OVERDOSE NEWS BULLETIN 
News from Across the Commonwealth and the Nation
September 23, 2016 to September 30, 2016
PENNSYLVANIA
09-30-2016County to use mobile medical office to fight heroin abuse
(Mercer) Taking what they believe is a new approach, county officials and the Mercer County Behavioral Health Commission are going to provide a mobile doctor's office that offers a once-monthly shot designed to thwart heroin use...(Sharon Herald) 
09-30-2016For 'hurting' teens, a renewed drug treatment option
(York) Shortly after the new school year started, a different kind of back-to-school night was held in a downtown York office building...(York Daily Record) 
09-29-2016School expo targets drug epidemic
(Luzerne)...The community gathered at the Hazleton Area Career Center on Wednesday night for a Drug and Alcohol Resource Expo, hosted by Pathway To Recovery, a substance abuse counseling and education facility...(Standard Speaker) 
09-28-2016Gov. Tom Wolf urges more action on opioids
(Statewide) Before a rare joint session of the Legislature on Wednesday, Gov. Tom Wolfimplored lawmakers to work together to help stem the tide of opioid-related overdoses and deaths washing over the state...(Morning Call) 
09-27-2016Number of Pa. newborns addicted to opioids is skyrocketing, report says
(Statewide) Hospitals across Pennsylvania are battling surging rates of opioid-addicted babies and mothers, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council...(TribLive) 
09-24-2016Editorial: Johnstown's steady parade of drug overdoses marches on
(Cambria)...In a visit to The Tribune-Democrat a day earlier, Ted Dallas, secretary of the state Department of Human Services, said estimates are that 50 percent of Pennsylvanians have encountered opioid addiction in their families, their workplaces or their neighborhoods...(TribDem) 
09-24-2016Overdoses claim 20 local lives in 2016; county ranked 10th in state in opioid deaths
(Lawrence) More than 20 people in Lawrence County have died from drug overdoses so far this year, according to information from a Lawrence County deputy coroner...(New Castle News) 
09-24-2016Pennsylvania school districts stock up on life-saving Narcan
(Allegheny)...More than 2,000 overdose deaths have been reported in Allegheny County since 2008, including 177 this year, state data show. Ten adolescents have died as the result of an overdose since 2008, less than 1 percent of the total...(TribLive) 
09-24-2016Montgomery County sees 138 percent increase in overdoses
(Montgomery) Overdoses are up by an alarming rate across Montgomery County, according to data released Thursday by the District Attorney's office...(Montgomery News) 
09-23-2016Westmoreland County court offers addicts chance
(Westmoreland)...Westmoreland County's drug court program marked its one-year anniversary this week, and officials hailed the success so far of the alternative diversionary system. The program offers defendants counseling, treatment and other incentives to remain drug-free...(TribLive) 
09-23-2016Two families devastated by overdoses
(Washington)...Both families stood by young men who used drugs, including prescription opioids, starting in their teens, gravitated to heroin in recent years and went through cycles of rehab and relapse...(Post-Gazette) 
NATIONAL
09-30-2016This photo shows exactly why Fentanyl is deadlier than heroin
(National) The opioid crisis just keeps getting worse, in part because new types of drugs keep finding their way onto the streets. Fentanyl, heroin's synthetic cousin, is among the worst offenders...(PBS) 
09-30-2016Heroin epidemic dominates talks between Harford legislators and county leaders
(Maryland) Hartford County's heroin epidemic was on the minds of nearly every local government and organization leader who spoke with members the county's state legislative delegation Thursday morning, as well as on the minds of the legislators themselves...(Baltimore Sun) 
09-28-2016For Small-Town Cops, Opioid Scourge Hits Close to Home
(National)...Fentanyl is supercharging the longstanding problem of drugs in small towns. Police, forensic labs and prosecutors are struggling to identify and safely intercept new narcotics that can sicken or kill anyone who handles them, and to combat trafficking networks that sometimes extend many hours away. Death rates from overdoses are now higher in rural areas than in big cities, reversing a historical trend...(Wall Street Journal) 
09-28-2016Columbus hit by 27 heroin overdoses in 24-hour span
(Ohio) In a 24-hour span that lasted into early Wednesday dealers across the city released a crushing dose of heroin into the city, choking the city's safety forces...(Columbus Dispatch) 
09-27-2016'Doctor shopping' targeted in new law signed by Gov. Brown to curb epidemic of opioid overdose deaths
(California) Faced with a spike in opioid overdose deaths, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed legislation requiring all prescribers to check a state database to see whether their patients have also received drugs from other physicians...(Los Angeles Times) 
09-27-2016Addiction, not overdose, claimed life of Easton woman
(Massachusetts)..."It's not just overdose by death, it's all the medical complications that go along with it," said Joseph Shrand, the medical director of CASTLE..."If you're using IV drugs and you have an infected needle, the bacteria can lodge itself in part of the heart, and the infection puts people at a high risk of dying."...(South Coast Today) 
09-26-2016Access to overdose preventative still bogged down in barriers
(Alaska) Scores of people have died in Alaska from heroin and other opioid overdose deaths this year that the drug naloxone, also known as Narcan, could have prevented...(APRN) 
09-25-2016State certifies first Center of Excellence for opioid treatment
(Rhode Island) In response to the national opioid and heroin crisis, Rhode Island officials are taking an active approach to addressing treatment of opioid addiction...(Westerly Sun) 
09-25-2016Deadly Opioid Overwhelms First Responders And Crime Labs in Ohio
(Ohio)..."The caseload keeps getting larger and larger," says Bob Topmiller, who heads the toxicology section at the coroner's office, where they test blood and urine. "We may have had a 100- or 150-case backlog a year ago, and it's almost doubled." The time it takes to process a sample has also doubled, from one month to two...(NPR) 
09-25-2016In one day, 7 fatal drug overdoses in Cleveland area
(Ohio) Seven people died from drug overdoses in Ohio's Cuyahoga County on Saturday, prompting the county's medical examiner to issue a public health warning...(CNN)  
09-24-2016Drug addiction awareness run always a 'moving' event, mom says
(New Jersey) Three years after her son Peter Black IV died of a drug overdose in March 2004, Kate Holt organized the first of nine annual races for recovery...(NJ) 
09-23-2016Suboxone lawsuit could impact overdose rates
(National) Virginia has joined 35 other states, including neighboring Tennessee, in an antitrust lawsuit against makers of a prescription drug used to treat addiction...(WCYB) 
09-23-2016As opioid epidemic grows, so do prices of lifesaving overdose drugs
(National)...As the opioid epidemic continued growing - claiming tens of thousands of lives in overdoses - so did the prices of an old drug that acts as a silver bullet to immediately resurrect dying patients...(CNBC) 
INTERNATIONAL
09-28-2016B.C. to spend additional $10 million in fight against opioid overdose crisis
(Canada) British Columbia will create a centre to research drug addiction and provide education and guidance to health-care providers but more must be done to battle an illicit-drug overdose crisis, the premier says...(Toronto Star) 
09-24-2016UBC students aren't claiming naloxone kits due to 'stigma' of drug use
(Canada) Free kits of naloxone are going unclaimed at the University of B.C. because students don't want to identify as illicit drug users, experts believe...(Vancouver Sun) 
Contact: Tom Stark, Management Associate, PACDAA
The information provided in this publication is not intended to take the place of professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult with competent legal, financial, or other appropriate professionals. Statements of facts and opinions expressed in this
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