opioid

The El Dorado County Opioid Coalition (EDCOC) has launched its new opioid prevention public education campaign, "Your Pain is Real. So Are the Risks.”

The EDCOC works to prevent opioid addiction and overdose in El Dorado County through its treatment, safe prescribing, and naloxone distribution programs and has now started working with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Naloxone, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid and heroin overdoses, is carried on police and deputy vehicles, ambulances and fire engines, giving first responders the chance to save lives. The problem of these overdoses is so widespread most medics and ambulances have administered the medication dozens of times, even in South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding counties.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Understand more about the opioid epidemic at the next Barton Health Wellness Lecture on Thursday, February 28 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Barton Center for Orthopedics & Wellness, 2170B South Avenue, South Lake Tahoe.

Dr. Matthew Wonnacott will lead the lecture and cover topics including how opioids became an epidemic and what kind of help is available locally for those fighting an addiction to the drug.

El Dorado County has filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors for creating the opioid epidemic in El Dorado County, joining a consortium of 30 California counties to do so. The County has retained the national law firm of Baron & Budd and a joint venture of law firms to represent its interests, seeking an abatement remedy in addition to legal damages for taxpayer money spent providing social resources in response to the crisis.

Dr. Devendra I. Patel, aka Devendrakumar I. Patel, 58, of Elko, Nev., was arrested Tuesday on 39 charges of unlawful distribution of prescriptions opioids and Medicaid fraud.

Patel is charged with 36-counts of distribution of controlled substances such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, and three-counts of health care fraud. He is a cardiologist at his medical practice, Northeastern Nevada Cardiology. The statutory maximum penalty for distribution of a controlled substance is 10 years in prison and the maximum penalty for health care fraud is 10 years in prison.

Education and support is now offered to locals on the South Shore who have a son or daughter, or other loved one, who is suffering from addiction.

Parents of Addicted Loved Ones (PAL), is a support group of parents helping parents that meets at Tahoe Youth & Family Services every Wednesday evening from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The sessions are free of charge.

PAL can also help spouses who feel they have to parent their addicted partner.

PAL is open to all sober family members and friends who are 18-year-old and older.

I took a couple of field trips this month related to learning more about cannabis and how it may affect our city if retail, commercial grows, testing, and edible production are implemented. I learned a lot and will share some of the highlights with you.

The first trip was to Breckenridge, a visit I piggybacked on top of a wedding I attended in Vail. I met with their Mayor, City Manager (formerly the police chief) and the assistant city manager. We met for two hours and our talk was primarily centered on their experiences with the legalization of cannabis in Breckenridge.

Thousands of communities across the United States will participate in the Drug Enforcement Administration “National Drug Take Back” day scheduled for Saturday, April 29 in South Lake Tahoe, Zephyr Cove, and spots in the Carson Valley.

46,000 people a year die from drug overdoses and more than half of those die from prescription opioid overdoses. Four out of five new users of heroin began with abusing prescription opioids.

Denim is now the state’s official fabric to recognize its role in California history, and every autographed collectible sold in California must come with a certificate that verifies it's not a forgery. Those are just two of 898 new laws facing Californians in 2017.

Here are just a few of them compiled in part by California Highway Patrol (CHP):

As lawmakers grapple with how best to combat the nation’s prescription painkiller abuse crisis, a recent survey is shedding light on how patients who get these medications — drugs such as OxyContin, methadone or Vicodin — sometimes share or mishandle them.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) will “make a real difference for families and communities” struggling with drug addiction, U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said Saturday. He spoke about the bill, which has bipartisan support, in a weekly Republican address.

“This epidemic does not discriminate,” Senator Portman said. “Zip codes don’t matter. It’s affecting our cities, suburban areas, and rural counties. Young or old, rich, middle class or poor, black, white, Hispanic or Asian. The grip of addiction affects all of us.”