Like the rest of the country, California has been fighting back on a wave of addiction, overdoses, and deaths caused by opioid drugs. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, opioid-related deaths rose in the state by more than 50 percent.
In response, California has stepped up its efforts to provide wraparound care to individuals managing addiction and holding drug manufacturers accountable.
Current numbers and situation
Opioids are a class of potent narcotics that are used in both prescription and illicit drugs. While doctors have routinely prescribed opioids for terminally ill or severely injured patients since the Civil War, concerns over their addictive properties curbed the practice in the 1970s.
However, in the late 1990s, some pharmaceutical firms began to market the drug as a benign and effective pain reliever. Doctors started prescribing opioids for milder conditions, causing addiction rates to skyrocket.
When medical professionals resumed their hesitant stance against the drugs, addicted patients turned to illegal alternatives such as heroin and synthetic opioids.
While addiction professionals are still investigating how and why people become addicted, many risk factors have been identified. Taking opioids over a long period of time causes patients to build up a tolerance. As a result, their bodies require more of the drug to experience the same effects. This heightens the risk of overdose.
Researchers have also noted that social and environmental factors such as poverty, family history of substance abuse, and chronic unemployment also play a role in opioid addiction.
A 2019 study found that socio-economic factors such as an individual’s zip code and racial background impacted their access to prescription opioids and other addictive drugs.
Without the ability to take pain relievers or anti-anxiety medications under professional supervision, these individuals are more likely to use street-sourced alternatives to address their pain or mental health issues. This disparity has contributed to an increase in overdose deaths from illicit forms of opioids, including fentanyl and heroin.
California’s Response
After more than 2,000 Californians died of opioid overdoses in 2015, the state presented a comprehensive set of policies to combat the growing crisis. The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), a healthcare focused nonprofit, pulled together a coalition of community leaders, behavioral health and addiction professionals, law enforcement, and government officials. The taskforce developed and assisted the implementation of prevention and treatment policies across the State. The CHCF’s progressive focus on harm reduction expanded access to treatment by eliminating sobriety as a prerequisite for help.
As a result, Los Angeles addiction treatment centers can offer a range of recovery options, from purely therapeutic approaches to medication-assisted treatment.
The CHCF advocates for a multi-pronged approach that addresses both prevention and addiction management. The coalition works closely with healthcare providers and policymakers to regulate opioid prescription guidelines, and make sure life-saving treatments, such as naloxone and medication-assisted treatments are widely available.
CHCF also supports advocacy and awareness campaigns targeted to the general public.
In 2018, California introduced the innovative Bridge Program, an overdose and treatment prevention program that leverages the mobility and expertise of emergency care departments. Individuals can access overdose-reversing treatment and ongoing care at more than 50 emergency centers statewide.
The program also worked to reduce stigma amongst medical professionals so that individuals with substance use disorder would access care in hospital settings. The effective approach is held as the standard of mobile addiction treatment, and has been replicated across the country.
California Lawsuits
Since the start of the crisis, California has spent billions of dollars on state-funded treatments and overdose prevention programs. This has led legislators to seek financial compensation through punitive lawsuits against the pharmaceutical firms deemed by many to be the drivers of the opioid epidemic.
In 2014, California was the first state to sue opioid manufacturers, such as Johnson & Johnson, for their role in the opioid crisis. While the legal battle has dragged on into its seventh year, the state’s pioneering effort has resulted in numerous lawsuits by state and local governments across the country.
At the same time, Johnson & Johnson and other named defendants in the California case have agreed to a $26 billion settlement involving more than a dozen states. Counties across California expect to receive a share of the more than $2.6 billion awarded to the state to fund opioid treatment programs.
