Welcome Dr. Lev! MPI is proud to add Dr. Roneet Lev to the San Diego County Marijuana Prevention Initiative Key Leadership team. Roneet Lev, MD FACEP was the first Chief Medical Officer of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, ONDCP. Lev is dually board certified in emergency and addiction medicine, bringing over 25 years of experience treating the frontline cases of addiction. She came to the White House as chief of the emergency department at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego. In 2012, she established and chaired the San Diego Prescription Drug Abuse Medical Task Force. She is Founder and President of IEPC, Independent Emergency Physicians Consortium, an organization providing collaboration to independent emergency departments in California.

In addition to May being Mental Health Monday, this week is National Prevention Week! This is an annual health observance dedicated to increasing public awareness of, and action around, mental health and/or substance use disorders.

According to SAMHSA, the three primary goals of National Prevention Week (NPW) are to:

• Involve communities in raising awareness of substance use and mental health issues and in implementing prevention strategies, and showcasing effectiveness of evidence-based prevention programs
• Foster partnerships and collaborations with federal agencies and national organizations dedicated to improving public health
• Promote and disseminate quality substance use prevention and mental health promotion resources and publications.

NPW is a public education platform that promotes prevention year-round through providing ideas, capacity building, tools, and resources to help individuals and communities make substance use prevention happen every day.

Find out more at https://www.samhsa.gov/prevention-week and follow along with the daily themes on Twitter with the hashtags #NationalPreventionWeek and #PreventionHappensHere.

Need a pick me up for a couple hours? Try a heartwarming movie. Watching a movie can be revitalizing. It allows you to disconnect, relax, and have a good time. Good Housekeeping (linked here) and Collider (linked here) have complied lists of feel-good movies to check out.

Some highlights from the lists are Zootopia, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Space Jam.

Happy Friday! Here are some cool things that happened this week.

• Some Good News aired their Graduation episode, with guests Oprah, Steven Spielberg, Jon Stewart, and Malala. Watch the episode here.

• An inspiring 11-year-old who showed appreciation for her mail carrier received hundreds of letters back from grateful postal workers. Read the heart-warming story here.

• Since many of the traditional festivities of Ramadan have been disrupted, a neighborhood is celebrating by decorating their homes with stunning light displays. See pictures and read about it here.

• A Carlsbad couple wanted to find a festive way to celebrate their loved ones and have been decorating lawns with plastic flamingos. Read about the cheer here.

More good news can be found at the Good News Network, Upworthy, and Good News from Today.

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Earlier in the week, we shared some resources to get connected with your local eLibrary, but did you know you can find podcasts for free online, too? While apps like Spotify and Apple Music make it easy to search for podcasts, all podcasts are available online for free. Plus, by now, there is a podcast on almost every topic. Such genres are news, educational, comedy, true crime, business, sports, celebrities, video games, lifestyle, health, and more. There are podcasts suited to all ages and they provide a great alternative to watching videos or television.

Some podcasts we enjoy are:

• Radiolab - https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab

• Ted (including TED Talks Daily, TED Radio Hour, & WorkLife with Adam Grant)- https://www.ted.com/podcasts

• NPR Podcasts (like How I Built This, Up First, & Hidden Brain) - https://www.npr.org/podcasts/

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