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Roughly 62,000 pounds of fentanyl smuggled into California was confiscated by authorities in 2023. The total amount of the potent synthetic opioid seized last year “is enough to potentially kill the global population nearly twice over,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Tuesday. In 2023, the California National Guard supported other law enforcement agencies in counter-drug operations across the state, seizing a record 62,000 pounds of fentanyl at ports of entry, according to a news release from Newsom’s office. (Solis, 2/27)

San Francisco has collected and destroyed 140,000 pounds of unused pills and other medications — equivalent to the weight of 10 cable cars — as part of a program urging residents to discard unused drugs so they don’t contaminate landfills and water sources, or fall into the wrong hands, city officials said Tuesday. The drugs were collected from 2017 to 2022 under the Safe Medicine Disposal Program, which was created by a 2015 ordinance spearheaded by then-Supervisor London Breed. (Ho, 2/27)

Health providers and addiction experts warn the funding structure is unstable for a California initiative that steers patients with substance use disorder into long-term treatment after they are discharged from emergency rooms, which has already led some critical employees to leave their jobs. Supporters of CA Bridge’s behavioral health navigator program, which started in 2022, say its reliance on one-time money makes it hard for hospitals to retain navigators amid a growing drug crisis. (Sánchez, 2/27)

Even with teen opioid overdose deaths soaring, a new study finds most pediatricians aren't prepared to treat young patients struggling with addiction. The nationwide survey was conducted by researchers at Mass General for Children and Yale School of Medicine. Of those pediatricians surveyed, 48% said they felt prepared to counsel teen patients struggling with opioid use. That's despite the fact nearly all of those surveyed believe it's their responsibility to do so. And, even though 24% said they'd diagnosed Opioid Use Disorder in a young patient, just 5% said they had prescribed any medication considered the standard of care for the disorder. (Brown, 2/27)

A new mobile harm reduction service is bringing overdose prevention to the streets of Arapahoe County to help people who use opioids and other drugs. The Arapahoe County Public Health department says it’s using an equity-focused approach on its new harm reduction van to help reduce the toll of the opioid epidemic on the community. (Flowers, 2/28)

One by one, the companies behind Zoloft, Prozac, and Paxil soured on psychiatry. It was the early 2000s, and as America warmed to the sounds of Sisqó and Shakira, the world’s largest pharmaceutical firms were running out of ideas to treat mental illness. Their blockbuster treatments for depression and schizophrenia had reshaped society and made billions of dollars in the process, but the old cash cows were soon to go generic. (Garde, 2/28)