OVERDOSE NEWS BULLETIN
News from across the Commonwealth and the Nation

March 11, 2016 to March 18, 2016
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PENNSYLVANIA
03-17-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Personal Story 
Dylan Gross, a young victim of heroin
(York)...He looks happy. He looks like a nice kid, and he was. He had a nice, caring family. He had a decent upbringing. He was loved. He was also an addict...(York Daily Record)
03-17-2016

-Naloxone
-Training
-Law Enforcement 
Cops train to use life-saving antidote for overdose victims
(Lehigh) Fourteen police officers Wednesday joined a growing number of Lehigh Valley and northwest New Jersey first responders using naloxone to help save lives...(Lehigh Valley Live)
03-17-2016

-Heroin Misuse
-Overview 
Heroin in York County: Chronicling an epidemic
(York) With 62 overdose deaths from heroin in 2014, there was no denying it: York County has a heroin problem...(York Daily Record)
03-16-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Awareness
-Public Forum 
Fighting back: Session held in Bradford on combating opioid epidemic
(Bradford)...On Tuesday, David Fialko, certified prevention specialist from Bucks County who sits on the state's Rapid Response Overdose Task Force, spent several hours presenting an educational session on overdose prevention and naloxone (Narcan) implementation...(Bradford Era)
03-14-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Overview 
Keystone Health takes aim on opioid abuse
(Franklin) Keystone Health Center was among five Pennsylvania heath centers to receive federal grants to improve and expand the delivery of substance abuse services...(Public Opinion)
03-13-2016

-Naloxone
-Schools 
North Pocono now storing opioid overdose antidote
(Lackawanna) North Pocono is now the second school district in Lackawanna County to store an opioid-overdose antidote medication in its nurses' offices...(Times Tribune)
03-12-2016

-Prescription Misuse
-Overview 
Prescription painkiller abuse continues to pose problems in county
(Cumberland) In the mid '90s, a new drug sat on the horizon being billed with the ability to combat pain safely.  Jack Carroll, executive director of the Cumberland-Perry Drug and Alcohol Commission, remembers what some of the promises were for that new type of drug...(The Sentinel)
03-12-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Prevention
-Funding 
Pottstown Community Health and Dental listed to receive federal funds to combat opioid crisis
(Montgomery) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday that $94 million would soon be made available to 271 health centers in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to help combat an opioid drug addiction epidemic...(The Mercury)
03-12-2016

-Naloxone
-Overview
-Law Enforcement 
Cops try to reduce overdoses
(Union) Heroin and prescription painkiller overdoses killed nearly 2,500 Pennsylvanians two years ago, and the state's opioid antidote program is meant to reverse the growing trend...(Daily Item)
03-12-2016

-Naloxone
-Overview
-Law Enforcement
-Op-Ed 
Letter: Police need to have overdose antidote
(Berks) The Berks County Medical Society applauds first responders from Bern and Lower Heidelberg townships for correctly assessing a drug overdose and rapidly administering naloxone, the medical agent that reverses the effects of opioids...(Reading Eagle)
03-12-2016

-Naloxone
-Overview 
'Operation Save a Life' training hosted in Fulton County
(Fulton) Brenda Mellott said she believes a day will come when people will need to intervene with a stranger's opioid overdose in common places, such as the grocery store...(Herald Mail)
03-12-2016

-Heroin Misuse
-Overview 
A Small Town Wonders What To Do When Heroin Is 'Everywhere'
(Berks)...I went to rural Berks County in southeast Pennsylvania to hear what the opioid epidemic means in a small town, a place where everyone knows everyone and the ripples of addiction spread wide...(NPR)
03-11-2016

-Overdose
-Statistics 
Overdose Deaths Up 14-Fold In Pennsylvania: Patch PM
(Statewide) Drug overdose rates have gone through the roof in Pennsylvania over the last 35 years, a new study has found...(Patch)
NATIONAL
03-18-2016

-Prescription Misuse
-Prevention
-Funding 
Maine getting $1.2M to counter prescription drug overdoses
(Maine) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it will give more than $1.2 million to Maine to assist with the prevention of prescription drug overdoses...(WCSH6)
03-16-2016

-Overdose
-Statistics
-Interactive Map 
Watch How the Drug Overdose Epidemic Spread in America
(National) The epidemic of drug overdoses in the U.S. has reached crisis levels, according to newly published data from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps project...(TIME)
03-16-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Overview
-Prevention 
Public's help sought to stem tide of Minnesota heroin deaths and hospitalizations
(Minnesota) A wave of heroin overdose deaths and hospitalizations across northern Minnesota prompted an urgent plea from authorities Wednesday for the public's help in identifying dealers and users in an effort to prevent further tragedies...(Star Tribune)
03-15-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Overview
-Legislation 
'Most comprehensive' opioid bill becomes law
(Massachusetts) Beginning in July, Massachusetts hospitals will have to evaluate for substance abuse anyone who arrives at an emergency room suffering from an apparent opioid overdose...(Boston Herald)
03-15-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Awareness
-Public Forum 
Education aims to counter local overdose epidemic
(Lehigh) A powerful, shocking and at times heart-breaking program aimed at saving the lives of local young people from drug overdoses was presented in Allentown City Hall Monday evening...(WFMZ)
03-15-2016

-Prescription Misuse
-Guidelines 
C.D.C. Painkiller Guidelines Aim to Reduce Addiction Risk
(National) In an effort to curb what many consider the worst public health drug crisis in decades, the federal government on Tuesday published the first national standards for prescription painkillers...(New York Times)
03-15-2016

-Overdose
-Statistics 
N.H. Medical Examiner: At Least 10 Drug Overdoses in 2016, 86 Cases Pending
(New Hampshire) At least five men and five women have died of drug overdoses in New Hampshire so far in 2016, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner...(NHPR)
03-15-2016

-Naloxone
-Access
-Law Enforcement 
Seattle bicycle cops to carry Narcan for heroin overdoses
(Washington) Along with their firearms, badges and other more traditional tools of the trade, bicycle police in Seattle will add a pharmaceutical to their armory to combat heroin overdoses...(Seattle Times)
03-14-2016

-Opioid Misuse
-Treatment
-Corrections 
The tragedy of those with addictions going to jail in Durham
(North Carolina)...Recently she was incarcerated in the Durham County jail, which does not give methadone maintenance treatment. Without her methadone maintenance, she began going through withdrawal...(News & Observer)
03-13-2016

-Overdose
-Statistics 
Heroin, Fentanyl Deaths Leap in Vermont's Largest Counties
(Vermont) New statistics from the Vermont Health Department show that the number of overdose deaths from heroin and fentanyl went from one each in Vermont's largest counties in 2010 to 16 last year in Chittenden County with 11 in Rutland County...(NECN)
03-11-2016

-Heroin Misuse
-Overview
-Personal Story 
Brother walks across the U.S. after sister's heroin overdose
(Georgia) That is why Brett Bramble is walking across America. He wants to honor his the life of his sister, Brittany Bramble-McNatt, but also to spread his message about the dangers of heroin and drug overdoses and let people know there is hope...(11Alive)
03-11-2016

-Heroin Misuse
-Overview
-Personal Story 
The Breaking Point: Young Parents Battling Heroin Addiction to Get Clean for Their Kids
(National)...But Norton too was a heroin addict. She and Aaron started using together. Their addiction has put their young family at risk. They both want to get better to properly raise their young son, but every day is a struggle to stop...(ABC News)
INTERNATIONAL
03-14-2016

-Heroin Misuse
-Overdose
-Prevention 
Toronto Eyes Safe Injection Sites to Combat Rising Overdoses
(Canada) A rise in overdose deaths from opioids like heroin and fentanyl has renewed calls in Canada's largest city for government-sanctioned facilities where addicts can shoot up under the supervision of a nurse...(VICE News)



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