County Drug Court program was one of the first in the state of South Dakota, and Thursday it celebrated its 22nd graduate. "It was a tough battle but it was 100 percent fulfilling in the end," Minnehaha County Drug Court graduate Jake McCollar said...(Keloland)
|
|
03-18-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Youth |
|
|
03-18-2015
-Prescription
-Monitoring
-Concerns
-Op-Ed |
As Heroin Deaths Skyrocket, Prescription Monitoring Programs May Do More Harm
(National)...Shuttering pill-mills, tightening restrictions on certain analgesics, and making products harder to snort and inject all seem to be curbing prescription drug abuse. But addiction does not simply go away when the pills do, which is why people dependent on prescription opioids have been switching to heroin in record numbers...(Huffington Post)
|
|
03-18-2015
-Naloxone
-Distribution
-Public School
-RI HB 5047 |
Bill would ensure that public schools keep Narcan on hand
(Rhode Island) Naloxone is considered a life-saving drug for people overdosing on opiates, and one lawmaker is hoping schools in Rhode Island will keep it on hand...His bill proposes putting naloxone, also known as Narcan, in all Rhode Island public and charter schools at the middle, junior high and high school grade levels...(NBC 10)
|
|
03-18-2015
-Prescribing
-Regulations
-Statistics |
Pain clinic rules cut overdose deaths
(Florida)...Between 2003 and 2010, overdose deaths rose by 61 percent according to federal figures cited in a recent state Senate report. But in the first two years after the state's pain management clinic regulations took effect in 2010, deaths from prescription drug abuse dropped 23 percent...(Herald Tribune)
|
|
03-18-2015
-Naloxone
-Rescue
-Law Enforcement |
|
|
03-17-2015
-Opioid Abuse
-Addiction
-Treatment
-Legislation
-TN HB 103 |
|
|
03-17-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Panel Discussion
-Personal Stories |
|
|
03-17-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Overview
-Personal Stories |
Hope after heroin addiction
(Illinois) The Midwest became the region with the largest heroin overdose problems in 2013, according to the CDC report, passing the Northeast and the West, which tied for the highest rate in 2000...(Chicago Red Eye)
|
|
03-17-2015
-Overdose
-Legislation
-WV SB 335
-WV SB 523 |
Experts like overdose-fighting bills
(West Virginia) Local experts are lauding a pair of bills aimed at reducing drug overdose deaths that passed the West Virginia Legislature this session, saying they think the measures will be effective. The legislature passed Senate Bill 335, the Access to Anti-Opioids Act, before the end of February...(Herald Dispatch)
|
|
03-16-2015
-Prescribing Practices
-Regulations |
NJ may require docs to discuss possibility of addiction when prescribing painkillers
(New Jersey) Advocates are pushing for a new law to require doctors in New Jersey to talk with patients about the risks of addiction when they initially prescribe painkillers. Leaders of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey say abuse of prescription painkillers has reached epidemic proportions and can lead to heroin addiction...(Newsworks)
|
|
03-16-2015
-Prescription Abuse
-Overview |
The Most Fatally Abused Drug Is in Your Medicine Cabinet
(National) When it comes to poisonous substances, Americans tend to think first of plants, household cleaners or various insects. We place child locks on our cabinets, we wear insect repellent when we go hiking and we're wary of running into poison ivy. But more Americans are dying from poisonings today than in the past two decades, and none of these sources is the culprit...(Huffington Post)
|
|
03-15-2015
-Drug Abuse
-Statistics |
Aging Baby Boomers Bring Drug Habits Into Middle Age
(National) Older adults are abusing drugs, getting arrested for drug offenses and dying from drug overdoses at increasingly higher rates. These surges have come as the 76 million baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, reach late middle age...(Wall Street Journal)
|
|
03-15-2015
-Naloxone
-Law Enforcement
-Op-Ed |
Our View: Narcan a necessary weapon in police arsenal
(New York) Lockport Police Department is the latest local law enforcement agency to get armed with naloxone, the opiate overdose reversing drug. It's both a progressive development in emergency response and a profoundly sad sign of the times...(Lockport Journal)
|
|
03-15-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Criminal Justice |
Are tougher penalties in heroin deaths needed?
(Indiana) As much of Michiana faces a steady rise of fatal heroin overdoses, some area law enforcement officials say harsher penalties against people who supply deadly batches of the drug could help fight the epidemic...(South Bend Tribune)
|
|
03-14-2015
-Opioid Abuse
-Advocacy
-Personal Story |
Advocates working to reduce overdose deaths in NC (North Carolina)...Organizations in North Carolina are pushing for overdose prevention to make people more aware of the dangers and to save lives. The North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) is an advocacy group created in 2013 to address the overdose epidemic through a public health approach. It aims to provide resources like naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, for free to people in North Carolina... (WRAL)
|
|
03-14-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Statistics |
Heroin, drug overdoses increase
(Ohio) A drug trafficking highway stretching across Ohio may be partially responsible for the availability of heroin and a rise in accidental overdose deaths in Trumbull County, according to law enforcement and industry specialists...(Trib Today)
|
|
03-14-2015
-Prescription Abuse
-Teenagers
-Public Program |
'Teen Connection' to address prescription drug abuse
(Wisconsin) The next "Teen Connection" will shed light on the prevalence of prescription drug abuse among teens in Wisconsin and will examine statewide efforts to educate teens and their families about the risks of prescription drug abuse...(Lacrosse Tribune)
|
|
03-13-2015
-Naloxone
-Legislation
-S.707 |
Sen. Markey files bill to protect Narcan care providers
(National) A federal bill introduced by Massachusetts' Ed Markey and two other U.S. senators this week will aim to saved the lives of more overdose victims by eliminating what he says is an impediment to those seeking to help...(Gloucester Times)
|
|
03-13-2015
-Naloxone
-Legislation
-ID HB 108 |
Legislature makes overdose-stopping drug available to friends, family of opiate abusers
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/03/13/3695359/idaho-legislature-approves-a-bill.html#storylink=cpy
(Idaho) The drug is naloxone, and with one shot or a puff from a nasal spray it can stop an opiate overdose from becoming fatal. Opiates are highly addictive drugs derived from poppies; they include prescription medications like morphine, oxycodone and hydrocodone, and illegal drugs like heroin... (Idaho Statesman)
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/03/13/3695359/idaho-legislature-approves-a-bill.html#storylink=cp
|
|
03-19-2015
-Drug Abuse
-Study |
|
|
03-15-2015
-Heroin Abuse
-Fentanyl |
Alberta playing catchup in response to fentanyl deaths
(Canada) As authorities in British Columbia aim to reduce the rising numbers of fatal overdoses linked to fentanyl with a new warning campaign, officials in Alberta are still in the planning stages and may be months away from unveiling their response to the spike in deaths...(Calgary Herald)
|
|
|
|
|
Contact Us: Tom Stark, Management Associate, PACDAA
About Us Terms of Service Privacy Policy
The information provided in this publication is not intended to take the place of professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with competent legal, financial, or other appropriate professionals. Statements of facts and opinions expressed in this publication, by authors other than Association staff and officers, are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent an opinion or philosophy of the officers, members and staff of the Pennsylvania Association of County Drug and Alcohol Administrators (PACDAA). No endorsement of advertised products or services is implied by PACDAA unless those products or services are expressly endorsed, or are owned or managed by the Association programs, or our affiliates. This publication may not be reproduced, modified, distributed, or displayed in part or in whole, by any means, without advance written permission of PACDAA. Please direct your requests to Tom Stark.
|
|
|
|
