California Youth Opioid Response (YOR California) has released a Request for Applications (RFA) for projects that strengthen capacity and access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services, as well as access points to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT).

During an ABC 10 Sacramento and Company segment, Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Division Chief of the Substance Use Disorder Compliance Division, Marlies Perez, discussed opioid use disorder, medication assisted treatment (MAT), and DHCS efforts.

DHCS funded the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to provide training services and technical assistance (TA) across the State of California.

The Center for Care Innovation’s (CCI’s) Addiction Treatment Starts Here (ATSH) program includes three learning collaboratives designed to increase access to medications for addiction treatment (MAT).

Over the course of 17 months (February 2018 – July 2020), accelerated training and technical assistance for health care providers will provide the foundation necessary to enhance and increase access to 24/7 treatment.

The Expanding Access to MAT in County Criminal Justice Settings Learning Collaborative is funded by the SOR grant and administered by Health Management Associates (HMA).

The Naloxone Distribution Project (NDP) aims to reduce opioid overdose deaths through the provision of free naloxone, in its nasal spray formulation.

My examination of hundreds of Orange County coroner records finds an alarming spike in fentanyl deaths. But for the first time ever, it also shows a dip in overall accidental opioid overdoses. — David Whiting, Orange County Register

Purdue Pharma and the family that owns it have reached a $270 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma over claims its products drove the opioid crisis, according to the Wall Street Journal. — Zack Budryk, The Hill

A staggering 80 percent of the 18,000 bookings into San Francisco county jail last year involved people (some double-booked) with a history of drug or alcohol abuse, and Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill to help those people shake those problems. — Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle

If you want to know what it means for something to grow exponentially, consider the death toll of fentanyl. — Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times

One of the most popular and effective treatments used to fight the U.S. opioid epidemic is about to get much cheaper. — Ari Altstedter, Bloomberg

Medicines proven to treat opioid addiction remain vastly underused in the U.S., the nation’s top medical advisers said Wednesday. — Matthew Perrone, Associated Press

A Massachusetts woman recovering from heroin addiction sued the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Friday over its policy prohibiting methadone treatment, which she wants to continue when she starts a yearlong sentence next month. — Abby Goodnough, New York Times

Doctors are less likely to write first-time opioid prescriptions to patients than they were nearly seven years ago, a recent study suggests. — Laura Santhanam, PBS NewsHour

America's big drugmakers and pharmacy chains are scrambling to respond to hundreds of lawsuits tied to the deadly opioid epidemic. Billions of dollars are at stake if the companies are found liable for fueling the crisis. — Brian Mann, National Public Radio

In May 2016, a group of national health experts issued an urgent plea in a private letter to high-level officials in the Obama administration. — Scott Higham et al., Washington Post

A former heroin user who is now an addiction counselor in suburban Chicago has created a smartphone app that aims to prevent drug overdoses. — Associated Press