California Today: The Opioid Crisis in Humboldt County

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/us/california-today-eureka-humboldt-heroin.html

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California’s North Coast is known for its natural beauty and magnificent redwoods, but Eureka, the Humboldt County seat, is increasingly known for something else: the prevalence of dirty needles littering parks and public areas, crude remains of a heroin scourge that is afflicting the region.

A sharp rise in heroin use has created intense fear among community members and public health officials in Humboldt County, even while California as a whole has one of the lowest overall opioid-related death rates in the country. In Humboldt County, opioid-related overdose rates are five times higher than in the rest of the state. Like rural areas around the country, the North Coast lacks sufficient treatment options to deal with opioid addiction.

Today, it is increasingly difficult to find community members in Eureka who have not been touched by a surge of heroin use in the region. People have either lost loved ones, watched neighbors shrink into their addictions or come across the wave of needle litter left behind on sidewalks and in parks.

Drug use in Humboldt County has many layers. Meth has been a scourge in rural California for many years, and because it is often shot intravenously, the transition to heroin has been too easy for many. Eureka’s large homeless population has been especially vulnerable to addiction in recent years.

Discarded syringes have become a significant concern for the town’s residents, who worry that the needles pose a threat to children and tourists.

Those syringes are a symptom of a broader, systemic issue.

Steve Shockley, a Eureka resident who is homeless, said he “converted” to using heroin a few years ago after years of drug abuse. Like many other longtime intravenous drug users in the area, he now prefers heroin to meth, though he uses them both regularly.

Stacy Cobine, who said she worked as a nurse’s aide for many years, says that many drug users are getting abscesses from syringes; she said she had taught younger drug users proper needle technique to avoid infections and other complications.

“You would not believe the dirty using practices I’ve seen,” she said. “I just cringe thinking about it. I’ve had to teach a couple of my girlfriends’ kids how to do it right, help them do it, because it just made me so sad.”

Read the full story here.

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• A giant labor strike across the University of California system forced medical centers to reschedule thousands of surgeries and appointments. Some campuses also canceled classes. [Los Angeles Times]

• The Trump administration is cracking down on immigrants who illegally cross the Southwest border, threatening jail time and separating children from their parents. [The New York Times]

• What came out of the state Republican convention over the weekend? Many had hoped the party would unite behind one candidate, but John Cox earned just 55 percent of the vote. [KPCC]

• Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader, used to be known around Bakersfield for selling sandwiches and cars before he went into politics. Here’s a look at his unlikely rise, and how he could become speaker of the House. [Associated Press]

• A bill limiting opioid prescriptions for minors cleared the State Legislature on Monday. [The Sacramento Bee]

• He bought a roll of Mentos at an Orange County gas station. Then an off-duty police officer pulled a gun on him. [The New York Times]

• Electric cars are making inroads in California, which leads the nation in sales. But will demand grow fast enough for the state to meet its 2030 goal? [San Francisco Chronicle]

• Drive.ai, a Silicon Valley start-up, said it would start a self-driving service in Texas. It’s the first new rollout of autonomous cars in the U.S. since a self-driving Uber killed a pedestrian in March. [The New York Times]

• Senator Kamala Harris will skip the U.C. Berkeley commencement in support of striking workers. [The Los Angeles Times]

• Two California standard-setters won James Beard awards for hospitality: Zuni Café in San Francisco for Outstanding Service, and Caroline Styne, who runs Lucques, A.O.C. and other Los Angeles-area restaurants, for Outstanding Restaurateur. [The New York Times]

• Los Angeles saw a record number of tourists last year, matching a statewide increase. Visitors added $22.7 billion to the county’s economy, countering fears of a slowdown. [The Los Angeles Times]

• The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is partnering with Arizona State University to establish a three-year program to develop a new generation of diverse curators, directors and other museum professionals. [The New York Times]

Is it illegal to pick a California poppy?

Although there is no law protecting the flower, the state penal code requires written landowner permission to remove and sell plant material.

The golden flowers can be seen dotting hillsides along highways and are “an unmatched symbol of the Golden State, perhaps viewed as a floral representation of the ‘fields of gold’ sought during the Gold Rush,” according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The plant was given its Latin name, Eschscholzia californica, by the French-born naturalist Adelbert von Chamisso, who visited the Bay Area in the early 19th century and studied its indigenous plants and animals. Mr. Chamisso returned to Europe, but the California State Floral Society chose the Eschscholzia californica as the state flower in 1890.

In 1996, Gov. Pete Wilson declared May 13 to 18 as Poppy Week; in 2010, April 6 was designated California Poppy Day. Public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to conduct activities in honor of the state flower, including instruction on native plants and emphasizing conservation of natural resources.

Where have you seen the California poppy? Want to submit a photo for possible publication? You can do it here.

Tell us when and where you’ve seen the flowers, and we may feature your response next week. Please include your name, age and where you live.

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California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.