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U.S. House lawmakers are pressing the nation’s drug czar for more data on the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl, including how it is trafficked and how many people it has killed, in the latest effort to thwart a spiraling drug crisis. The four-page letter from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, signed by bipartisan committee leaders and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, calls the fentanyl crisis a top oversight priority. Addressed to Kemp Chester, acting director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and sent Thursday, the letter includes 15 questions such as how much fentanyl comes into the U.S. through the mail and how many counterfeit fentanyl pills authorities have seized. (Kamp and Campo-Flores, 2/23)

Fatal drug overdoses continued their depressing climb in 2015, while the opioid crisis shifts from taking lives with painkillers like oxycodone to more lethal compounds like heroin and fentanyl, new data released Friday show. Overall, the rate of fatal overdoses from all drugs has increased more than 2.5 times since 1999, rising from 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people then to 16.3 deaths in 2015, according to the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Joseph, 2/24)

With the US opioid crisis the subject of increased political focus, advocates in the recovery community had been quietly hoping President Trump might elevate the White House “drug czar” to his Cabinet. Now they are mobilizing to ensure the drug czar’s office won’t be eliminated entirely. A recent report that the White House may propose axing the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has sparked a scramble among leaders in the recovery community and among law enforcement. The National Fraternal Order of Police has already prepared a letter to Trump urging him to reject any proposal to eliminate the office. Advocates in the recovery community have drafted their own letter expressing support for the office. (Scott, 2/23)

The grip of opioid addiction is so strong that many people who undergo treatment relapse repeatedly. Now a study by Johns Hopkins University researchers offers new clues about why treatment is so difficult. The researchers discovered that 43 percent of people receiving buprenorphine, a widely used anti-addiction medication, filled at least one prescription for opioids — which they presumably consumed or diverted to others. (Bernstein, 2/23)

Gov. Terry McAuliffe has signed a set of bills that aim to stem Virginia’s growing opioid epidemic. McAuliffe’s office said in a statement Thursday that among the measures he signed into law is one allowing community organizations to possess and dispense naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug. Another measure mandates that all opioid prescriptions be transmitted to pharmacies electronically by 2020. (2/23)

Noting that opioid overdose deaths are likely to have topped 1,000 in 2016, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed four bills into law Thursday that are meant to address the state’s ongoing epidemic. The bills put into action syringe-services programs; initiatives to increase access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone; changes to opioid prescription policies; and processes for providing services to infants exposed to opioids in utero. (Demeria, 2/23)

A rash of overdoses in “sober homes” in Connecticut and other states has prompted Sen. Chris Murphy and a bipartisan group of his colleagues to ask federal investigators to determine if additional oversight is needed of these residences for people recovering from substance abuse. Murphy is leading an effort that has been joined by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Orrin Hatch R-Utah; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The senators this week wrote the U.S. Government Accountability Office, asking it to investigate state and federal oversight of these homes. (Radelat, 2/23)

Hundreds of people packed Lawyers Mall in Annapolis Thursday to urge lawmakers to "keep the door open" for mental health and substance abuse treatment. Sen. Guy Guzzone, a sponsor of the Keep the Door Open Act, said that too often mental health and substance abuse treatment are considered the "stepchild" of the healthcare system...Guzzone's bill would increase the rate that the state pays to state-funded community clinics and organizations that offer behavioral health treatment and would guarantee future increases. It would cost the state about $16.75 million to raise the rates as required by the bill, according to a nonpartisan analysis. (Wood, 2/23)

A substance abuse advocate from Dover will be the guest of honor of Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., when President Donald Trump gives a speech to the Joint Session of Congress next Tuesday. Ashley Hurteau lived with addiction for nearly a decade, but was helped when the state’s expansion of Medicaid gave her health insurance coverage for substance abuse, Hassan said. The new senator and former governor met Hurteau at the Farnum Center in Manchester last month where they both served on a panel to discuss changes to the Affordable Care Act. (2/23)