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Ohio doctors, dentists and other health professionals will be able to prescribe only up to seven days of painkillers for adults and five days for kids and teens under new rules announced Thursday. The limits apply to acute pain patients, with exceptions for cancer, hospice or medication-assisted addiction patients. Prescribers can override the limits if they provide a specific reason in the patient's medical record. (Borchardt, 3/30)

Ohio authorities are trying to slow an epidemic that last year killed a record 3,050 Ohioans. Prescription opiates often are the gateway to heroin, and 74 percent of those who died of a drug overdose in 2015 had a previous prescription for a controlled substance, the state said Thursday. (3/30)

Gov. John Kasich said Thursday he doesn't think Ohio's new medical marijuana program will help mitigate the state's opioid crisis, though recent studies indicate otherwise. Kasich was asked at a news conference announcing new opioid prescription limits what role medical marijuana might play in addressing the growing number of opiate overdose deaths in Ohio. Kasich said telling kids not to do drugs but  that marijuana is OK sends a mixed message. (Borchardt, 3/30)

Medical personnel who don't follow the rules will be in danger of losing their license, Kasich said at a Statehouse news conference. The rules are not expected to take effect until this summer. "You are going to have to abide by these rules or else you're in serious trouble, whether you're a doctor, a dentist or a nurse," he said. (Johnson, 3/30)

Heroin use — which has been at the epicenter of a ruthless and relentless opioid epidemic sweeping the country — has increased fivefold over a decade, and dependence on the drug has tripled, researchers say. A major study released Wednesday found that the sharpest increase in heroin use and addiction was among young, white men with lower education and income levels. (Bever, 3/30)

Sixty-five percent of the U.S. prison population is addicted to drugs or alcohol, but only 11 percent receive treatment, according to a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Germaine Jackson is one of those inmates. A recovering alcoholic, he was one of thousands to fall victim to the national opioid epidemic. “It got to the point where I had no money, I had to steal to support my habit,” he says. (Russell, 3/30)

A new and lethal strain of synthetic heroin resulted in five overdose deaths in Minnesota this year, and officials believe another five undetermined deaths will also be linked to the drug. The five cases are the first confirmed in-state deaths caused by carfentanil, a drug from China that is 100 times more potent than the already dangerous fentanyl. Carfentanil is federally approved to immobilize large animals such as elephants for surgery, and two salt-sized specks of the opioid can cause instant death, a local emergency room doctor said Thursday. (Chanen, 3/31)

The majority of carfentanil originates in China, and somewhere along the illicit drug supply chain it's added to other opiates, says Ken Solek, assistant special agent in charge of the Twin Cities office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Drug users, and even some dealers, are often unaware of what they have," Solek said. "Most of the intelligence we have, based on our investigations, are that people do not know that they are taking carfentanil," said Solek. (Sepic, 3/30)

Opioid addiction is now a national crisis, and doctors worry that abuse too often begins when surgical patients are given prescriptions for large numbers of pain pills.  Orthopedic teams are rethinking how they manage pain, often employing a cocktail of drugs designed to reduce pain and inflammation in the crucial first days after surgery.  If patients can keep opioid use to a minimum then, the thinking goes, they'll use fewer of the pills in total and switch to less dangerous medications faster. (Burling, 3/31)

Those of you who have experienced pain, especially gnawing, chronic pain, know that it affects your happiness, outlook and ability to function. In the past couple of years, the treatment of chronic pain has undergone an earthshaking transformation as opioid addiction continues to claim — and ruin — lives. (Bazar, 3/31)