(Bedford) As abuse of prescription drugs that leads to addiction and overdose deaths continue to climb across the state, Gov. Tom Wolf visited Bedford County officials Thursday to discuss and recommend solutions to the problem...(Tribune Democrat)

(Statewide)...The Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society (POS) recognizes, however, that orthopedic surgeons need to take measures to help minimize opioid medication overuse and to seek and to implement alternative pain management modalities at the outset of acute pain developing...(PennLive)

(Montgomery)...Wadsworth was one of several people who spoke April 21 during an evening presentation by the Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education (NOPE) Task Force of Montgomery County to about a dozen parents and a few students in the high school auditorium...(Times Herald)

(Statewide)...Gov. Tom Wolf assured them he and other state leaders fully grasp the magnitude of the crisis that killed 2,500 state residents in 2014, surpassing traffic accidents. He further promised that Pennsylvania will become a national leader in producing new solutions...(PennLive)

(Lehigh) In response to concerns about heroin overdoses nationally and locally, all four schools in the Salisbury Township School District will stock the opioid antidote that can reverse such overdoses...(Morning Call)

(Berks) Health care professionals who want to learn more about the opioid drug crisis facing Pennsylvania are the main focus of a forum organized by the Berks County Medical Society...(Reading Eagle)

(Delaware) As 1,000 new nasal spray applications of the opioid antidote drug Narcan, or naloxone, are given to Delaware County police departments, the county will have to destroy half of its remaining stock of previously purchased doses...(Delco Times)

(Westmoreland) Drug-related deaths in Westmoreland County - most involving heroin - are on a record pace for the eighth consecutive year, according to Coroner Ken Bacha's office...(TribLive)

(Montgomery)...According to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, the annual Take Back Day, which was held on April 30, yielded a record 5,637.8 pounds of unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medications...(The Mercury)

(Luzerne) Police departments throughout Mountain Top are now equipped to provide aid to persons who have overdosed on opiates such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine, as well as heroin...(Citizens Voice)

(Luzerne) A source tells eyewitness News that two people were found passed out from an apparent drug overdose at the Osterhout free library in Wilkes-Barre and that kids were the ones who found them...(WBRE)

(Chester) Gov. Tom Wolf heard from the community and elected officials Friday to help with the "medical epidemic" of heroin and opioid overdoses...(Delco Times)

(Luzerne) Police departments took part in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day across Luzerne County on Saturday.

(Lycoming) With prom just a week away, Williamsport Area School District held a mock DUI crash, but this year organizers added a new element. The school showed students what it could look like if they overdosed on heroin...(WNEP)

(Franklin) Chambersburg Hospital's treatment of six people for opioid overdoses in a 24-hour stretch this past week again underscores the problem and devastating results of heroin abuse in Franklin County...(Public Opinion)

(Massachusetts)...Still, there were nearly 1,400 lives lost statewide last year to opioid and heroin abuse, an unconscionable toll that shows there's more to be done. Policy makers must turn their focus to what happens to addicts after they detox or get treatment, a vulnerable population in dire need of community-based, sustainable pathways to recovery...(Boston Globe)

(National)...OxyContin is a chemical cousin of heroin, and when it doesn't last, patients can experience excruciating symptoms of withdrawal, including an intense craving for the drug...(LA Times)

(National) In 2013 and 2014, according to the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people ages 45 to 64 accounted for about half of all deaths from drug overdose. Prince died on April 21 at his home and music studio, Paisley Park, in Minneapolis. He was 57...(NPR)

(Michigan)...He said the bill should ensure health professionals on a scene are up to date on overdose treatments - similar to how they are already required to re-certify their skills in CPR.
..(Michigan Radio)

(Massachusetts) The opioid crisis has hit Massachusetts hard, particularly in some communities. The map below shows the number of opioid overdose deaths per capita in 2015 for each city and town across the state...(Boston Globe)

(National)...The study found that consumer out-of-pocket spending on opioids per 100 morphine milligram equivalents declined from $4.40 in 2001 to 90 cents 2012, with insurers paying an increasingly larger share of the cost...(Insurance Journal)

(National)...This is an epidemic, and it requires serious action from all levels of federal, state and local government; the health community; law enforcement; and other stakeholders in order to start turning those numbers around...(Reading Eagle)

(Massachusetts) A Boston homeless center has started a new program allowing people who use opioids to be in a safe space where they can be supervised after taking the drugs. The program joins a growing number of places which aim to use "harm reduction" strategies...(ABC News)

(National) It's an old story but a very sad one. A celebrity is rumored to have died of a drug overdose and the world mourns. And, of course, media outlets and the public in general become aware-ever so briefly-that we, as a country, are in the midst of a drug crisis-more specifically an opiate abuse and overdose epidemic...(Fox News)

(Massachusetts) The opioid crisis has moved behind the wheel in this gritty port city and in other corners of Massachusetts, authorities said. In April, six motorists were found overdosed in traffic here or slumped unconscious in parked cars...(Boston Globe)

(Maine) Maine lawmakers on Friday overrode a veto from Republican Gov. Paul LePage to make an opioid and heroin overdose-reversal drug more available through local pharmacies...(Wall Street Journal)

(New York)...In the last 12 months, Charles A. Castiglia, president and owner of Lakeside Memorial Funeral Home in Hamburg, said he has handled a dozen funerals for young people who died in the opiate epidemic and these deaths are taking an emotional toll on him and his staff...(Buffalo News)