Bill Text: CA AB182 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Heroin and Opioid Public Education (HOPE) Act.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-09-01 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB182 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB182-Amended.html
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Amended
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Assembly
May 26, 2017 |
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Amended
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Assembly
March 23, 2017 |
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Amended
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Assembly
March 09, 2017 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 182 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Waldron (Coauthors: Assembly Members Baker, Mayes, and Wood) (Coauthors: Senators Bates and Glazer) |
January 19, 2017 |
An act to add and repeal Article 5 (commencing with Section 11774) to of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 10.5 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to drug abuse.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 182, as amended, Waldron.
Heroin and Opioid Public Education (HOPE) Act.
Existing law vests the State Department of Health Care Services with duties, powers, purposes, functions, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of alcohol and drug programs in the state, including narcotic treatment programs that use narcotic replacement therapy for maintenance or detoxification of opioid medication dependence. Existing law requires the department to develop and implement a statewide prevention campaign designed to deter the abuse of methamphetamine in California, and authorizes the department to develop and implement a mass media alcohol and other drug education program in order to provide community education, develop public awareness, and motivate community action in alcohol and other drug abuse prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Existing law tasks the State Department of Public Health with certain specified duties related to health information and strategic planning, including opioid misuse and overdose prevention. Among other duties, existing law directs the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to award naloxone grant funding to local health departments, local government agencies, or other entities, as specified, in order to reduce the rate of fatal overdose from opioid drugs including heroin and prescription opioids.
This bill would require the department, in consultation with stakeholders, to develop, coordinate, implement, and oversee a comprehensive multicultural public awareness campaign, to be known as “Heroin and Opioid Public Education (HOPE).”
(HOPE),” upon appropriation by the Legislature or receipt of state or federal grant funding, until January 1, 2023. The bill would require the HOPE program to provide for the coordinated and widespread public dissemination of individual case stories and other generalized information that is designed to, focuses on, among other things, describe describing the effects and warning signs of heroin use and opioid medication abuse, so as to better enable members of the public to determine when help is needed and identify the
and identifying available pathways that are available for individuals to seek seeking help. The bill would require the HOPE program to effectuate the dissemination of information by using appropriate types of media, as specified, employing a variety of complementary educational themes and messages that are tailored to appeal to different target audiences, and using culturally and linguistically appropriate means.
The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature on at least an annual basis, that summarizes the actions that have been undertaken by the department to implement the bill and includes an assessment of the
effectiveness of the HOPE program, as specified.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the “HOPE Act.”SEC. 2.
Article 5 (commencing with Section 11774) is added to Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 10.5 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:Article 5. Heroin and Opioid Public Education (HOPE)
11774.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) There is an epidemic in this state stemming from the use of heroin and the abuse of opioid medications.
(b) Prescription drug overdoses now kill more people than car accidents.
(c) Every day, 2,500 children 12 to 17, inclusive, years of age abuse a prescription painkiller for the first time, and more people are becoming addicted to prescription drugs.
(d) Data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
suggests that the nonmedical use of prescription painkillers costs public and private health insurers seventy-two billion eight hundred million dollars ($72,800,000,000) annually.
(b)
(e) In order for the state to combat this epidemic, citizens in all walks of life shall be alerted to the problem, and shall be armed with information that will allow them to recognize, and undertake appropriate actions, when they or their loved ones are at risk of, or are succumbing to, a heroin or opioid medication addiction.
(c)
(f) The widespread dissemination of information necessary to combat the state’s heroin and opioid medication epidemic could be successfully achieved through the institution and maintenance of a multicultural statewide public awareness campaign, which would be carefully coordinated through all available multimedia channels to reach a wide variety of audiences, including drug users, their family members and friends, medical practitioners and nurses, emergency personnel, and employers.
(d)Prescription drug overdoses now kill more people than car accidents.
(e)Every day, 2,500 children 12 to 17 years of age abuse a prescription painkiller for the first time, and more people are becoming addicted to prescription drugs.
(f)Data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that
the nonmedical use of prescription painkillers costs public and private health insurers seventy-two billion eight hundred million dollars ($72,800,000,000) annually.
(g)As abuse rates have risen, the functions of the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs have been transferred to the State Department of Health Care Services.
(h)In order to be more successful in combating drug abuse, while addressing the current opioid and heroin epidemic, the department’s current public awareness campaign
is being used to combat the state’s growing heroin and opioid medication epidemic shall be designed to do all of the following:
(1)Educate the public as to the reasons why ordinary people may engage in the abuse of opioid medications and the associated use of heroin.
(2)Rebut the commonly accepted myths and stereotypes associated with heroin use and opioid medication abuse.
(3)Stigmatize and condemn the abuse and diversion of opioid medication, while still recognizing the legitimate use of those opioid drugs as medications.
11774.1.
(a)(b) Using the means described in subdivision (c), HOPE shall provide for the coordinated and widespread public dissemination of individual case stories and other generalized information that is designed to do all focuses on any of the following:
(1) Identify Identifying the pathways that can lead to opioid medication abuse and heroin use, and the reasons why opioid medication abuse may evolve into heroin use.
(2) Show Showing the many faces of heroin and opioid medication addiction, and rebut rebutting the commonly accepted myths and stereotypes about heroin users and opioid medication abusers.
(3) Condemn and stigmatize Educating the public on the negative impact of
abuse and diversion of opioid medication, while recognizing the legitimate use of those same opioid drugs as medications.
(4) Describe Describing the effects and warning signs of heroin use and opioid medication abuse, so as to better enable members of the public to determine when help is needed.
(5) Show Showing the link that exists between heroin and opioid medication addiction and suicidal behavior.
(6) Identify Identifying the pathways that are available for individuals to seek help in association with their own, or another person’s, heroin or opioid medication addiction, and indicate indicating the various telephone hotline systems that exist in the state for persons who wish to report a case of drug abuse or engage in substance abuse treatment.
(7) Highlight Highlighting
the availability of naloxone hydrochloride as a means to avert death from a heroin or opioid medication overdose, identify
identifying pathways for members of the public to obtain a prescription for naloxone hydrochloride and training in the emergency
administration of naloxone hydrochloride, and promote promoting the proper use of naloxone hydrochloride in crisis situations.
(8) Highlight Highlighting the benefits of substance abuse treatment and the potential for treatment to allow for the reclaiming of lives that have been upset by addiction, and underscore underscoring
the fact that relapses occur not because treatment is ineffective, but because of the nature of addiction, which is a recurring and relapsing disorder.
(9) Highlight Highlighting the benefits of medication-assisted therapy using medications approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, such as methadone, buprenorphine, extended-release injectable naltrexone, or other similar drugs, and destigmatize destigmatizing the use of that medication-assisted therapy.
(10) Identify Identifying the methods that can be used by an individual to help finance the costs of substance abuse treatment.
(11) Identify Identifying the steps that individuals can take to prevent and deter family members, friends, students, patients, coworkers, and others from first experimenting with inappropriately obtained opioid medications, and from misusing or mismanaging lawful opioid medications.
(12) Identify Identifying the proper methods for safeguarding, and for safely disposing of, legitimate opioid medications.
(13) Address Addressing any other issues that the department may deem appropriate and necessary to proactively educate the public about the state’s heroin and opioid medication epidemic and the actions that can be taken by members of the public to reduce the likelihood of heroin or opioid medication addiction, or to otherwise respond to, or mitigate the effects of, heroin or
opioid medication addiction in cases in which it is present.
(c) (1) The HOPE program shall effectuate the dissemination of information described in subdivision (b) by using appropriate types of media to achieve the goal efficiently and effectively, including new technologies in media, print media, television and radio, and Internet and social media.
(2) In disseminating the information described in subdivision (b), the HOPE program shall employ a variety of complementary educational themes and messages that shall be tailored to appeal to different target audiences in the state. At a minimum, the HOPE program shall incorporate all of the following:
(A) At least one message that is directed at, and is tailored to influence and resonate with, individuals who are personally at risk of heroin use or opioid medication abuse or who have already started down a pathway to addiction.
(B) At least one message that is directed at, and is tailored to influence and resonate with, the family members and friends of addicted persons, teachers, school nurses, medical practitioners, and employers.
(C) At least one message that is directed at the dangers of teen drug pilfering from the household medicine cabinet and how this could be avoided through the use of safe storage products.
(3) Information under the HOPE
program shall be disseminated using culturally and linguistically appropriate means, in a manner that demonstrates respect for individual dignity and cultural differences. Where feasible and appropriate, the information shall be made available in a variety of languages.
(4) The department may enter into public-private partnerships with pharmaceutical or health care insurance companies, nonprofit social services organizations, mental health services providers and clinics, law enforcement, health care agencies, and school districts, that provide services in the state in order to facilitate the dissemination of information under the HOPE program.
11774.2.
(a) The department shall submit to the Governor and the Legislature on at least an annual basis, a report that summarizes the actions that have been undertaken by the department to implement this article and includes an assessment of the effectiveness of the program, including, but not limited to, effects on the rate of new opioid and heroin addictions by populations, mitigation of the effects of opioid or heroin addiction, crime rates, hospitalization rates, death rates, and other calculable results as determined by the department. The report shall provide any recommendations for legislative or executive action that may be necessary to facilitate the ongoing success of the program.(b) A report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this section shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
