Opioid Resource Center

California is faced with a serious health care dilemma: how to prescribe controlled substances safely and effectively to relieve pain, while simultaneously reducing the risk of prescription medication misuse, addiction, and overdose. CMA/RCMA have developed resources that put forth key considerations and recommendations on how to achieve a balance.

• Inland Empire Opioid Crises Coalition
• Riverside County Overdose Dashboard

Opioid Resources

White Papers & Guidelines

• NEW! Medical Board Publishes New Guidelines on Prescribing Opioids for Pain
• ALERT! CDPH warns Physicians that Xylazine is Showing Up in the Nation’s Street Drug Supply
• CDPH Substance and Addiction Prevention Branch - Xylazine
• Congress Eliminates Need for Waiver to Treat Opioid Use Disorder
• HHS Expands Access to Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder
• CMS Opioid Toolkit: Strategies for Pain Management and Reducing Opioid Use Disorder
• FAQs: Provision of Methadone and Buprenorphine for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in the COVID-19 Emergency
• New DEA Buprenorphine Guidance
• AB2760 - Naloxone Prescription Requirements 
• 2019 Medicare Part D Prescription Opioid Policies
• CDPH AB 1048 Announcement: AB 1048 deletes provisions requiring health facilities to perform pain assessments concurrently with the collection of vital signs and provides pharmacists with partial fill authority, as specified.
• The New CDC Opioid-Prescribing Guidelines
• CDC Pocket Guide: Tapering Opioids for Chronic Pain
• CMA White Paper: Prescribing Opioids: Care Amid Controversy
• CEP America White Paper: Approaches to Acute and Chronic Pain and Opiod Use

Training & CME Programs

• CMA Free Member Webinar: Cannabis in Medicine: A Review of Policy and Scientific Evidence
• Providers' Clinical Support System for Opiod Therapies -PCSS-O makes available at no cost CME programs on the safe and effective use of opioids for treatment of chronic pain and safe and effective treatment of opioid use disorder.
• CA Medical Board: Pain Management & End-of-Life Classes
• AMA CME Courses & Resources

​CMA Health Law Library Resources

• Controlled Substances: Dispensing (#3200)
• CMA On-Call document #3212: California’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program: The Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES)

Helpful Resources

• Riverside County Opioid Overdoes Fatality Statistics - January - August 2020 (Preliminary Data)
• How to Talk to Your Patients About Safe Prescribing
• NORCAL Special Report: Increasing Patient Safety with Opioids
• Riverside County Opioids Snapshot 2018-2019
• SafeRx Inland Empire Twitter
• Riverside University Health System Substance Abuse Support Line (800) 499-3008
• MAT: Overcoming Objections
• Confronting a Crisis: An Open Letter to America’s Physicians On the Opioid Epidemic - AMA President

Coalitions

• Inland Empire Opioid Crises Coalition
• Los Angeles County Safe Med LA Toolkit: Safe Pain Medicine Prescribing in Medical Practice
• East Bay Safe Prescribing Coalition
• San Diego Safe Prescribing: San Diego Safe Prescribing Toolkit