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Faced with a nationwide epidemic of heroin and prescription drug abuse, the Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will take steps to increase access to drug treatment and expand the training of doctors who prescribe opiate painkillers. The efforts ... are likely to have a modest effect on the steep increase in heroin and prescription drug overdoses, which now kill more people than car accidents each year, and the barriers to treatment that many addicts face. (Mufson and Zezima, 10/21)

Obama outlined a plan that includes better training for doctors and other health care professionals to handle drug abusers and easier access for treatment. The administration is also launching a media advertising campaign designed to make people aware of the dangers of heroin and abuse of prescription drugs. (Jackson, 10/21)

The White House memorandum will require federal agencies to train doctors and nurses who work for the government on how to properly prescribe opioid medications – an area where health care professionals often receive little training, which can lead to overprescribing. The agencies will also be required to identify and address any barriers in providing medication-assisted treatment to those with opioid addictions. (Zanona, 10/21)

President Obama came on Wednesday to a hotbed of one of the deadliest epidemics in American history and, as he had at a prison in Oklahoma in July, saw a life he might have led in the stories of drug addicts and their parents. “I did stuff, and I’ve been very honest about it,” he said, referring to his admissions of illegal drug use in his youth. “So when I think about it, there but for the grace of God.” (Harris, 10/21)

Traveling to a region in the throes of a drug-abuse crisis, President Obama promised Wednesday to use his bully pulpit and federal programs to try to combat the "epidemic" of heroin use and prescription-painkiller abuse that is upending communities across the country. "This crisis is taking lives; it's destroying families and shattering communities all across the country," Obama said at a panel discussion on opioid drug abuse. On stage at a crowded community center, Obama heard from advocates, health-care workers, law enforcement officials, and policymakers. (Hennessey, 10/22)

President Obama traveled to that [West Virginia] today, where he took part in a community forum on those very problems. High schoolers from our Student Reporting Lab in Richwood, West Virginia, attended the event. They interviewed members of the community affected by all this. (10/21)

The death toll from opioids in Massachusetts continues to rise unabated despite months of intensifying efforts to combat the substance abuse crisis, new data revealed Wednesday. Estimates from the state Department of Public Health show that during the first half of 2015, the number of deaths from opioid overdoses — 684 — increased about 6 percent from the same period last year. (Freyer, 10/22)