Here’s your daily briefing…
FEATURE: Trinity County residents are gearing up for California’s marijuana proposition to pass. If voters do vote “yes” on Proposition 64, it’s uncertain how the legalization of marijuana will affect local communities. The California Report’s, Sam Harnett, looked into the question by traveling to Trinity County where an unlikely alliance is being formed between pot growers, loggers and environmentalists.
Bills, bills, bills: Governor Jerry Brown signed more than 70 bills yesterday. According to Capital Public Radio reporter Ja’Nel Johnson the bills covered a wide range of issues including: allowing those with life threatening diseases to seek clinical drugs, starting a new statewide opioid database, and moving forward with requiring the state to create recommendations for a K-12 computer science curriculum.
Keeping track of opioid patients: Looking further into the latest opioid-related bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown yesterday, the bill would require doctors consult a database before writing prescriptions for opioids and other often abused drugs. The Associated Press reports the bill seeks to discourage “doctor shopping” – a practice where a patient moves from doctor to doctor to get multiple drug prescriptions. According to the report, more than 165,000 people died in the U.S. from opioid overdoses from 1999 – 2014. It’s an issue that’s no stranger to the North State, which saw some of the worst opioid abuse rates in California between 2006-2013.
Encouraging young voters: Yesterday was National Voter Registration Day – which prompted many events throughout California that invigorated young people to register to vote. According to a report from Capital Public Radio, California has seen growth in millennial registrants over the last few years, but the registration rate for the group is still lower than others at 54 percent. October 24th is the last day to register to vote in California for the November election.
Where’s Loretta Sanchez? The congresswoman said she’s busy on the campaign trail. According to Capital Public Radio, Sanchez has missed more votes during the first three weeks in September than any other member running for a different office. Sanchez said her constituents don’t mind and want her on the trail campaigning.