1 Lehny Corbin
From: Jacquelyne Vera <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2022 11:31 AM
To: City Clerk
Subject: Resolution for Prescription Drug Awareness Month Attachments: San Pablo Prescription Drug Awareness Month.docx.pdf Hello Dorothy Gantt,
I am the coalition coordinator for West Contra Costa Alcohol Policy Coalition. The coalition works on addressing youth substance abuse prevention in our community. The coalition would like to submit a proclamation highlighting March as Prescription Drug awareness month. I have attached the resolution, please let me know if Mayor Elizabeth Pabon‐
Alvarado would be interested in sponsoring the item? Thank you for your time.
Best,
Jacquelyne Marlene Espejo Vera
Alcohol & Marijuana Policy Coordinator
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Bay Area Community Resources
11175 San Pablo Ave
El Cerrito, CA 94530
(619)804-1959
[email protected]
MARCH 2022 PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE AWARENESS MONTHPROCLAMATION LANGUAGE – City of Richmond WHEREAS: When used as prescribed by a doctor, prescriptionmedicines such as stimulants, sedatives and opioids can behelpful in treating many illnesses, but when these medications are misused, they can have serious consequences ; and 1 WHEREAS: Many prescription drugs can alter a person’sthinking and judgment, and can lead to health risks, including addiction,drugged driving, infectious disease, and adverse effects on pregnancy ; and 2 WHEREAS: Anyone who takes prescription opioids canbecome addicted to them. In fact, as many as one in four patientsreceiving long-term opioid therapy in a primary care setting struggles with opioid use disorder ; 3 WHEREAS: Prescription opioid overdose deaths alsooften involve benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are central nervous systemdepressants used to sedate, induce sleep, prevent seizures, and relieve anxiety. The CDC recommends avoiding takingbenzodiazepines while taking prescription opioids whenever possible 3 ; and
WHEREAS:In 2020 in Contra Costa County there were478,723opioid prescriptions given to patientswhichis an age-adjustedrate of 347.4 per1,000 residents, higher than thestate rate of 333.3; and 4 WHEREAS: In 2020, a total of 16,537 emergency department visits occurred in California that were related to any opioidoverdose and 93 of those visits occurred in Contra Costa County 4 ; and
WHEREAS: Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl, and deaths fromnatural andsemi-synthetic opioids, such as prescription pain medication, increased in the 12-month period ending in April 2021 5 ; and
WHEREAS: Provisional data from the Center for DiseaseControl and Prevention indicate that of the estimated 100,306 drugoverdose deaths nationally during 12-month period ending in April 2021 and 161 of those opioid relatedoverdose deaths 5 occurred in Contra Costa County ; and
6 WHEREAS:2% of 11th graders West Contra Costa Unifiedreport having used medications to get high in the past 30 days 7 ; and
WHEREAS: The Contra Costa County Medication Education and Disposal Safety (MEDS) Coalition and theWest ContraCostaAlcohol PolicyCoalition(WCAPC)engageyouthandadultstakeholdersfromacrossthecountytoparticipateinPrescriptionDrugAbuse Awareness Month activities to raise about prescription drug safety awareness, promote safe medication storage anddisposal and ensure naloxone is available for those at high risk of opioid related overdose; and WHEREAS: TheCityof Richmondsupports April 30,2022as“NationalPrescriptionDrugTakeBackDay”asdeclaredbytheDEAandencourages residents tolocatetheir local collectionsiteviawww.dea.govandsafelydisposeof their accumulatedexpiredand unwanted prescription drugs that day and throughout the year; and THEREFORE, the City of Richmond does hereby proclaim March 2022 as Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month, andencourages all citizens toparticipateinprescriptiondrugabuserelatedpreventionprograms andactivities; Beit alsoresolvedthat the Concord City Council encourages all community members pledge to,“Spread the Word … One Pill CanKill”. 6 https://discovery.cdph.ca.gov/CDIC/ODdash/7
https://data.calschls.org/resources/Mt._Diablo_Unified_1920_Sec_CHKS.pdf 5 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm 4 https://discovery.cdph.ca.gov/CDIC/ODdash/
3 https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/opioids/prescribed.html 2 https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/commonly-used-drugs-charts#prescription-opioids 1 https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/prescription-medicines