For Immediate Release: August 29, 2022

Media Contact: Michelle.Sherwood@sen.ca.gov

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) released the following statement after her bill, SB 367—the Campus Opioid Safety Act was signed by Governor Newsom. SB 367 requires that California colleges use existing programs to distribute naloxone and provide training in campus orientation materials:

“Too many families are losing loved ones to the disease of opioid addiction-children, siblings, parents and friends. We must take real action now to prevent these deaths and save lives. The Campus Opioid Safety Act will do just that. Governor Newsom’s signature on SB 367 shows his dedication and compassion. It empowers students to prevent anymore needless deaths and ensures that maybe one less parent receives a terrible phone call that will change their lives forever.”

“As long as we educate individuals on overdose; equip them with the tools to save lives, and execute the necessary emergency procedures, overdose fatalities are preventable tragedies,” says Pete Nielsen, President and CEO of the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP). “As a parent and as a professional with years in the SUD space, it is my hope that the measures enacted by this bill act as a critical line of defense for all parents so they may never experience the tragedy of losing a child to overdose.”

Among traditional college-aged individuals, opioid related hospitalizations and deaths have risen steadily since 2018, despite the rate of opioid prescriptions continuously declining during the same period. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly 70,000 people have died from opioid drug overdoses nationwide. 5,348 of those deaths were in California—more than any other state.

SB 367 will reduce opioid-related overdose deaths at California public universities by requiring campuses to maintain nasal spray dosages of naloxone (an opioid overdose reversal medication) in campus health centers and providing educational resources on overdose prevention during campus orientation.

About Senator Melissa Hurtado

Senator Melissa Hurtado represents a new generation of Latina leaders as the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate and a product of immigrant parents. Senator Hurtado represents the 14th Senate District and focuses on rural community issues that often go unheard — access to clean air and water, food insecurity and poverty, inequities in environmental policies, agriculture and access to health care. In July 2020, she was appointed to the national Biden Latino Leadership Committee alongside former Labor Secretary and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis – the only two California Latinas on the Committee.

For more information, visit Senator Hurtado’s Website here or find her on Twitter at @Senator_Hurtado

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