[naviga:h3]Cheer [/naviga:h3]

The Pennsylvania Medical Society on Tuesday launched a much-needed effort to steer patients away from highly addictive opioid painkillers — posting physician’s guidelines online and saying it would roll out an advertising component to bolster the campaign.

The PMS push should pair well with national efforts to curb opioid abuse and over-prescription — which the society acknowledged was behind the tidal wave of heroin sweeping through the region.

The society’s chairman, Dr. David Talenti, said 80 percent of heroin addicts started out using an opioid prescription.

Doctors are going to be a vital part of any effort to curb and roll back the abuse of these dangerous substances. The society has a mountain of work on its plate.

[naviga:h3]Jeer [/naviga:h3]

A grand jury report issued this week on the teacher-student sex scandal at Plum High School in Allegheny County paints a disastrous portrait: teachers allowed to run amok and conduct sexual liaisons with students year after year, while administrators blithely stood by.

The grand jury, which declared itself “appalled” at the district’s “systematic failures,” found plenty of fault to go around. But it stopped short of recommending district employees face criminal charges.

That hasn’t stopped parents and members of the community from calling for changes in leadership. But school board members are already hedging: blaming the grand jury investigation for taking too long and saying the district has already taken internal steps to right the ship.

Safety committees, policy changes and training programs are window dressing unless they’re backed up by administrative changes. There is no other way to change what the grand jury called “an academic culture that encouraged the protection of friends and colleagues over students ... avoidance of personal responsibility ... and turning a blind eye to obvious signs of teacher misconduct.”

[naviga:h3]Cheer [/naviga:h3]

A proposed group home in Renfrew that will house three people with intellectual disabilities will move forward due to federal protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The development means construction of a home at the intersection of Railroad Street and Crowe Road can go forward.

It’s a victory for three people who always deserved to enjoy life in a nice community, though how it was ultimately achieved is sad.

In March, about 40 Renfrew residents protested the home’s conditional use application, ridiculously claiming there were too many risks involved with putting it in a residential neighborhood. Township supervisors subsequently denied the zoning application.

It’s sad that the home’s administrators needed to invoke federal protections to allow this process to move forward. On the bright side, it’s heartening that they wish to buy into Renfrew despite the misguided views expressed at March’s meeting.