Pennsylvania governor declares emergency for opioid epidemic

Governor Tom Wolfe has declared a state of emergency over the opioid epidemic – making Pennsylvania the eighth state to invoke a state of emergency.

In the United States, new measures have been implemented to target the smuggling of the deadly synthetic drug fentanyl.

It’s one of several opioids behind a nationwide epidemic of drug abuse.

Pennsylvania is the latest of several states to declare an emergency – using a protocol usually reserved for natural disasters.

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey reports from New York.