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Louisiana was one of only four states to show a decline in the rate of opioid-related hospital stays between 2009-2014, new federal data shows. During that same time period, opioid-related hospitalizations nationwide increased by a rate of nearly 24 percent. The report, published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said Louisiana showed a 6.4 percent decline in hospitalizations due to the misuse of prescription pain relievers and the use of illicit opioids like heroin and fentanyl. (Lipinski, 1/4)

For two months, Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies have been forced to use defective applicators to administer the antidote that counters the effects of an opioid overdose. Instead of spraying a mist of the medication Narcan into the nose, the applicator sends out a straight liquid stream. This can delay the medication’s effectiveness by several hours. (Chanen, 1/5)

In Roane County, Tenn., the legal and personal costs of the opioid epidemic collide at the county courthouse. As an assistant to the local prosecutor, Charlene Hipsher helped launch a special "recovery court" with the goal of getting drug addicts into treatment instead of jail. (1/4)

After years of opposition in the Missouri legislature to a statewide program to monitor prescription drugs, St. Louis County is preparing to test its own. By using a new database, pharmacists in the county will help flag consumers who may be “doctor shopping” for highly addictive opioid-based painkillers. Missouri is the only state in the country without such a system. (Bouscaren, 1/4)

Just 45 minutes into 2017, Harford County recorded its first fatal heroin overdose – a 36-year-old white woman who died in Edgewood, police said Tuesday. Her death follows a deadly year in Harford County, when at least 54 people died of heroin overdoses, up from 28 in 2015, according to the Harford County Sheriff's Office. That's a nearly 97 percent increase in the number of fatalities in one year. The number of fatalities could increase pending results of toxicology reports in some cases still with the medical examiner's office. (Butler, 1/4)

Charlie Oen’s battle with addiction started when he was 16 and his family moved to Lima, Ohio. It was the last stop in a string of moves his military family made — from Panama to North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas and Germany. “I went toward a bad group because those were the people that accepted me,” he says. Drugs became a substitute for real friendships. ... One year later, he started working as a peer recovery coach, using his own experiences to help other people stay in recovery. (Herald and Sable-Smtih, 1/5)