On October 29, 2024, I hosted an Investigative Hearing on the “Emerging Challenges Addressing Substance Abuse in Orange County.”
In March of 2022, when I was the Second District Supervisor, we held our very first hearing on the then-emerging Fentanyl Crisis. We’ve made a lot of progress since 2022 by spending thousands of hours hosting dozens of educational town halls, tracking “Orange County Drug and Alcohol Misuse and Mortality Trends,” passing Melanie’s Law, and enhancing penalties for dealers. Additionally, the State passed Senate Bill 43 to add severe substance use disorder as a reason someone could be placed on an involuntary hold. We are doing our best to speed up any delays in implementing Senate Bill 43.
Since 2022, substance abuse has changed. We still have a lot of work to do. So, I gathered local community leaders for the following panels:
Panel 1 - Public Safety: Drug Trends, Improvements, & Reforms Needed
Click here and watch our first panel on emerging challenges with unregulated dangers like inhalants and prescribed Ketamine with panelists OC Sheriff-Coroner Don Barnes, OC Senior Deputy District Attorney Nikki Elkerton, OCFA Assistant Chief of Emergency Medical Services Rob Capobianco & OCFA Medical Director Dr. Joshua Bobko, and Deputy Health Director and Medical Director for Behavioral Health Services Dr. Patricia De Marco Centeno.
Panel 2 - Public Health: Implementation of SB43 & Treating Substance Abuse
Click here and watch our second panel on treating substance abuse and implementation of SB43 with panelists OC Health Care Agency Director Dr. Veronica Kelley, College Hospital CEO, Warren Bradley, Providence Mission Hosp. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Melanie Wolf, OC Behavioral Health Advisory Board Chase Wickersham, and Newport-Mesa Unified School Director of Health Services Somer Harding & District Director of Student Services Sarah Coley.
Panel 3 - Public Policy: Legislative Solutions
Click here and watch our third panel on legislative solutions with panelists California State Assemblymember Laurie Davies and California State Senator Josh Newman.
