Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, has become a key tool in curbing overdoes resulting from the nation’s opioid abuse epidemic. The class of drug that includes prescription painkillers and heroin was involved in a record 28,648 deaths in 2014, and opioid overdoses have more than quadrupled since 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recently released inmates are particularly vulnerable. Officials already widely distribute the drug to police, paramedics, drug users and their families. The push to equip inmates is new, fueled by research showing former prisoners in Washington state were nearly 13 times more likely to die of an overdose in the two weeks after their release than other people. (Gurman, 3/23)

In a 17-month span, nearly 1,000 people in Ohio died of opioid overdoses related to a powerful painkiller that is fueling a public health crisis in communities across the state, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report concluded that fentanyl, a drug 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, is responsible for the majority of recent overdose deaths and is continuing to kill people in large batches. (Ross, 3/22)

The country’s broadening crisis of heroin and pain pill overdoses comes at a time when many centers for addiction treatment in the United States are operating at capacity. In the St. Louis region, providers report wait times of three weeks or more. A spike in addictions means more people seeking treatment, but at the same time, providers are constricted in their ability to expand. (Bouscaren, 3/22)