The Clark County Health Department is waiting on final numbers but said tests so far show 60 drug-related deaths in 2017. That compares to 90 in 2016.

On Friday, the Indiana Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Board agreed to remove prior authorizations for preferred versions of the addiction treatment medication buprenorphine.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chair of the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, spoke Monday at the Indiana Attorney General's Prescription Drug Abuse Symposium in Indianapolis.

More than a quarter of people surveyed by researchers at IUPUI said they didn't call 911 at the scene of an overdose for fear of arrest.

Some officers are now carrying up to three doses of naloxone.

Last year alone, Narcan saved more than 2,000 opioid users in Indianapolis from overdoses.

Previous grants for naloxone provided kits to law enforcement and first responders in 45 counties. Att. Gen. Greg Zoeller wants to provide the drug statewide.

Heroin isn't new in Cincinnati, but the recent surge in overdoses is being blamed on an even more potent drug called carfentanil. It's 100 times stronger than fentanyl, a more common synthetic opioid that is itself much stronger than heroin. Carfentanil is used to sedate elephants. It can be dangerous to even touch it without gloves.

Community members will be able to go to the local health department to get training on how to administer naloxone and receive a free dose.

Community Health Network is offering the public educational training and free naloxone kits as a new law allows Hoosiers to buy the drug over-the-counter.