SAPC Issues/Actions

COVID-19 Update:

Post -Surge Planning: The role of Public Health and its community partners post-surge, following the decline of COVID daily hospitalizations below 2,500 for 7 consecutive days, continues to focus on ensuring an equitable distribution of the resources and opportunities needed to prevent COVID-19 transmission and protect residents and workers from devastating consequences. Public Health will continue to support an equity focused response and will organize post surge actions to:

• protect the medically vulnerable,
• protect essential workers,
• protect hospitals and health system functioning, and
• support a subset of vital institutions such as those that provide government services, schools, childcare, and emergency response.

Prevention Efforts in Schools: An important strategy for limiting COVID-19 transmission has been continued routine and/or response testing. Last month, Public Health began distributing nearly one million at-home tests to public, charter, and independent/private schools in areas of high need through partnerships with the LA County Office of Education. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also approved an additional 615,000 professional rapid tests for LA County schools through the White House rapid test kit program, and the state is delivering over 170,000 at-home test kits to be distributed to schools for staff testing need.

County to approve Cannabis Framework/100 licenses: On February 8th Supervisors Solis and Mitchell motioned to the County Board to implement an Equitable Commercial Cannabis Regulatory Framework.
The motion aims to approve the implementation of an equitable commercial cannabis regulatory framework as provided in the 2021 report by the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs’ Office of Cannabis Management and instruct the Director of DCBA and other County agencies to start the development and implementation of a cannabis regulatory framework.

A Delta-8 Health Advisory has been issued by Dr. Muntu Davis, Health Officer of the LAC Department of Public Health. Scientists and public health experts are alarmed about the rising use of Delta-8 THC and are concerned about its harmful health consequences, which can include slurred speech, increased heart rate progressing to slowed heart rate, low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, sedation, and coma. Delta 8-THC products have not been evaluated or approved by the FDA for safe use and may be marketed in ways that put the public health at risk and should be especially kept out of reach of children and pets. Please review the health advisory for more information. http://ph.lacounty.gov/sapc/public/delta-8-thc.htm.

State/Federal News:

BH Continuum Infrastructure RFA-The State Dept. of Health Care Services released the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program RFA for Round 3, which will fund launch-ready facilities in California. There will be $585M available to counties, tribes, non-profits, cities, and private organizations to apply. The goal is to increase infrastructure in CA for BH services. This includes the full continuum for BH services. For more information on this, see the DHCS website. Search website for BHCIP and it will bring up more information. https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/MH/Pages/BHCIP-Home.aspx

Update on Elevate Youth California program, Prop.64 funds. DHCS planned to announce the innovation track sub-recipients for round 3 in February. It will be releasing another RFA (Round 4) for the Capacity Building Tract for emerging CBOs that serve youth. Round 4 will be for smaller award amounts. https://elevateyouthca.org/

NIDA's Monitoring the Future 2021 results: Substance use among teens -- including alcohol, marijuana, vaping, and illicit drugs -- dropped significantly in 2021, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse's latest Monitoring the Future survey, published last December.

Event/Training Calendar:

Thursday, March 10th, 1:30-3:30 pm., SAPC Prevention Quarterly Provider Meeting. Join us to exchange agency and coalition updates and hear highlights of SAPC Prevention Special Projects such as Our SPOT, Wellbeing Centers, and the CORE Center.

March 21-27th - National Alcohol and Drugs Facts Week, Join NIDA for NDAFW and help share facts about drugs, alcohol, and addiction in your community. Sign up for emails from NDAFW for the latest news, planning tips, and free resources to support your planned NDAFW efforts. https://teens.drugabuse.gov/national-drug-alcohol-facts-week