Fetterman’s first recreational pot tour stop in rural Pa.

• Emily Previti/PA Post
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  Emily is a reporter for WITF who’s been covering voting and elections since July 2019 as part of her former role with statehouse accountability news organization PA Post. She was the senior reporter for statewide public media collaboration Keystone Crossroads. Previously, she covered city hall for PennLive/The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.), was a watchdog and city hall reporter at The Press of Atlantic City and reported for the Northwest Herald. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
  
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 Marc Levy / AP Photo

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman

From The Context, PA Post’s weekday email newsletter:

On the drug beat

Marc Levy / AP Photo

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman

• Pennsylvania is over a year into allowing medical marijuana, but Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s on a listening tour to get a feel for how people view legalizing its recreational use. It’s the subject of this week’s State of the State, podcast and PA Post’s Ed Mahon is covering tonight’s stop in Perry County.

• Overdose deaths are on the rise for drugs aside from opioids — including methamphetamine. This episode of WESA’s The Confluence explores the issue with a focus on scarce treatment options for people struggling with addiction, particularly those who identify as LGBT+.

• In the quest for accountability for the opioid crisis through the courts, much attention has been focused on the federal lawsuit pending in Ohio involving more than 1,500 municipalities, counties, state attorneys general and other defendants. But there’s a similar case due in court sooner, according to this update from the Pew Charitable Trust’s Stateline.

Best of the rest

Mark Scolforo / AP

In this 2018 photo, Pennsylvania Corrections Department mail inspector Brian Strawser sorts inmate mail at Camp Hill state prison in Camp Hill, Pa.

• The lawsuit over Pa. prisons’ mail policy is underway. WITF’s Capitol Bureau Chief Katie Meyer will be covering court proceedings and has this dispatch from opening arguments.

• The DEP has a plan to increase the number of electric vehicles in Pennsylvania. Amy Sisk broke it down for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

• 24/7 Wall Street compiled the worst statistics about each state. Pennsylvania’s is its gas tax, apparently.