PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/series/heroin-riding-the-rush/page/2/)
Heroin and opioid painkillers continue to devastate the state and region in an epidemic that has killed thousands of Pennsylvanians and cost the state billions in collateral expenses.
PublicSource is telling the personal stories of addiction and recovery and examining why more isn’t being done at the state and local levels to fund treatment, reduce the harm of addiction and equip police and residents with the life-saving overdose antidote.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] is considering whether it should officially categorize marijuana as less dangerous than heroin, a powerfully addictive drug that has been linked to thousands of overdose deaths nationwide.
Beginning in July, the Pennsylvania Department of Health will collect data about all babies born addicted to opioids.
The longstanding problem is that data are scarce about the number of babies born dependent on drugs, according to a joint WITF/ NPR story. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services [DHS] Secretary Ted Dallas said the department has relied on “reasonably good” estimates.
About 3,700 babies on Medicaid were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome between 2013 and 2014 in the state, according to WITF.
Ithaca, New York, wants to be the first U.S. city to embrace an innovative strategy to fighting the heroin epidemic: Let residents shoot heroin.
On Tuesday, the federal government unveiled the first national standards for prescribing highly addictive opioid painkillers.
In Pennsylvania, the heroin crisis is in clear view.
The state is among those most devastated by the resurgence of heroin and opioid painkillers. While much of the related devastation is hidden behind closed doors, it is also in plain sight.
An effort to provide $600 million to fight the growing heroin and opioid crisis failed yesterday. An amendment by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and backed by Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, would’ve provided money for prevention and treatment services.
The Obama administration has proposed $1.5 billion in funding for the 2017 fiscal year budget to address widespread abuse of prescription opioid painkillers and heroin, the White House announced Tuesday.
Pennsylvania State Police battling the heroin epidemic seized nearly 80 kilograms of heroin in 2015. That’s down from more than 100 kilograms seized in 2014, but up from 31.5 kilograms seized in 2013.
With the surge of heroin addiction and prescription drug abuse in recent years, the lack of coverage for addiction treatment has become a growing concern.
Heroin use and its lethal consequences continue to rise in Allegheny County.
