How a Bill Becomes a Law

Honorable Barbara Boxer

State Senator

112 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington DC 20510

March 8, 2016

Dear Honorable Barbara Boxer,

My name, and I am a Registered Nurse working in a hospital located North California. I am writing to you today to express my extremely serious concern over increasing number of substance abuse in our area. As a psychiatric nurse, I take care of young adolescents with cellulitis frequently caused by frequent intravenous drug use. I constantly encounter the same type of patients and the same problem over and over again.People in my neighborhood are constantly fearful of harmful substance abusers and dealers and this news is frequently covered by social media and in local TV channels. As a responsible civilian, a concerned mother of two daughters, and a passionate nurse, I believe that we need to address substance abuse problem in our community and strive to make it better by implementing new programs.

While there are already set legislations, and regulations regarding drug usage in our area, it has not been the most effective, and our statistic for drug use is steadily increasing. Tight regulations and policies have not proven effective in our area and thus, I am writing to you, requesting your support in the implementation of an comprehensive drug abuse program that focuses on high priority education for grade-students and their families. I believe that a comprehensive program that prioritizes education will result in significantly reducing drug usage.

Drug abuse is a major problem that not only plagues our community and our state of California, but also the United States as a whole nation. According to Healthy People 2020, “In 2005, an estimated 22 million Americans struggled with a drug or alcohol problem” (Healthy People, 2014). One of the goals of Healthy People 2020 is to “Reduce substance abuse to protect the health, safety, and quality of life for all, especially children”. Substance abuse has drier consequences that plague the individual, their families, and communities; its negative consequences considerably affecting financial, physical, mental, social, spiritual and community health/safety status. Some of the serious health problems caused by substance abuse are human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), increased motor vehicle accidents, pregnancy at teen age, domestic violence, crimes, child abuse and physical assaults, homicides and suicides, etc. Some of the financial strain caused by substance abuse includes lost wages, medical expenses, legal expenses, and cost of mental-health implications. The implementation of a comprehensive program can vary in cost and can potential seem to be highly costly, however, when compared to the direct and indirect expenses of drug use, the program cost is insignificant. The California Medicaid program covers substance abuse treatment, and has a Drug Medi-Cal (DMC) Treatment program, the federal Medicaid Program administered by the state. The state of California spends approximately $44 billion dollars a year on several factors that fall under substance abuse costs: loss of productivity, health care, substance abuse prevention programs, and criminal justice programs (California Department of Finance, 2005). California’s number one premature killer in drug abuse and approximately kills eleven people per day (CDC 2010).

According to The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program “The overall drug threat to the Northern California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region has intensified somewhat over the past year, resulting in several areas of growing concern for law enforcement and public health officials. The HIDTA region continues to be a national- and regional-level production and distribution center for ice methamphetamine and marijuana.” (2011) The California HIDTA program identifies five key issues in the Northern California HIDTA: 1) the dominance of Mexican DTOs over wholesale drug distribution, enabling them to possess, and sell illicit drugs through out all of California 2) The increased usage and distribution of methamphetamine, posing as the biggest drug threat in the area 3) The increased production of methamphetamine in the local area, thus increasing the number of methamphetamine laboratories, and smurfing rings 4) Increased outdoor cannabis cultivation, thus increasing violent crimes in local areas to protect growing sites, largely affecting public safety 5) The increased usage and growth of high-potency marijuana used by multiple sectors like DTO’s, criminal groups, and independent dealers, exploiting California’s state medical marijuana laws. According to the National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS), the increased production and use of methamphetamine is explicitly seen, and “29 of the 41 law enforcement report that meth is still highly or moderately available in their local area (NDTS, 2011). Northern California HIDTA officials sized more than 806 kilograms of ice methamphetamine in 2010, exemplifying the significant increase from the sized 96 kilograms in 2009 (HIDTA, 2011). The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs identifies methamphetamine as the number one substance abused by patients throughout 2006-2010 (SUD, 2011). The increasing number of cannabis users and growers is also significantly large in California. According to the Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP), California is one of the most significant outdoor cannabis cultivation areas in the United States, and is one of the seven states that is responsible for the growth of 90% of the outdoor cannabis production in the U.S.A. (DCE/SP, 2014). The increased production of cannabis and methamphetamine greatly affects public safety and the ample production of these illicit drugs induce cultivation-related violence over protection of growth sites and the accessibility to public land.

In efforts to reduce the ample supply of drugs (prescription and illicit), the National Take-Back Initiative aims to provide a safe, convenient disposable sites. To implement this initiative, the DEA San Francisco Division provided 96 safe disposable sites throughout the northern California, and collected over 11,648.25 pounds of “ potentially dangerous, expired, unused, unwanted drugs, like phentermine, benzodiazepines, opioid pain relievers (hydrocodone and oxycodone products).” (HIDT, 2011). Many other programs have also been implemented by individual counties to address drug abuse issues, prevention methods, and treatment plans, however drugs, like methamphetamine, and cannabis, continue to be in copious supple to the people of California.

There are numerous bills regarding drug abuse prevention and treatment. One of them is “the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (H.R. 5587)”, passed in 2014, which authorizes grants to fight prescription drug abuse as well as helps assist individuals who are receiving addiction treatment (congress.gov). Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) S.524/H.R.953 is another example of bill which was passed in congress in 2015. This bill allows an inclusive balanced and coordinated strategy with improved grant programs. This program helps to increase prevention and education as well as to promote recovery and treatment. (CDACA, n.d.)

Even with the implementation of preventative legislations, and the growth of treatment services in California, statistics indicate the rising drug usage, production and supply. Research studies indicate that there needs to be a focus on providing education for young students and families to truly understand the mental and pathological effects of drug abuse. Providing preventative education, as a part of school curriculum will educate young, at-risk students about the risks and the negative consciousness of drug abuse. This education should also be provided to parents, community members, guardians, and caretakers who have greater influence on young teens/adults. Drug abuse and its consequences are a community issue and can be reduced through the increased community efforts to educate its members.

Community support, organizations, institutions and stakeholders like parent groups, youth organizations, peer-support services, churches and other faith-based groups, service organizations, local businesses, criminal justice systems, public health agencies, police force, educational institutions, etc. have their roles to make this program more effective ((RHIhub, 2016). The contras to implementing an education program will be some additional administration and program costs due to this new statute but is insignificant compared to the benefits provided. Some resistance will be prevalent from political organizations, that are against the big government, some concerned citizens, who are skeptical of such programs, may be opposed due to possible increase in taxes to raise funding for such program, and as the major funding contributors, the liquor and tobacco sales for this program, business owners may also likely be against the bill. These oppositions have to be addressed and the beneficial gains from the program must be emphasized.

In order to begin the construction and implementation of a comprehensive program, I would like to arrange a meeting with you and some fellow colleagues. I will be getting in contact with your office in the next several days and am attending your next town hall. I hope to speak to you at town hall or arrange a meeting time.

Thank you very much for your time, and support in this vital problem that plagues our community. I hope to speak to you soon.

Sincerely,

s, RN

References:

Alcohol-Drug. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2016, from

http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/adp/Pages/default.aspx

CADCA, Building drug-free communities (n.d.). Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). Retrieved from http://www.cadca.org/comprehensive-addiction-and-recovery-act-cara

Congress.gov (n.d). S.2839 - Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2014. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/2839

DEA / Cannabis Eradication. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from

http://www.dea.gov/ops/cannabis.shtml

Division of Communicable Disease Control. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2016, from

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/dcdc/pages/default.aspx

Healthy People 2020. (2014). Substance Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/substance-abuse

Individuals. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from

http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/individuals/Pages/SUD-Services.aspx

National Take-Back Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from

http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/

RHIhub. (2016). Engaging Stakeholders and Creating Coalitions. Retrieved from https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/community-health/mental-health/2/engaging-stakeholders

Shocking Statistics on the Cost of Substance Abuse. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2016, from

https://www.duffysrehab.com/blog/substance-abuse-treatment-costs-you-and-the-nation

U.S. Department of Justice. (n.d.). An OJP Issues & Practices Report. Promising Strategies to Reduce Substance Abuse. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojp/183152.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice. (2011). Northern California High Intenstiy Drug Trafficking Area. Retrived from https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/dmas/Northern_CA_DMA-2011(U).pdf