Heroin (MAP)

Baltimore Sun, 01 Mar 2015 - Governor Creates Panels to Focus More on Prevention and Treatment of Addiction "We're not just reacting to the sudden surge of overdoses and overdoses deaths. We're taking a holistic approach." With the creation of two panels devoted to combating heroin use, Gov. Larry Hogan has waded into a worsening crisis - one that has defied solutions for decades.

Baltimore Sun, 13 Feb 2015 - Northeast States Will Share Intelligence on Drug Dealers Calling heroin a crisis that crosses state boundaries, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said Thursday that his office will join counterparts in the Northeast to share information and jointly prosecute drug traffickers.

Buffalo News, 09 Feb 2015 - WASHINGTON - On Super Bowl Sunday, most football fans watched ads for Victoria's Secret, the lost Budweiser dog and a deadpan Kim Kardashian extolling the virtues of T-Mobile. But in St. Louis, those national ads were supplemented with a different kind of Super Bowl commercial. On screen, the camera focused on the face of a white, middle-class teenager as he died of a heroin overdose. Off screen, a singer crooned along to perky guitar music: "First you stole prescription pills from your mom/You threw back a few and then they were gone/So you're jonesing real bad and you need some more. ... And that's how, how you got addicted to heroin."

Baltimore Sun, 05 Feb 2015 - All around us, people struggle daily with problems brought on by substance use disorders - in rural, suburban and urban communities, including in Baltimore. The human, financial and emotional costs are enormous. Fortunately, there is growing attention to the issue in Baltimore, with a concentrated focus on heroin use. A key effort in this is the task force created last fall by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to develop a strategy for strengthening the city's behavioral health system to ensure that treatment is both effective and available to those in need.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 03 Feb 2015 - SIERRA MADRE DEL SUR, MEXICO (AP) - Red and purple blossoms with fat, opium-filled bulbs blanket the remote creek sides and gorges of the Filo Mayor mountains in the southern state of Guerrero. The multibillion-dollar Mexican opium trade starts here, with poppy farmers so poor they live in woodplank, tin-roofed shacks with no indoor plumbing.

Daily Herald, 25 Jan 2015 - When someone wants treatment to end a heroin addiction, insurance shouldn't hold him back. That's the perspective of addiction treatment professionals who say the biggest issue they face with insurance companies is disagreements over whether a patient meets the medical criteria for a certain type of care.

Boston Globe, 18 Jan 2015 - Opiate addiction is a public health crisis, and Governor Charlie Baker is right to target it as a priority for his administration. But coming up with the right prescriptive for combating it means getting the facts straight from the start. The new governor quickly acknowledged he misstated one part of a tragic story that he relayed during his inaugural address about 19-year-old Evan Greene, who died last January after a fatal overdose of heroin. In his speech, Baker said the young man was prescribed opiates for pain after a routine medical procedure. "Slowly and unknowingly, he became addicted to them," Baker said. "When the prescription ended, he turned to heroin."

La Crosse Tribune, 18 Jan 2015 - BLACK RIVER FALLS - Authorities and community members are becoming increasingly concerned about the prevalence of heroin use and dealing in Jackson County. Use of the highly addictive opiate is rising, based on drug investigations, arrests and other information provided to law enforcement, and its impact in local communities continues to expand, local authorities say.

Washington Post, 12 Jan 2015 - Seizure Data Shows Drug Trade Is Changing SAN YSIDRO, CALIF. - Mexican traffickers are sending a flood of cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S. border, the latest drug seizure statistics show, in a new sign that America's marijuana decriminalization trend is upending the North American narcotics trade.

Daily Mail, 11 Jan 2015 - Almost 30,000 prisoners addicted to drugs were given a heroin substitute last year to feed their dependence, figures show. The drugs were paid for by the taxpayer and given to inmates in a bid to help them kick the habit.

The News-Herald, 11 Jan 2015 - Penny Ashley knew her son had a heroin addiction problem and did everything in her power to get help for him, but it still proved to be not enough. She along with other family members and friends are grieving the loss of Jacob Charles Ashley of Southgate, who died Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015, at the age of 21.