(Statewide) Saying Pennsylvania is facing a "public health crisis," Gov. Wolf on Wednesday said he hoped the state could find ways to add to the $20 million that the legislature has appropriated for 20 special facilities for the treatment of people addicted to opioids...(Philadelphia Inquirer)

(Cumberland)...According to Cumberland County Coroner Charley Hall, there have been 44 overdose deaths in the county so far this year. There were only 41 overdose deaths in the entirety of 2015...(The Sentinel)

(Allegheny) Allegheny County health officials have pinpointed where the most people are fatally overdosing on opiates, who is mostly likely to overdose and when...(TribLive)

(Statewide) In counties where municipal police have taken up the call to carry naloxone, the life-saving medication has been a critical tool during a time of unprecedented drug overdose deaths...(PennLive)

(Wayne)...The Wayne County Heroin Prevention Task Force is just 2 years old, in that amount of time the group has raised money in order to get that office building, and hold fundraiser like the gun raffle and another event this upcoming weekend...(WNEP)

(Lebanon) Despite a midsummer spike in heroin overdoses in 2015, people in Lebanon County died from drugs at only half the statewide rate, according to a recently released report...(Lebanon Daily News)

(York) People who lost a loved one to opioid addiction are invited to carry a poster containing photos of their loved one or offering a message of hope during a walk and memorial scheduled for Aug. 31 at York College...(PennLive)

(Statewide) More than 3,500 people died from drug overdoses in Pennsylvania in 2015 - a 30 percent increase from the previous year, according to a report from the Pennsylvania State Coroners Association...(PennLive)

(Southwest)...Most of the 1.5 million incarcerated Americans who abuse alcohol or drugs undergo cold-turkey detox behind bars. For opioid users, it's a horrible experience, but one that often fails to deter them from using again on the outside...(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 

(Erie) Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Legislature are injecting an urgently needed $20 million into the fight against opioid addiction. Wolf came to Erie Thursday to announce that the Esper Treatment Center, 25 W. 18th St., will be one of 20 facilities statewide to play a key role in the state's strategy...(GoErie)

(Luzerne) Caught in a torrential rainstorm on Memorial Highway in the Back Mountain one recent Saturday, with thunder crashing and lightning flashing all around him, Michael Donahue couldn't help but compare the feeling to drug or alcohol addiction...(Times Leader)

(Statewide)...But now, unfortunately, some police agencies and other public officials have begun to express second thoughts about naloxone, claiming that it promotes drug abuse...(Times Tribune)

(New York) Hospitals on Staten Island are seeing a troubling increase in newborns born addicted to more than one drug...(SI Live)

(National)...Carfentanil is the most potent commercial opioid in the world - 10,000 times stronger than morphine - and law enforcement from northwest Canada to the eastern U.S. have raised alarms about it tainting heroin batches, and even being sold as the drug itself...(Washington Post)

(Idaho) CVS Health announced today that the opioid overdose-reversal medication naloxone is now available without a prescription at CVS Pharmacy locations in Idaho...(Yahoo Finance)

(Florida)...This heroin is laced with fentanyl-a prescription painkiller used to treat the severe pain of cancer. It's so powerful the DEA is now warning first responders to stay clear of it...(CBS 12)

(National) The Canadian Border Services Agency announced that earlier this summer a dangerous drug called carfentanil was seized in a package from China destined for Calgary. A potent synthetic drug more powerful than fentanyl, carfentanil is known for being a large animal tranquilizer and for its alleged use as a chemical weapon by the Russian military...(VICE)

(Montana) Across the country, and in Montana, more and more people are having the kind of terrifying experience that Michael McNamara did...(MTPR)

(National)...Many of these tragedies could have been avoided if the people experiencing the overdose had immediately received the prescription drug naloxone, a life-saving medication that can stop or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose...(FDA)

(Ohio) Mansfield police and fire departments responded to at least eight suspected overdoses at at least 5 separate addresses within about a half-hour Wednesday night...(Mansfield News Journal)

(New York) The number of drug overdose deaths has soared by 73% in the city over the last five years, data released Tuesday by the Health Department show...(Daily News)

(New York) Finding safe ways to treat acute pain and the importance of education about the dangers of painkillers were the main topics of discussion during a Tuesday morning roundtable discussion on the opioid epidemic...(SI Live)

(National) At least one San Francisco-area drug user died and eight more landed in the ER in late 2015 after taking counterfeit Xanax tablets that had been cut with a powerful and dangerous opiate, a new report shows...(WebMD)

(National) The U.S. medical community is starting to pay more attention to the "burgeoning public health threat" posed by counterfeit prescription drugs made with illicit fentanyl...(Pain News Network)

(Massachusetts)...Nine reclining chairs have been full most days, especially during peak midday hours. It may be the only room in the country where patients can ride out a heroin or other high under medical supervision...(NPR)

(Connecticut) Within a week of Louis Ahearn's death from an accidental overdose, the man who sold him his last bag of heroin was arrested on federal drug-distribution charges...(NH Register)

(Massachusetts) Use of the antioverdose drug Narcan has increased dramatically in Boston, with Roxbury among the hardest hit, according to new data that show which neighborhoods are bearing the brunt of the opioid scourge...(Boston Globe)