Settlement Reached in Opioid Suit as Negotiations Continue in CA
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a historic $26 billion settlement that will help bring desperately needed relief to people in California and across the country who are struggling with opioid addiction. The settlement includes Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen – the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – and Johnson & Johnson, a company that manufactured and marketed opioids. Read CSAC’s full response to the announcement here.
“These critical settlement funds are desperately needed to help California’s local communities heal from the severe devastation caused by opioids,” said Graham Knaus, Executive Director of the California State Association of Counties. “We are optimistic and confident that the Attorney General’s Office will negotiate and reach an agreement that provides funding and resources for counties and local communities to address this crisis.”
Upon the news of this national settlement, California’s Counties renew their ongoing commitment to working with the California Attorney General to reach an intrastate allocation agreement. Without such an agreement, counties cannot access funds from this national settlement, even though they are tasked with providing substance use disorder and prevention services on behalf of the state. California’s cities and counties have been in negotiations with the Attorney General’s office since last year, including thwarting legislative efforts to cut local governments out of the national settlement negotiations.
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Spotlight: Fentanyl & Fake Pills
FENTANYL
Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic opioid, much stronger than other opioids like oxycodone, and is estimated to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. All forms of fentanyl can be dangerous and it’s important to know the differences.
- In its prescription form, fentanyl is used medically to treat severe or long-term pain in patients who need continuous relief.
- Prescription fentanyl is not usually linked to most synthetic opioid harms or overdoses.
However, fentanyl is also illegally manufactured and sold, and is one of the most common drugs associated with overdose deaths in the United States. In Ventura County, from 2019 to 2020 alone, fentanyl contributed significantly to a 45% increase in opioid-related fatal overdoses.
- In most cases, illegal fentanyl is made in Mexico, often supplied with ingredients from China, and the exact formula and potency are often unknown until it’s too late.
- Some drug dealers mix fentanyl with other drugs such as heroin or cocaine, so people might snort, swallow, smoke, or inject it without knowing.
- Fentanyl analogs, such a carfentanil, are chemically related to fentanyl, and are often more toxic.
- Illegal fentanyl and its counterpart, fake pills, are fueling the epidemic of drug overdoses in the United States.
FAKE PILLS
The illicit form of fentanyl is also sold in counterfeit or fake pills, which are disguised as other drugs, frequently as round, blue pills. The deception can be deadly if someone believes they are taking a harmless pill.
- One in four fake pills tested by DEA labs contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.
- Fake pills are sold online and on apps that are popular with teens, who may believe they are buying something safe for anxiety or depression.
- Teens especially may believe that all medicine is safe and be unaware that the pill that appears safe is actually deadly.
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Featured Campaign: Vaping Historietas
See our latest campaign about the risks of secondhand vaping. We developed this campaign to address the health risks related to vaping and how it can affect others. The historieta format shares the information through engaging short stories and highlights how vaping can affect children and other family members. The goal is to increase awareness that can lead to a safer home environment, especially for children who may be most vulnerable.
Learn more:
Secondhand Vaping Historietas
English videos: www.vapingfactcheckvc.org
Spanish videos: www.vapeoverificado.org
NAMIWalks Your Way Ventura County 2021
Join us for a United Day of Hope
Our 2021 NAMIWalks event will be a little different than what you might expect from a walk event— while making a lot of difference. It’s going to be “your way,” meaning you choose what you want to do on event day. Our collective mental health needs are at their greatest now. One in three U.S. adults reported experiencing depression or anxiety since the pandemic began. NAMI’s programs and advocacy are needed more than ever, and with your help, we are pleased to present NAMIWalks Your Way on Saturday, May 22.
What is NAMIWalks Your Way?
On May 22, NAMIWalks will be a virtual experience, united with NAMIWalks across the country. NAMIWalks Your Way means instead of putting one foot in front of the other, you get to put one feat in front of the other: participants get to use their creativity, with the main rule that we continue to advance towards our goal by leaps and bounds. The choice is yours on how you want to make this spring’s event fit into this spring’s reality.
We will have two team captains from VCBH, Esperanza Mata and Vince Franco.
BRITE World Health Expo for Ventura County Youth and Families
BRITE World is a super fun and exciting virtual environment giving users the chance to interact authentically vs. traditional distance learning platforms. BRITE World is another option to provide prevention education, youth development programs and events to students. Participants-as-avatars are immersed in vibrant game-like landscapes and interact and learn just like in-person. Organized and hosted in collaboration with schools and youth-serving community organizations, the Health Expo provides diverse worlds and activities to explore. Using fantastical scenes as backdrops, the Health Expo is full of fun and engaging learning and prevention education activities.
The virtual Reality Party experience, adapted to BRITE World in lieu of the in-person live event, features multiple scenes depicting unsafe and risky behaviors that can happen in a house party situation. There are interactive items and characters with information on drinking games, party drugs, vaping, impaired driving, and recognizing the signs of drug use. You can find tips on keeping teens safe and ways to engage in meaningful conversations.
Learn more:
Meth: Don’t Buy the Lie Campaign
The “Meth: Don’t Buy the Lie” campaign is targeted to young adults who may be at risk for trying meth. The goal of the campaign is to provide the truth about meth without preaching nor invoking the reflexive opposition which comes easily to people in this age range.
Learn more:
Meth: Don’t Buy the Lie
TalkingAboutMeth.org
HablandoDeMeth.org
National Prevention Week – May 9-15
SAMHSA's National Prevention Week (NPW) is a public education platform that promotes prevention year-round through providing ideas, capacity building, tools, and resources to help individuals and communities make substance use prevention happen every day. NPW culminates in May recognizing the important work that has been done in communities throughout the year to inspire action and prevent substance use and mental disorders.
Each year around this observance, communities and organizations across the country come together to raise awareness about the importance of substance use prevention and positive mental health.
Learn more:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
May is Mental Health Awareness Month
Each year millions of Americans face the reality of living with a mental illness. And this year, more people than ever before are dealing with emotional challenges associated with the pandemic and the social upheaval experienced across our country. These stressors have amplified the need for public awareness and discussion of mental health as a key component of overall health. So, in conjunction with the national “May is Mental Health Awareness Month”, Ventura County Behavioral Health has launched a new countywide campaign, “I’m Talking About My Mental Health.”
This campaign was developed with de-stigmatization as a critical goal. By showing relatable people facing relatable challenges, reaching out for help and making positive changes in their lifestyles, we make the goal of improved mental health feel approachable and achievable. By personalizing the message – talking about “my” mental health – the campaign allows viewers to see others talking about, thinking about, and working on their mental health and fitness, and demonstrates this as normal and life-affirming behavior.
There are now billboards and posters in the community, public service announcements on the radio, and colleagues inviting discussion by wearing buttons or even using the themed Zoom background.
Please take a minute to get familiar with the campaign, and join us in promoting the discussion of mental health in the weeks ahead.
Learn more:
I’m Talking about My Mental Health
FDA Commits to Evidence-Based Actions Aimed at Saving Lives and Preventing Future Generations of Smokers
Efforts to ban menthol cigarettes, ban flavored cigars build on previous flavor ban and mark significant steps to reduce addiction and youth experimentation, improve quitting, and address health disparities.
FDA NEWS RELEASE
April 29, 2021
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it is committing to advancing two tobacco product standards to significantly reduce disease and death from using combusted tobacco products, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. The FDA is working toward issuing proposed product standards within the next year to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and ban all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars; the authority to adopt product standards is one of the most powerful tobacco regulatory tools Congress gave the agency. This decision is based on clear science and evidence establishing the addictiveness and harm of these products and builds on important, previous actions that banned other flavored cigarettes in 2009.
“Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products. With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. “Together, these actions represent powerful, science-based approaches that will have an extraordinary public health impact. Armed with strong scientific evidence, and with full support from the Administration, we believe these actions will launch us on a trajectory toward ending tobacco-related disease and death in the U.S.”
“For far too long, certain populations, including African Americans, have been targeted, and disproportionately impacted by tobacco use. Despite the tremendous progress we’ve made in getting people to stop smoking over the past 55 years, that progress hasn’t been experienced by everyone equally,” said Mitch Zeller, J.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “These flavor standards would reduce cigarette and cigar initiation and use, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity by addressing a significant and disparate source of harm. Taken together, these policies will help save lives and improve the public health of our country as we confront the leading cause of preventable disease and death.”
April is Alcohol Awareness Month
April is Alcohol Awareness Month. We wanted to raise awareness of the risks of alcohol use. This is a great opportunity to have conversations about alcohol and other drugs with your kids.
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