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CMA Joins Governor Newsom in Prop 1 Campaign for Mental Health

The California Medical Association (CMA) is proud to announce its support for Proposition 1, which will appear on the March 2024 ballot and aims to expand mental health and addiction services for Californians, in part by securing funding for the training and education of more mental health professionals. CMA—represented by Executive Committee member Jack Chou, M.D.—today joined Governor Gavin Newsom, Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, along with a coalition of health organizations and community groups in Los Angeles for a press conference in support of Prop. 1. "As a ...

Santa Clara County to Expand Substance Use Treatment, Distribute Naloxone with Opiod Settlement Money

With opioid overdoses rising, Santa Clara County is expanding substance abuse support at schools, distributing more naloxone and fentanyl testing strips and boosting youth inpatient treatment using money from a settlement with opioid distributors. Students hold boxes of Narcan at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif., on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) In 2014, Santa Clara County became the first jurisdiction to file a lawsuit against major opioid manufacturers for their roles in creating a nationwide opioid epidemic. In July 2021, opioid manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and three ...

Annual Call for CMA Award Applications and Nominations

The California Medical Association (CMA) is seeking nominations for its annual awards. These awards are presented in conjunction with the annual meeting of the House of Delegates in October. Each award recognizes special contributions to an aspect of CMA membership and/or the practice of medicine. The deadline for all submissions is Friday, June 30, 2023. COMPASSIONATE SERVICE AWARD This award best illustrates the association’s commitment to community and charity care. Nomination eligibility: Active physicians or physician organizations who have demonstrated a history of providing charity or donated care to communities within the state of ...

DEA publishes guidance on new training requirements for prescribers of controlled substances

On March 28, 2023, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released recommendations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued specific guidance on how practitioners can meet the new training requirements for DEA-registered prescribers of controlled substances.  The new law requires all prescribers of schedule II – V controlled substances to meet a one-time eight-hour training requirement on identifying, treating, and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders. Many California-licensed physicians may have already met the new DEA requirements because California requires similar education. While the California Medical Association (CMA) did not ...

Gov. Newsom proposal would add billions for mental health treatment beds

In a major legislative proposal to combat the state’s growing homelessness crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday an effort to push billions of dollars toward building a vast network of treatment beds to help California’s mentally ill and drug-addicted residents find care. Through a bond measure that could reach up to $5 billion, the governor hopes to build at minimum 6,000 new mental health beds across the state. Funding would also come through the diversion of over $1 billion annually from a pool of money created by a proposition passed ...