PITTSBURGH — The pain clinic tucked into the corner of a low-slung suburban strip mall was an open secret. Patients would travel hundreds of miles to see Dr. Andrzej Zielke, eager for what authorities described as a steady flow of prescriptions for the kinds of powerful painkillers that ...

Editor’s note: This is No. 1 of the top 10 stories of 2017 voted on by employees of the Tribune Chronicle. WARREN — More than 100 dead from acccidental drug overdoses hasn’t been the only effect of another record-setting year in the trenches of the opioid epidemic in Trumbull County. ...

WARREN — An association representing several entities named in a 270-page lawsuit filed against manufacturers, distributors and doctors involved in the opioid pain pill industry said their distributors have been unfairly pegged as “scapegoats.” The Healthcare Distribution Alliance is a ...

WARREN — A 270-page lawsuit against 25 entities connected to the opioid pain pill industry was filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court by attorneys representing Trumbull County commissioners. The suit, filed Monday in Judge W. Wyatt McKay’s court, targets manufacturers, marketers and ...

She was first roused awake at 2:30 a.m. by a call seeking an emergency placement for a child. Ninety minutes later, it was a storm of texts telling of a problem at a foster home. Now, after a fitful night and a morning spent furiously juggling 15 foster cases, Rachael Stark is splashed with ...

WARREN — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan met with law enforcement officials Tuesday for a roundtable discussion about their role in combating the opioid epidemic. The discussion was attended by officials from the Warren, Youngstown and Warren Township police departments as well as officials from the ...

Fentanyl produced in illicit labs in China is easier and cheaper to make than traditional heroin, and poorly mixed batches are primarily responsible for the increased amount of fatal and non-fatal drug overdoses, according to trends spotted in labs at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation ...

If you think the opioid crisis has nothing to do with you, consider this: You’re already paying for it. And that price is growing. Eleven counties across the state, including Mahoning County, have levies on the November ballot to support the social service agencies that have become ...

YOUNGSTOWN — Some had battled addiction themselves. Others have family members who are addicted. Still, others tackle the topic of addiction every day in their work as journalists, anti-drug advocates and recovery professionals. Individuals representing all of these perspectives came ...

WARREN — With a record number of people lost to accidental drug overdoses in Trumbull County last year and so many others unable to parent because they are using drugs or locked up for addiction-related crime, more and more families are raising children in a non-traditional way. Each ...

WARREN — The hundreds, if not thousands, of people revived from accidental drug overdoses in the last few years in the Mahoning Valley have received doses of Narcan from police officers. Local officers say they are spending much more time administering the life-saving drug while on the ...

Paramedics outside Columbus were attempting to revive a man from an overdose in July, but doses of naloxone, the overdose antidote, was having no effect. The man was not breathing and the rescue crews were running out of time. The scene was witnessed by a newspaper reporter who was part of a ...

WARREN —The Trumbull County coroner has confirmed 60 people in Trumbull County have died so far this year from an accidental drug overdose, and he suspects 50 more deaths he investigated are from the same cause, according to statistics released Thursday. Coroner Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk ruled ...

WARREN — Three local reporters — the Tribune Chronicle’s Renee Fox and others from the Mahoning Valley, Jordyn Grzelewski and Lindsay McCoy — have worked aggressively in recent years exposing the death and destruction wrought by the heroin crisis, yet despite their dire warnings in ...

Need help with addiction? Those who are ready to seek help for an opioid addiction can call the Coleman Access Center any time of day or night for an assessment, screening and program referral at 330-392-1100 or 211. Project Dawn kits A free naloxone kit, an overdose reversal drug, and ...

WARREN — A two-county drug enforcement task force is working with local police departments and the state’s crime labs in an attempt to identify the people responsible for bringing in a deadly batch of drugs believed to have caused five deaths and countless overdoses last week. “We are ...

NEWTON FALLS — A $50,000 grant from Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office will help the village police department in its effort to combat the increasing threat of opioids. Newton Falls was the only Trumbull County community to receive a portion of $3 million in grants. “We will ...

WARREN — Doctors and pharmacies are now limited to writing seven-day prescriptions with no refills to adults with non-chronic pain, a time period a local doctor says is plenty for most acute pain situations. The State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy enacted the rule changes in response to the ...