(Allegheny)...Borough Council last week approved a policy that allows officers to carry naloxone, also commonly known by the brand name Narcan, a drug that counteracts the effects of heroin and other opioids...(TribLive)

(Statewide)...In the budget bill approved by the state Legislature - but not yet fully adopted as the final state budget - the commonwealth is giving $45.5 million to assist local drug treatment agencies in funding that passes through the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP)...(Pocono Record)

(Fayette) Fayette County Drug & Alcohol Commission Inc. is starting an Overdose Grief Support Group for adults and youth that will meet from 5 to 7 p.m. the first and third Monday of each month at the Fayette County Health Center, 100 New Salem Road, Uniontown...(Observer-Reporter)

(Delaware) Days before U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7, of Chadds Ford begins work on the Opioids Conference Committee Wednesday, he visited the township-based manufacturer of the nasal spray credited with reviving people who are overdosing on opioids...(Mainline)

(Dauphin) School employees will be able to provide naxolone to a person experiencing an overdose under a policy Lower Dauphin School Board is considering..(Press and Journal)

(Erie) Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper participated in an online "town hall meeting" last week to talk about local governments, law enforcement and the growing national heroin and opioid crisis...(GoErie)

(Lehigh)...Allentown police were dispatched at 2:15 a.m. Thursday to the N. Hazel and North streets where officers found a man on the ground in the middle of the intersection, according to police Capt. Stephen Vangelo. The man was unresponsive and had shallow breathing, he said...(Morning Call)

(Westmoreland) A program to educate inmates in Westmoreland County Prison will begin in July with the goal of keeping them sober and helping them stay off drugs once they are released...(TribLive)

(National) Use of the prescription opioid methadone for treatment of pain, as opposed to treatment of opioid use disorder (e.g., addiction), has been identified as a contributor to the U.S. opioid overdose epidemic. Although methadone accounted for only 2% of opioid prescriptions in 2009 (1), it was involved in approximately 30% of overdose deaths...(CDC)

(National) U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced several new actions this week that the agencys taking to combat the opioid crisis, including expanding access to buprenorphine; a proposal to eliminate any potential financial incentive for doctors to prescribe opioids based on patient experience survey questions...(OHS)

(Rhode Island)...State health officials and physicians say the declines signal that doctors and other prescribers have become more aware of the risk of addiction and overdose and have responded to state and federal efforts to curb opioid prescribing...(Providence Journal)

(Massachusetts) Massachusetts doctors prescribed fewer opioid prescriptions over the past year and a half, a promising sign in a region racked by the opioid crisis, according to an analysis of electronic health records by Athena Health...(Boston)

(National) State programs that monitor narcotic prescriptions help prevent 10 opioid-overdose deaths a day in the U.S., yet improvements could save another two people a day, a new study finds...(WHBL)

(National) In overwhelming numbers, members of Congress from both parties and all corners of the nation have lined up to take an election year vote in favor of legislation to address America's opioid addiction epidemic. But whether they will do enough to actually accomplish anything remains to be seen...(Baltimore Sun)

(Missouri) St. Louis County officials say local initiatives are making incremental headway toward slowing a heroin epidemic that is continuing to take a toll on the region, state and nation...(Post-Dispatch)

(Ohio) Akron first responders treated 17 opiate overdose patients, one of whom died, in a 24-hour period Tuesday, officials said Wednesday...(Cleveland)

(Connecticut) It's been 10 months since pharmacist Edmund Funaro Jr. completed a training program to be able to prescribe the opiate overdose reversal medication naloxone, and yet he has not written one prescription for the drug...(Fox News)

(Indiana) More than 500 pharmacies and treatment centers across the state can now distribute naloxone without a prescription under a new standing order from the Indiana state department of health...(INPR)

(Alaska)...The role of witnesses, friends and family members as crucial front-line life-savers is increasingly evident, whether by calling in medics or by administering an antidote themselves....(ADN)

(South Carolina) A new South Carolina law aimed at reducing deaths from OxyContin, fentanyl and other opioids will allow people to obtain an anti-overdose drug in pharmacies without presenting a prescription...(WSPA)

(North Dakota) Health officials in North Dakota are promoting the availability of naloxone, which can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdose, as part of the "Stop Overdose" initiative...(APhA)

(Michigan) The opiate antidote Naloxone is proving to be a worthwhile purchase for the Kent County Sheriff's Department after deputies used the medication to revive eight people from heroin overdose in the past two weeks...(MLive)