{"id":80651,"date":"2026-01-07T21:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/80651\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T21:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:59:07","slug":"new-pennsylvania-law-increases-overdose-mapping-accuracy-harrisburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/80651\/","title":{"rendered":"New Pennsylvania Law Increases Overdose Mapping Accuracy | Harrisburg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are a handful of new Pennsylvania laws going into effect at the start of this year. One new rule will expand overdose mapping as the state keeps combatting substance abuse.<\/p>\n<p>SB89 requires EMS repoting on overdoses to be added to a state police database called <a href=\"https:\/\/reports.py.pa.gov\/PSP\/powerbiui\/odin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ODIN (Overdose Information Network)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow we have accurate data. So if we see a hotspot of people overdosing, we want to save their lives,\u201d said Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Republican from Franklin and surrounding counties.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Josh Shapiro signed SB89 into law last June, but the law had six months before it went into effect.<\/p>\n<p>The Overdose Information Network was created in 2017. Mastriano sponsored a law in 2022 mandating all law enforcement report data to the database.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, the bill didn\u2019t include EMS reporting- which which does 80% of the reporting,\u201d Mastriano said. \u201cSo this bill closes that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The reporting tracks where overdoses are happening, what substance is used, what treatment was given, and if the overdose was fatal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important because it lets us identify what certain hot zones are,\u201d said Matt Bennett, director of operations for Emergycare, an EMS company serves western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>Advocates say that when communities see a hotspot, they can flood the area with resources- from educational connections to building up medical supplies and preparedness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs EMS providers.. you know, our motto is adapt and overcome. So we\u2019re always anticipating walking into the unknown,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cBut that could potentially give us just a little better idea of what type of situation we\u2019re walking into.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/app\/profile\/pennsylvania.pdmp\/viz\/PennsylvaniaODSMPDrugOverdoseSurveillanceInteractiveDataReport\/Contents\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pennsylvania overdose deaths continue to decline<\/a>\u2013 with preliminary 2024 numbers of 3,341 deaths the lowest since 2015 (which had 3,121 deaths).<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers and advocates say combatting substance abuse is worth continued vigilance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach number is somebody\u2019s loved one,\u201d Mastriano said. \u201cIt\u2019s somebody\u2019s son or daughter or mother or father brother or sister. It\u2019s a funeral. An empty chair at the dinner table.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are a handful of new Pennsylvania laws going into effect at the start of this year. One&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2288,37,28,5929,30,29],"class_list":["post-80651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bureau","tag-harrisburg","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-capitol","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}