Amended in Assembly March 6, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 93

Introduced by Assembly Member Buchanan

February 11, 2014

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 93—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 begin delete from end delete begin insert than end insert 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, begin delete 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 end delete begin insert 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 end insert

begin insert

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

end insert

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, begin insert the Contra Costa County Youth
Health Coalition, end insert 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 begin delete encourages end delete
begin insert encourage end insert 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 begin insert actively end insert participate in prevention
programs and activities, and to safely store and dispose of their
begin delete medication end delete begin insert medications end insert on a continual basis, and to encourage all
community members to pledge, “Spread the Word ... One Pill Can
Kill”; and be begin insert it end insert further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.