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To save lives in Ohio’s burgeoning opioid epidemic, the state must broaden access to medication-assisted treatment to drug addicts, according to a national health expert. But Gov. John Kasich has balked at providing more funds for treatment despite waiting lists, saying Drug Enforcement Administration officials told him that better education is preferred. (Candisky, 5/30)

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said on Tuesday that 13 people died as a result of heroin or fentanyl overdoses during the three-day Memorial day weekend. Of the 13 dead, nine were men and four were women ranging from age 21 to 60. (Madden, 5/30)

The State's so-called "drug czar" is stepping down. James Vara, who held the position for the past year, has been nominated by Gov. Chris Sununu to serve as Chief of Staff for the Attorney General. The Executive Council must approve Vara's new position at next week's meeting. (Sutherland, 5/30)

Two eastern Iowa nonprofits will offer free naloxone —a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose—starting June 1. It's the first time the overdose reversal drug will be available for free in Iowa. (Sostaric, 5/30)

Federal authorities charged 30 people and seized more than 2 kilos of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl in a predawn raid throughout Greater Lawrence Tuesday, dismantling what was called “one of the largest fentanyl trafficking organizations ever seen in Massachusetts..." Authorities said 30 people were part of at least three linked organizations, and 27 of those people were arrested Tuesday morning. Essex County prosecutors charged another 20 people with state crimes through the course of the investigation. (Valencia, 5/30)

Tom Price, secretary for Health and Human Services, and Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, reiterated Trump’s commitment to end the opioid crisis when they visited New Hampshire this month a week after it was announced that the administration planned to cut the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s budget by $364 million, about 95 percent. The proposed cut in Trump’s final budget, it turned out, was not so steep. (Nilsen, 5/30)