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Governors gathered in Des Moines vowed Friday to rein in the rampant abuse of prescription painkillers, heroin and other narcotic drugs... A large “life clock” hung over the conference table. The computerized display estimated how many Americans had died of drug overdoses so far this year. The toll was 15,333 at the 1:30 p.m. start of the meeting. By the 3 p.m. adjournment, the number had hit 15,336. (Leys, 7/15)

Beware of a new deadly drug, an analgesic used for elephants, which has been spotted in Greater Cincinnati: The Hamilton County Heroin Coalition warned Friday of the powerful opioid carfentanil, which has been identified in local supplies of heroin. The synthetic opioid is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, the analgesic blamed for increasing overdose deaths and 10,000 times stronger than morphine on the streets. (DeMio, 7/15)

As heroin and other opioid-related overdose deaths continue to rise across Maryland, some who treat addiction are criticizing a move by the state to limit access to a drug treatment used by thousands of patients and considered effective. The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene changed this month the list of drugs preferred by Medicaid to exclude Suboxone Film, a small, medication-infused sheet that dissolves under the tongue and is used to taper addiction by interrupting the effects of opioids in the brain. (Cohn and Marbella, 7/15)

Florida's collective addiction to painkillers and drugs like heroin continues to take a toll on the state's most vulnerable victims: newborn babies. The number of children born physically dependent on drugs — particularly opioids like methadone, heroin and oxycodone — have nearly doubled since 2010, despite continuing public awareness campaigns and a state effort to mitigate the problem, newly obtained hospital records show. (Gluck, 7/16)