By Gabrielle Biederman
SACRAMENTO, CA- Founder and Director of Smart Justice California Anne Irwin this week lauded Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of Senate Bill 1320 that author Senator Aisha Wahab claims will reduce deaths caused by opioid overdose by expanding treatment.
Irwin explains in her statement that each year “countless people across the state and country lose their lives to the opioid overdose epidemic,” adding the epidemic of overdoses is “largely driven by fentanyl.”
In 2022, Allison Valentine and Molly Brassil from the Aurrera Health Group wrote that “the death rate from fentanyl increased 10-fold from 2015 to 2019.”
Irwin said SB 1320 is important legislation because currently “only one in 10 Californians with a substance use disorder receives treatment.”
But SB 1320 was created by Sen. Wahab (D-Fremont) in order to “lower barriers to effective, evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders.”
The measure is also part of the Working Together for a Safer California Plan that was developed by the Senate to ensure “health plans and insurers establish a process to reimburse providers for mental health and substance use disorder treatments that are integrated with primary care.”
Based on this, Irwin said the approval of SB 1320 by the governor will break “down dangerous barriers that make it difficult for people to access life-saving addiction treatment when they need it most,” adding it will help “Californians get the addiction treatment and medical care they deserve in an affordable, timely manner.”
At the end of her statement, Irwin applauded “Gov. Newsom and Senator Aisha Wahab for taking decisive, evidence-based action to save lives and improve community safety.”
