• The city of Santa Maria is currently accepting applications for the Block Grants Advisory Committee, Board of Appeals, Landmark Committee, Measure U2012 Citizens’ Oversight Committee Recreation and Parks Commission, Santa Barbara County Library Advisory Committee and Santa Maria Community Television Board until sufficient applications have been received and the vacancies may be filled.
Applications may be completed and submitted online at cityofsantamaria.org/city-government/departments/boards-commissions or in person at the office of the city clerk, Santa Maria City Hall, 110 E. Cook St., room 3. For more information, call 925-0951, Ext. 2305.
• On July 26, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) celebrated the passage of her Safe Treatments and Opportunities to Prevent (STOP) Pain Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 22 as part of the larger Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act”a law that takes first steps to address the nation’s opioid epidemic.
The STOP Pain Act will help prevent opioid addiction by targeting additional research on efforts to address the root causes of pain and develop alternative treatments for those who need pain relief.
“Opioid abuse and overdose has become a tragic epidemic in our country,” Capps said in a statement. “And many of the affected individuals are dangerously addicted to legal prescription pain medication even if prescribed for a legitimate medical need. The STOP Pain Act provision of the opioid bill helps us get in front of the problem by directing more resources to our experts in the scientific community. If leading scientists and researchers at National Institutes of Health (NIH) are able to spend more time understanding the causes of chronic pain, we will be closer to finding effective, less habit-forming ways of treating the ailment, and stopping opioid abuse before it starts.”
Specifically, the STOP Pain Act would direct the NIH to intensify and coordinate research regarding the understanding of pain, therapies for chronic pain, and alternatives to opioids for pain management. It also instructs NIH to prioritize recommendations made by the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee in establishing its research priorities. This committee was established in the National Pain Care Policy Act, a Capps-authored law that was included in the Affordable Care Act.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act will improve access to opioid addiction treatment, allow alternative dispensing of prescribed opioid medication, and develop a system to review, modify, and update best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication. The law includes another legislative initiative co-authored by Capps to streamline licensure requirements for military medics who want to apply that training as an emergency medical technician (EMT) in the civilian sector. As first responders, EMTs are often the first on the scene when there is an opioid overdose.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2016.