California
Opinion: California’s Inexcusable Resistance to Stronger Opioid Overdose Treatments
In April 2020, I discovered my 16-year-old son, Daniel, unconscious in his mattress.
He had overdosed on a counterfeit Oxycodone capsule that he bought on Snapchat. It was spiked with fentanyl. Just a few days later, Daniel’s mom and I have been compelled to decide that no father or mother ought to ever face: we eliminated our son from life help.
There are not any phrases to explain the agony that I and much too many different dad and mom have skilled.
America’s opioid epidemic is extra lethal than ever. Spurred by the proliferation of fentanyl and different highly-potent artificial painkillers, greater than 100,000 individuals died from an opioid overdose over a one-year span after Daniel’s loss of life, in accordance with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Sadly, overdose deaths surged 48% p.c over an analogous interval statewide, representing the fifth-highest improve within the nation.
The mounting toll calls for swift and decisive motion from our authorities. To date, California shouldn’t be doing sufficient to stop overdose deaths.
The U.S. Meals and Drug Administration final 12 months permitted a double-strength naloxone product, Kloxxado, to assist counteract stronger medicine like fentanyl, which is as much as 50 occasions stronger than heroin and 100 occasions stronger than morphine. Naloxone is a drugs that quickly reverses an opioid overdose, and has helped revive numerous overdose victims by restoring their respiratory. Double-strength naloxone is run in the very same means as conventional nasal spray naloxone, and carries the identical warnings and precautions.
Helped partly by federal grants, California distributes free naloxone to first responders, group organizations, faculties and well being care suppliers. Many reportedly use a number of doses to revive somebody, spurring efforts to increase overdose reversal remedies to incorporate Kloxxado. A wide selection of stakeholders have launched a letter-writing marketing campaign, hosted academic boards and even testified on the Legislature to boost consciousness.
Sadly, the California Division of Well being Care Providers and state leaders have declined to incorporate stronger naloxone remedies of their applications, needlessly placing the lives of Californians at larger threat. It’s inexcusable that authorities officers refuse to make the most of each instrument accessible to confront this epidemic.
Since my son’s unfathomable loss of life, I’ve devoted my life to making sure that different dad and mom wouldn’t have to undergo the identical sort of tragedy that my household has skilled. By way of this work, I’ve met and labored with numerous different dad and mom who misplaced youngsters to fentanyl, which has been an unlucky blessing.
An vital piece of our work is guaranteeing that the state officers do their half to get the fitting overdose reversal instruments into the palms of people who want them most. I do know all too nicely that that is really a matter of life and loss of life.
California should make double-strength naloxone accessible earlier than extra households expertise the unspeakable tragedy that mine lives with day-after-day. The state’s inaction within the face of a historic epidemic is unconscionable.
Jaime Puerta is a Marine veteran and CEO of Puerta & Associates Inc., a small language deciphering enterprise. Puerta based VOID and cofounded Dealing with Fentanyl to scale back overdose deaths in California and honor his son’s reminiscence. The creator wrote this for CalMatters, a public curiosity journalism enterprise dedicated to explaining how California’s Capitol works and why it issues.
California
Dickies to say goodbye to Texas, hello to Southern California
FORT WORTH, Texas — Dickies is leaving Cowtown for the California coast, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
The 102-year-old Texas workwear brand, which is owned by VF Corp., is making the move from Fort Worth to Costa Mesa in order to be closer to its sister brand, Vans.
Dickies was founded in Fort Worth in 1922 by E.E. “Colonel” Dickie. Today, Dickies Arena is the entertainment hub of the city and home of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
The company is expected to make the move by May. Approximately 120 employees will be affected, the report said.
By moving one of its offices closer to the other, VF Corp. says it can “consolidate its real estate portfolio,” as well as “create an even more vibrant campus,” Ashley McCormack, director of external communications at VF Corp. said in the report.
Dickies isn’t the only rugged brand owned by VF Corp. The company also has ownership of Timberland, The North Face and JanSport.
VF Corp. acquired Dickies in 2017 for $820 million.
“Their contributions to our city’s culture, economy and identity are immeasurable,” District 9 City Council member Elizabeth Beck, who represents the area of downtown Fort Worth where Dickies headquarters is currently located, said in a statement to the Fort Worth Report. “While we understand their business decision, it is bittersweet to see a company that started right here in Fort Worth take this next step. We are committed to supporting the employees who remain here and will work to honor the lasting imprint Dickies has left on our community.”
California
Caitlyn Jenner says she'd 'destroy' Kamala Harris in hypothetical race to be CA gov
SAN FRANCISCO – Caitlyn Jenner, the gold-medal Olympian-turned reality TV personality, is considering another run for Governor of California. This time, she says, if she were to go up against Vice President Kamala Harris, she would “destroy her.”
Jenner, who publicly came out as transgender nearly 10 years ago, made a foray into politics when she ran as a Republican during the recall election that attempted to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. Jenner only received one percent of the vote and was not considered a serious candidate.
Jenner posted this week on social media that she’s having conversations with “many people” and hopes to have an announcement soon about whether she will run.
Caitlyn Jenner speaks at the 4th annual Womens March LA: Women Rising at Pershing Square on January 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
She has also posted in Trumpian-style all caps: “MAKE CA GREAT AGAIN!”
As for VP Harris, she has not indicated any future plans for when she leaves office. However, a recent poll suggests Harris would have a sizable advantage should she decide to run in 2026. At that point, Newsom cannot run again because of term limits.
If Jenner decides to run and wins, it would mark the nation and state’s first transgender governor.
California
Northern California 6-year-old, parents hailed as heroes for saving woman who crashed into canal
LIVE OAK — A six-year-old and her parents are being called heroes by a Northern California community for jumping into a canal to save a 75-year-old woman who drove off the road.
It happened on Larkin Road near Paseo Avenue in the Sutter County community of Live Oak on Monday.
“I just about lost her, but I didn’t,” said Terry Carpenter, husband of the woman who was rescued. “We got more chances.”
Terry said his wife of 33 years, Robin Carpenter, is the love of his life and soulmate. He is grateful he has been granted more time to spend with her after she survived her car crashing off a two-lane road and overturning into a canal.
“She’s doing really well,” Terry said. “No broken bones, praise the Lord.”
It is what some call a miracle that could have had a much different outcome without a family of good Samaritans.
“Her lips were purple,” said Ashley Martin, who helped rescue the woman. “There wasn’t a breath at all. I was scared.”
Martin and her husband, Cyle Johnson, are being hailed heroes by the Live Oak community for jumping into the canal, cutting Robin out of her seat belt and pulling her head above water until first responders arrived.
“She was literally submerged underwater,” Martin said. “She had a back brace on. Apparently, she just had back surgery. So, I grabbed her brace from down below and I flipped her upward just in a quick motion to get her out of that water.”
The couple said the real hero was their six-year-old daughter, Cayleigh Johnson.
“It was scary,” Cayleigh said. “So the car was going like this, and it just went boom, right into the ditch.”
Cayleigh was playing outside and screamed for her parents who were inside the house near the canal.
I spoke with Robin from her hospital bed over the phone who told us she is in a lot of pain but grateful.
“The thing I can remember is I started falling asleep and then I was going over the bump and I went into the ditch and that’s all I remember,” Robin said.
It was a split-second decision for a family who firefighters said helped save a stranger’s life.
“It’s pretty unique that someone would jump in and help somebody that they don’t even know,” said Battalion Chief for Sutter County Fire Richard Epperson.
Robin is hopeful that she will be released from the hospital on Wednesday in time to be home for Thanksgiving.
“She gets Thanksgiving and Christmas now with her family and grandkids,” Martin said.
Terry and Robin are looking forward to eventually meeting the family who helped save Robin’s life. The family expressed the same feelings about meeting the woman they helped when she is out of the hospital.
“I can’t wait for my baby to get home,” Terry said.
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