(Statewide) Distribution of naloxone, the overdose reversal drug for heroin and other opioids, hasn't happened as quickly as anticipated in Pennsylvania since the passage of Act 139 of 2014. "David's Law" allows first responders, including law enforcement, firefighters, EMS and others, to carry and administer the drug...(News Item)

(Erie) As heroin and opioid addiction continue to plague Erie County and the Commonwealth, Senator Sean D. Wiley (D) Erie has teamed up with UPMC Health Plan and Change Addiction Now - PA CAN to provide a free community training specific to administering the life-saving opioid reversal medication naloxone...(Your Erie) 

(Erie) As more and more lives are lost due to overdoses each year in Erie, family and friends are taking measures to try to save them. Last year 52 Erie County residents died as a result of drugs. More than 50% of them involved heroin. Officials are hoping the drug narcan can help save some of those lives in the future...(Your Erie)

(Statewide)...This truly is a public health crisis rather than a law enforcement matter alone. The Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf's administration have taken some sound steps in response, especially regarding the ability to save lives in the field...(Citizens Voice)

(Indiana) Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Rural Health and Safety has received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Health Resources and Services Administration for a project to help prevent deaths from opioid overdoses...(Indiana Gazette)

(Statewide) The heroin crisis is ravaging families across the midstate. But less than half of the region's counties can say exactly how many lives have been lost to the opiate this year. Of the 15 midstate counties, just seven responded to multiple requests for statistics over a number of weeks from WITF...(WITF)

(York)...Those who have lost loved ones or know people who have gathered at Continental Square on Sunday to get the word out about Pennsylvania's Good Samaritan Law. The law, which took effect toward the end of last year, is simple...(YDR)

(Berks)...Lutz's death, which occurred in the Reading apartment he went to soon after leaving his grandparents' house that weekend, was among the most recent of the 22 heroin-related deaths in Berks in the first nine months of the year...(Reading Eagle)

(Armstrong) Kami Anderson wants people to know that they could have the power to save the life of someone who overdosed on heroin or other opiates...The drug and alcohol commission is offering the antidote to the public for free from its Kittanning office at 354 Vine Street. Anyone can get a kit, which includes two doses of the medication in nasal spray form, Anderson said...(TribLive)

(Armstrong)...Even so, King's family is trying to help others and keep his memory alive with a digital billboard on Route 422 West in Worthington. The billboard, put up by Smith's uncle, John Placek, features a photo of King, a stop sign and the words "overdose deaths" and "heroin kills."...(TribLive)

(Erie) A rash of reported overdoses involving the use of suspected synthetic marijuana that sent dozens of people to hospitals earlier this month appears to have died down, but the presence of the illegal drug in Erie continues to be a problem, according to local law enforcement...(Go Erie)

(Lehigh)...Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin joined Bethlehem police Chief Mark DiLuzio and Lehigh Valley Health Network officials at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem Friday to showcase two new disposal boxes for unused and expired over-the-counter and prescription medications such as painkillers, mood stabilizers and antibiotics...(Morning Call)

(National)...But in simply talking about the havoc drugs have played in their lives at this specific moment in time, Bush, Christie and Fiorina are at the forefront of a subtle but noticeable shift in the American psyche about how we think about drug addiction - that it's not the addict's fault...(Washington Post)

(Rhode Island) To tackle an epidemic at the population level, you need data. Lots and lots of data. That's especially true with our state, and our nation's, opioid addiction and overdose death epidemic...(RIPR)

(New Jersey) It's a truth addicts and health providers know well: Naloxone can reverse heroin overdoses, but it can't cure the addictions that cause them...(WPXI)

(National) Using naloxone, often known by the brand name Narcan, to stop an overdose on heroin or related painkillers called opioids is the first step in a complex process that can include hospitalization, treatment and relapse. Here's a step-by-step look at recovery, based on the accounts of first responders, harm reduction experts and health care providers:..(Miami Herald)

(New Hampshire)...Across the state, overdoses are on track to break last year's record of 326 deaths. The pattern is so alarming that participants in an October WMUR Granite State poll ranked drug abuse as the most important issue in the 2016 presidential campaign, surpassing jobs and economy for the first time in eight years...(Wall Street Journal)

(Rhode Island) Rhode Island's health department is looking for help encouraging doctors to use a database that monitors prescription drugs. The department is adding four new positions to a new team to fight addiction and overdose...(RIPR)

(National)...The story of how Tovar-Ramos was apprehended illustrates how heavily prosecutors rely on mandatory minimum sentences to take down drug networks. But this leverage could soon be diminished because of concerns that it has been used too liberally to lock up low-level nonviolent offenders who face punishments that are much more severe than their crimes...(Washington Post)

(National) America's heroin epidemic represents a new phase in the war on drugs. As Katharine Q. Seelye reports, heroin deaths have surged mostly among whites in the suburbs and small towns...(New York Times)

(National) Today, 120 people will loose their life to a drug overdose -- to put that number in perspective, it is the about equivalent to a fatal airplane crash happening every day. Unfortunately, this devastating epidemic is not new -- it has been growing for at least a decade. What is new is that there is at last strong, sensible, non-partisan action at hand...(Huffington Post)

(New Hampshire) When Courtney Griffin was using heroin, she lied, disappeared, and stole from her parents to support her $400-a-day habit. Her family paid her debts, never filed a police report and kept her addiction secret - until she was found dead last year of an overdose...(New York Times)

(Indiana)...At the symposium today, Zoeller announced a new grant program to fund a surge in naloxone distribution, with the goal of ensuring all first responders are equipped with the life-saving treatment and trained to administer it...(Eagle 99.3)

(Ireland) Ireland will move towards legalising supervised heroin use, and possible future decriminalisation of other drugs, according to Aodh�n � R�ord�in, the Irish minister who is redrafting Ireland's national drugs strategy...(New Scientist)

(Canada)...In an email to Global News, the province's Ministry of Health has confirmed it's in discussions with the Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) in regards to launching a pilot site to provide Take Home Naloxone kits...(Global News)