Scott Gottlieb, MD, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, is asking his agency to implement new safety standards for prescribing immediate-release opioids, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Wyoming, Mich.-based Metro Health — University of Michigan Health will now provide free kits of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan to patients discharged after an opioid overdose.
Maryland's governor dedicated more than $22 million to combat the state's opioid epidemic.
The sheriff of Butler County, Ohio, recently said his deputies will never carry the overdose antidote naloxone, according to The Washington Post.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, R, said the $45 million Senate Republicans have proposed to include in the Better Care Reconciliation Act to combat the nationwide opioid epidemic is inadequate, Politico reported.
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The opioid epidemic has contributed to a dramatic increase in the number of children in foster care over last two years, according to The Washington Post.
Gathering reliable data on drug use poses a challenge for researchers studying the nation's the drug epidemic, according to FiveThiryEight economics and policy writer Kathryn Casteel.
Clinicians at Williamsport, Pa.-based UPMC Susquehanna treated 51 people for heroin overdoses over a 48-hour period ending Friday, according to a statement on the hospital's Facebook page.
GOP senators have added $45 billion to the Better Care Reconciliation Act and also included language to their healthcare bill that allows the application of Healthcare Savings Accounts toward insurance premiums, according to CBS News.
Ohio and other Rust Belt states are at the epicenter of the nation's opioid epidemic. Opioid-related deaths, which increased in Ohio by 775 percent between 2003 and 2015, have ravaged Ohio communities — and their finances.