Written by: California Department of Public Health
SACRAMENTO – In an effort to combat the tobacco industry’s latest marketing strategies aimed at getting youth hooked on nicotine, the California Department of Public Health on Tuesday launched a new “Flavors Hook Kids” campaign.
The campaign warns parents and concerned adults about the increasing availability of flavored tobacco products targeted to teens. The campaign also highlights how easy it is for kids to purchase flavored tobacco products online.
“Flavors disguise the harshness of tobacco and make smoking seem harmless, when we know it’s not,” said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith. “Innocent sounding e-cigarette flavors like Cherry Crush and Cotton Candy could lead to a lifetime of nicotine addiction.”
More than 80 percent of youth who have tried tobacco products started with a flavored product – there are more than 15,500 e-cigarette flavors on the market.
Also increasing in popularity among teenagers are new e-cigarette devices called “pod mods.” One in particular, JUUL, looks like a flash drive. It is easily hidden from parents and teachers because of its deceptive design. Each JUUL cartridge contains the same amount of nicotine as an entire pack of traditional cigarettes.
“We encourage parents to talk to their kids about the significant risks of nicotine addiction and tobacco use – which can impact brain development and cause asthma and respiratory disease,” said Dr. Smith. “There’s simply no safe level of tobacco consumption, and it is far too easy for teens to get interested and hooked due to the tobacco industry’s deceptive tactics.”
E-cigarettes are the most common tobacco product used by youth in the U.S. In 2016, 13.6 percent of California high school students reported using tobacco products, and more than half (8.6 percent) reporting using e-cigarettes, including “pod mods.” Research has shown minors can successfully buy e-cigarette products online 94 percent of the time.
Written by: American Society of Addiction Medicine
National Addiction Treatment Week, April 23 through April 29, raises awareness that addiction is a disease, evidence-based treatments are available, and more clinicians need to enter the field of Addiction Medicine in order to treat the nationwide epidemic.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine, or ASAM, hosts the week alongside its partners.
The United States is in the midst of an addiction epidemic. Nearly 20.5 million Americans suffer from a substance use disorder, yet only one in 10 people with a substance use disorder receive treatment.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 64,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2016, and more than 88,000 people die each year from alcohol-related use in the US.
“We must increase patient’s access to evidence-based treatments by decreasing the stigma surrounding the disease and recognizing addiction as the disease it is; while growing a qualified addiction medicine workforce to provide patients a continuum of care,” the organization said in a statement.
Despite the growing epidemic, progress is being made.
Since 2017, the American Board of Preventive Medicine, or ABPM, started offering physicians, who are certified by a Member Board of the American Board of Medical Specialties, the opportunity to become board-certified in Addiction Medicine.
In 2017 more than 1,200 physicians became board-certified in Addiction Medicine through the ABPM.
ASAM collaborated with the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and American Academy of Physician Assistants to train more than 5,000 nurse practitioners and physician assistants to treat opioid use disorder through a waiver qualifying course.
“Raising awareness that addiction is a chronic brain disease, and not a moral failure, and qualifying more clinicians to treat addiction is vital to increasing patients’ access to treatment.” said Kelly Clark, MD, MBA, DFASAM, president of ASAM. “National Addiction Treatment Week supports ASAM’s dedication to increasing access and improving the quality of addiction treatment, and helping physicians treat addiction and save lives.”
Join the association for National Addiction Treatment Week with events focused on research-verified, evidence-based addiction medicine including webinars informing physicians and medical students about the pathways to addiction medicine certification. Help them treat addition and save lives, by getting involved and raising awareness.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – “Sound, Prayer and Move,” a workshop for workshop, will be offered on Saturday, April 21, at the Lower Lake Schoolhouse Museum.
The workshop will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the museum’s second floor.
Facilitated by Manaar Azreik and Christina Hamilton, the workshop will offer a sacred space for healing, with elements of sound healing, music, chanting, dance, and self Breema movements. Breema is a practical approach to self-understanding which harmonizes body, mind, and feelings in a joyful atmosphere.
Please bring your favorite musical instrument (if you have one) and a dish to share for the vegetarian potluck lunch.
The cost is offered by donation.
To RSVP call 707-971-1226 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
SACRAMENTO – California State Treasurer John Chiang has appointed Ruth Holton-Hodson, a three-decade, consumer advocate, as a deputy treasurer.
She will oversee the treasurer’s programs which provide low-cost financing for the construction of much-needed health care and educational infrastructure, such as hospitals, community clinics and private universities.
In this role, she will also advise the treasurer on how CalPERS, the nation’s second largest purchaser of health care, can best deliver high-quality, affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of state and municipal workers.
She will advise CalSavers, the state’s new retirement savings program for private sector workers, with its stakeholder outreach and engagement strategies.
“Ruth is a widely-respected thought leader among both consumer advocates and healthcare policymakers,” said Chiang. “She has spent years assisting me with health and retirement issues. Now, she will employ her expertise in a new area of responsibility as a deputy state treasurer.”
For her part, Holton-Hodson said she is eager to continue helping the treasurer on health care.
“I want to strengthen the safety net and improve access to quality, affordable care,” she said. “They are issues I have worked on much of my career and are close to my heart.”
Holton-Hodson has spent her career as a consumer advocate in government, philanthropic and nonprofit endeavors.
Prior to that, Holton-Hodson served for six years as the deputy for health and consumer policy, when Chiang was state controller.
In the private, nonprofit and philanthropic sector, Holton-Hodson worked as special projects and public policy director for almost 10 years at the California Wellness Foundation. She focused on increasing access to health care in low income communities.
She also was the advocate and then executive director for California Common Cause, where she ran two successful statewide initiative campaigns on campaign finance and ethics reforms.
Holton-Hodson began her public policy career as a lobbyist for the California Children’s Lobby.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from George Washington University and a master’s in educational administration from the University of Chicago.