OVERDOSE NEWS BULLETIN 
News from Across the Commonwealth and the Nation
March 10, 2017 to March 17, 2017
PENNSYLVANIA
03-16-2017 Opioid addiction is a problem for athletes, and Pennsylvania has a plan
(Statewide) Gov. Tom Wolf, flanked by Pro Football Hall of Famer Franco Harris and some of the leading doctors in the state, announced new guidelines Thursday meant to combat the number of overdose deaths from opioids that continue to escalate across the state...(Pittsburgh Post Gazette) 
03-16-2017 Bristol Borough fire company gets free naloxone kits to save lives
(Bucks)...Bristol Fire Co. No. 1 used the opioid antidote naloxone for the first time and saved a life during Tuesday's snow storm, said Herb Slack, the fire chief of the borough and also the fire company...(Bucks County Courier Times) 
03-16-2017 Free Narcan Training Event Next Week In Memory Of Local Overdose Victim
(Northampton) A free Narcan training and distribution event will be held next week in Richboro, in memory of a local resident who died last year from an overdose...(Patch) 
03-15-2017 Obamacare repeal would affect Pennsylvania's fight against opioids
(Statewide) The pending House Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act would affect which tools are available to states like Pennsylvania as they combat the national opioid epidemic...(Morning Call) 
03-15-2017 Task force views new program as an answer for opiate addiction
(Washington) As the number of deaths due to opioid overdoses continues to skyrocket, Washington County Opioid Task Force has obtained a $148,000 grant to try to break the cycle of addiction and crime with a combination of medicine and treatment...(Observer-Reporter) 
03-13-2017 Regional drug treatment court moves forward
(Northwest) A regional drug treatment court serving Forest, Elk, and Jefferson counties is a go. The program, which follows the same procedure as the Warren Treatment Court with a few changes due to demographics, according to President Judge Maureen Skerda, is part of the state's efforts to deal with drug and alcohol issues that are not well-treated with traditional drug and alcohol services...(Times Observer) 
03-12-2017 Editorial: Front lines of war on addiction
(Southeast)...Heroin addiction is now labeled an epidemic with victims from families in every walk of life and in all the communities and schools of the suburbs. As the epidemic has grown, so too has the fight. The scourge of heroin is not a secret, and those battling it have moved to the front lines...(The Mercury) 
03-13-2017 Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office Continues To See Uptick In Overdose Deaths
(Allegheny) Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office Continues To See Uptick In Overdose Deaths.  90.5 WESA's Deanna Garcia spoke with Medical Examiner Karl Williams about the facility and ongoing trends...(WESA) 
03-11-2017 Diplomatic agreement with China could help stem opioid deaths in Western Pennsylvania
(Southwest) People fighting the explosion of synthetic opiate deaths hope a diplomatic agreement may at least temporarily stem production of illegal fentanyl...(TribLive) 
03-10-2017 'Second-chance court' in play for drug-related crime
(Delaware) Some nonviolent offenders picked up for minor crimes related to drug use are being given a "second chance" through a pilot pretrial drug program aimed at getting them treatment rather than putting them back on the streets unmonitored or languishing for months in the county jail waiting for their cases to be heard...(Delco Times) 
03-10-2017 Heroin's grip: Families form support systems to deal with drug crisis
(Luzerne)...Lisa was comforted by Carol Coolbaugh, who lost her son Eric to a heroin overdose eight years ago.  To help deal with the pain, Carol started a support group.  They meet once a month in a hospital conference room in Northeastern Pennsylvania, but the session could take place almost anywhere in America...(Fox News) 
NATIONAL
03-16-2017 Narcan administration survey results released
(National) Adapt Pharma presented results of a survey conducted with police and community organizations describing real-world experiences and outcomes with the FDA-approved 4mg naloxone nasal spray formulation...(EMS1) 
03-15-2017 Bipartisan group of legislators tackles state's opioid overdose epidemic
(Colorado) A bipartisan group of Colorado state senators and representatives are taking on opioid addiction in a meaningful way with two bills pending before the Senate. One would create a national research center in Colorado and the other would foster medication and counseling programs counties could use to get a handle on their local issues. And pot users are paying for it...(The Gazette) 
03-14-2017 Connecticut sees sharp increase in overdose deaths of young women
(Connecticut) The number of women, especially young women, who died of overdoses was substantially higher last year than in the year before, leading at least one organization in the region to seek a new way to target the problem...(The Day) 
03-14-2017 Dangerous Prescribing Practice May Boost Overdose Risk
(National) Concurrent prescribing of opioids and benzodiazepines - a dangerous practice that is associated with a significantly increased risk for overdose - is on the rise, new research shows...(Medscape) 
03-13-2017 As Drug Deaths Soar, Mayor Offers Plan to Cut Toll
(New York) With fatal drug overdoses at alarming levels in New York City, particularly from opiates like heroin, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday vowed to reverse the tide and reduce the number of deaths by 35 percent over five years through a combination of outreach, treatment and law enforcement...(New York Times) 
03-12-2017 Correction facilities to help addicts with ‘Fresh Start’
(Minnesota)...Sheriff James Stuart announced last week his office will now be implementing the Vivitrol Fresh Start Program in Anoka County's correctional facilities...(Sun Focus) 
03-12-2017 Needle Finder app developed to track discarded needles in Huron County
(Ohio) Local health officials soon have a new aid in the struggle against Huron County's drug epidemic, an aid developed by one of their own epidemiologists..(Norwalk Reflector) 
03-12-2017 As opioid overdoses rise, police officers become counselors, doctors and social workers
(National) The nation's opioid epidemic is changing the way law enforcement does its job, with police officers acting as drug counselors and medical workers and shifting from law-and-order tactics to approaches more akin to social work...(Washington Post) 
03-11-2017 Heroin Awareness Grows At Havre de Grace High School
(Maryland) Nearly 300 people at Havre de Grace High School took a stand against heroin this month as part of a growing effort to stave off the drug's use...(Patch)  
03-11-2017 Lethal Opiates Delivered By Mail From China, Killing Addicts In The U.S.
(National) Carfentanil is an opiate 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. And since last summer, it's been killing addicts and confounding first responders across the country...(NPR) 
03-11-2017 Slow reporting from coroners impedes state's fight against illicit drugs
(Missippi) The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics believes the state faces a drug crisis, but has difficulty fighting the problem because some county coroners are slow with reporting deaths from drug overdoses...(Meridian Star) 
03-11-2017 Dentists try a new approach for pain: fewer opioids
(National)...Dentists have long been frequent prescribers of immediate-release opioids like Vicodin and Percocet for the pain from tooth extractions. That's a lot of pills and teeth; annually more than 3.5 million people, mainly young adults, have their wisdom teeth removed...(Philly) 
03-11-2017 Opioid deaths spike in Central Connecticut
(Connecticut)...Statewide overdose deaths increased 25 percent, to 917 in 2016 from 752 in 2015, largely due to fentanyl, a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin and morphine, said the state's chief medical examiner Dr. James Gill...(Bristol Press) 
03-11-2017 Ohio's overdose response team seeing successes
(Ohio)...After brainstorming some solutions, the town partnered with the Community Recovery Project to create informational packets with resources, so first responders could distribute them at overdose calls.
..(Register Herald) 
03-11-2017 Overdose Treatment Legislation to Become Wyoming Law
(Wyoming) A new state law grants immunity from civil and criminal liability to anyone administering a counteracting drug to someone experiencing a prescription drug overdose...(K2 Radio) 
03-10-2017 Fatal opioid overdoses surge in 2016 despite use of Narcan kits
(Indiana) In the 12-month period between October 2015 and October 2016, Porter County's law enforcement officers used their department-issued Narcan anti-opioid antidote kits to save the lives of 28 overdose victims. Yet, those heroics notwithstanding, Coroner Chuck Harris is reporting a record number of fatal opioid overdoses last year...(Chesterton Tribune) 
03-10-2017 More Police Get Trained To Administer Drug That Blocks Opioid Overdoses
(Colorado)...Evans Police Chief Rick Brandt has been spearheading efforts to get Narcan into the hands of law enforcement departments across the state. A total of 130 departments are now trained in the procedure...(CBS Local) 
03-10-2017 Nurses can now give inmates overdose antidote after judge's ruling
(California)...U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson on Friday approved waiving state law to allow licensed vocational nurses to administer the overdose antidote naloxone. The antidote can reverse respiratory failures from opioid overdoses...(OC Register) 
03-10-2017 16 Opioid Overdoses, 3 Deaths In 24 Hours Across Anne Arundel County
(Maryland) A lethal spike in overdoses in just a 24-hour period this week across Anne Arundel County has authorities warning the community of the increase in heroin and opioid overdoses, and to remind users how they can receive treatment for addiction...(Patch) 
03-10-2017 Ringwood Woman's Overdose At 22 Puts Best Friend On Mission
(New Jersey)...With the help of Dr. Raymond Danzinger, Conroy's advisor at Lakeland Regional High School, she created Young Adults Against Substance Abuse (YAASA). The organization is focused on prevention and ending the stigma of addiction...(Daily Voice) 
INTERNATIONAL
03-14-2017 Majority don't call 911 after saving someone from fentanyl overdose, says study
(Canada)...Results from a survey conducted by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse revealed as many as 65 per cent of respondents did not call 9-1-1 when they used the opioid antidote...(CBC) 
Contact: Tom Stark, Management Associate, PACDAA
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