Bill Text: CA ACR93 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 54-18)

Status: (Passed) 2014-05-05 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 23, Statutes of 2014. [ACR93 Detail]

Download: California-2013-ACR93-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: ACR 93	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 6, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Buchanan

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2014

   Relative to Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 93, as amended, Buchanan. Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness
Month.
   This measure would proclaim the month of March 2014 as Drug Abuse
Awareness Month in California, and encourage all citizens to
participate in prevention programs and activities and to pledge to
"Spread the Word ... One Pill Can Kill."
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, There were more deaths caused by drug overdoses in 2010
than traffic accidents among people 25 to 64 years of age; and
   WHEREAS, In 2010, drug overdoses in the United States of America
caused 38,329 deaths and 22,134 of those deaths were from
prescription drugs; and
   WHEREAS, In 2011, an estimated 22.5 million Americans 12 years of
age or older used an illicit drug or abused a prescription drug in
the past month; and
   WHEREAS, In 2009, 1.2 million emergency department visits were
related to misuse or abuse of pharmaceuticals, an increase of 98.4
percent since 2004; and
   WHEREAS, Nonmedical use of prescription painkillers costs health
insurers up to $72.5 billion annually in direct health care costs;
and
   WHEREAS, Overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers now
exceed more deaths  from   than  heroin and
cocaine combined; and
   WHEREAS, As many as 70 percent of people who abuse prescription
drugs get them from a relative or friend instead of a doctor; and
   WHEREAS,  Americans that participated in the Drug
Enforcement Administration's (DEA) seventh National Prescription Drug
Take-Back Day on October 26, 2013, turned in more than 647,211
pounds of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper
disposal at the 4,114 take-back sites that were available in all 50
states and the territories of the United States. When the results of
all seven Take-Back Days are combined, the DEA and its state, local,
and tribal law enforcement, and community partners have removed 3.4
million pounds of medication from circulation; and  
During the last seven National   Prescription Drug Take Back
Days, a total of 3.4 million pounds of medication were removed from
circulation and potential diversion by the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and its state, local, and tribal law
enforcement, and community partners. The Contra Costa County Board of
Supervisors support April 26, 2014, as "National Prescription Drug
Take Back Day," as declared by the DEA, and encourages residents to
locate their collection site and safely dispose of their accumulated
unwanted and unused prescription drugs; and  
   WHEREAS, The 2013 National Drug Control Study listed four
interventions to reduce prescription drug abuse, one of which was to
provide safe drug disposal by increasing return and take-back
programs. We support California acquiring a sustainably funded and
well publicized statewide medication take-back system that is much
more convenient to consumers than the current one-day events or
disposal at hazardous waste facilities; and 
   WHEREAS, The National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse,
the Contra Costa County Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Coalition,
the Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board in cooperation with the
Contra Costa Behavioral Health Division's Alcohol and Other Drugs
Services,  the Contra Costa County Youth Health Coalition, 
law enforcement, community-based organizations, alcohol and other
drug service providers, and civic and business leaders coordinate
Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month activities in the County of
Contra Costa and California to engage our citizens in demonstrating
their commitment to prevention campaigns and education aimed at
raising awareness about the abuse and misuse of prescription drugs,
promoting prescription drug safe storing and disposal, and using
medications only as prescribed; and
   WHEREAS, Families, schools, businesses, faith-based communities,
law enforcement, medical professionals, county and local governments,
health care practitioners, and pharmacists in the County of Contra
Costa, the state, and the general public will demonstrate their
commitment to the prevention of prescription medication abuse by
participating in activities intended to highlight local efforts
during the month of March; and
   WHEREAS, The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors and the
Legislature support April 26, 2014, as National Prescription Drug
Take-Back Day as declared by the DEA, and  encourages
  encourage  residents to locate their local
collection site and safely dispose of their accumulated unwanted and
unused prescription drugs; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature does hereby declare March
2014, as Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month, and encourages all
citizens to  actively  participate in prevention programs
and activities, and to safely store and dispose of their 
medication   medications  on a continual basis, and
to encourage all community members to pledge, "Spread the Word ...
One Pill Can Kill"; and be  it  further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.