Delay With State’s Opioid Database Worries Advocates Who See It As Crucial Tool To Fighting Crisis
"We’re really worried that every day we delay, another patient is put at risk in California,” said Carmen Balber, who is with California-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.
Capital Public Radio:
Prescription Database Could Help Prevent Opioid Abuse, But State System Still Lags
In some California counties, there are more opioid prescriptions than residents. The state is trying to change prescribing practices, but the technology needed to do that isn’t quite ready yet. (Caiola, 3/30)
In other public health news —
KQED:
Battery Blood: California Has Worse Lead Standards Than Arkansas And Texas. Why?
In the summer of 2008, California’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) inspected Exide Technologies’ vehicle-battery recycling plant in Vernon, California, an industrial suburb of Los Angeles. The ensuing laboratory analysis of air from the plant’s smelter room, where batteries are melted down to reclaim their lead, revealed that levels of the neurotoxin exceeded federal standards by a factor of 13. Despite the toxic air, Cal/OSHA found no serious violations at Exide, issuing only a token fine of $150 for what it deemed a low-level violation. (Rubin, 4/1)
Orange County Register:
Santa Ana To Begin Clearing Homeless People From Civic Center Area, As Resettlement Of Riverbed Homeless Winds Down
Plans to begin clearing the Civic Center next week were discussed at a court session on Friday, March 30. U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, who has been overseeing a pair of civil rights lawsuits filed when the county began to clear more than 700 people from Santa Ana River Trail encampments, had tough words for officials and for homeless people inclined to reject help. (Walker, 3/30)