Senator Dodd to host town hall on opioid crisis
(Solano NewsNet file photo)
By: Solano NewsNet staff
State Senator Bill Dodd will host a virtual town hall next week to discuss the ongoing opioid and fentanyl crisis.
The town hall comes after a report published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimated around 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021.
The report, which was based on a two-year study that started in 2019, also found a startling increase in opioid deaths among teenagers. Fatalities in teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 jumped 94 percent between 2019 and 2020 and increased an additional 20 percent the following year.
The CDC said fentanyl use among younger Americans was largely to blame for the spike in opioid-related deaths. Overall, adolescent deaths attributed to fentanyl skyrocketed 350 percent during the two-year study. Seven out of 10 young Americans who died from opioids did so after using fentanyl, researchers assigned to the CDC study determined.
Last year, around 10,000 Californians were among those who died after abusing opioids, Dodd’s office said.
Event: State Senator Bill Dodd Virtual Town Hall on Drug Crisis
When: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Broadcast on Facebook, YouTube and on the radio
More information: Click or tap here
In a separate study released earlier this month, CDC researchers said the COVID-19 pandemic was largely to blame for more high school-age youth abusing opioids and other substances like alcohol and marijuana, with one in three high school students admitting their use of drugs or alcohol.
Researchers found high school students were more likely to use marijuana or drink alcohol than abuse opioids. But opioids were to blame for the staggering increase in deaths among American youth who used drugs or alcohol during the pandemic, CDC data revealed.
Dodd will be joined by California Attorney General Rob Bonta during his April 26 town hall. Medical experts and an official from a Napa-based drug awareness group will also participate in the forum.
The town hall starts at 6 p.m. and will be live-streamed on Dodd’s Facebook page and the Sonoma TV YouTube channel. An audio simulcast will be broadcast and streamed by Sonoma County radio station KSVY (91.3 FM). The public is invited to send questions ahead of time by e-mailing townhall@ksvy.org or by calling (707) 933-9133 during the event.
Dodd represents California’s 3rd Senate District, which includes Solano County as well as all or portions of Contra Costa, Napa, Sacramento, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
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