News & Events
Much of our work involves measuring the difference others make. Getting involved and making our own difference is also an important part of who we are as individuals and as an organization.
The Sacramento County Coalition for Youth presents the Sacramento County Prevention Summit: bringing together educators, parents, prevention & treatment providers, community agencies, medical professionals, law enforcement and community members to educate and build capacity around youth substance use prevention. The summit will feature keynotes and workshops from state and national experts, perspectives from local leaders and educational opportunities focused on recreational marijuana normalization, current trends in youth substance use and strategies designed to limit youth access in our community.
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Rocky Mountain Poison Center is issuing a warning for parents following a recent cluster of adolescents overdosing on opioids.
“One of the things we have noticed recently is we have gotten a fair number of calls to our poison center for young people, adolescents, who have been experimenting with vaping fentanyl,” Dr. Christopher Hoyte said.
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The MPI most recently formed a partnership with local doctors and pharmacies to provide education to the community on potential drug interactions between marijuana and medications (both prescribed and over the counter). Seventeen local pharmacies are participating in the consumer protections project and are distributing informational resources to patients receiving prescriptions. Preliminary data from the program shows high levels of interest from patients to receive information on potential adverse effects.
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However, newly published data shows Ontario is still seeing nine times more ER visits for cannabis poisonings in young children. A third of those cases required further hospitalization, and in 4% of those cases, children were admitted to the ICU.
"The industry has evolved to have much stronger, more potent products and these edible products are no exception," said Dr. Sam Wang, a pediatric ER physician at Children's Hospital Colorado. "Kids can get into a lot of THC in these products, and so they can have more profound symptoms, including sedation, coma. We've seen kids with low oxygen because their breathing is low."
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California voters passed Proposition 64, The Adult Use of Marijuana Act, on November 4, 2016, legalizing the adult use and possession of marijuana. Retail sales of marijuana products began in 2018. The San Diego County Marijuana Prevention Initiative (MPI) published an initial report in early 2016 and a subsequent report in 2020. Previous reports included local marijuana-related trends to assess baseline data and identify important public health issues. This new report presents trends and public health data related to youth marijuana use and documents changes observed following legalization.
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