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Briefing

SB 367 Campus Opioid Safety Act Effective January 1, 2023

March 01, 2023

Beginning on January 1, 2023, public colleges are required to include information about opioid overdoses and where to find opioid reversal medication to students as part of their campus orientations. Furthermore, the bill also requires each campus health center apply for dosages of federally approved opioid overdose reversal medication.

Campus Orientation Requirements

SB 367 requires that each community college district, California State Universities, and Universities of California include educational and preventative information provided by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) regarding opioid overdose and the location of opioid overdose reversal medication to students as part of their campus orientations. Colleges will need to collaborate with campus-based and community-based recovery advocacy organizations as well to provide the required information.

CDPH has created a page on their website to guide public colleges on following the Campus Opioid Safety Act: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/sapb/Pages/Campus-Opioid-Safety-Act.aspx

Opioid Reversal Medication Distribution

The act also requires that each campus health center located on a campus to (1) apply to use the CDPH statewide standing order for naloxone (standing order) to distribute dosages and (2) participate in the Department of Health Care Services’ (DCHS) Naloxone Distribution Project (NDP) to obtain a federally approved opioid overdose reversal medication for free.

Once the campus is approved to use the statewide standing order and to participate in the NDP, the campus health center must distribute the opioid overdose reversal medication according with the terms and conditions in the NDP.

However, colleges can purchase opioid reversal medication in lieu of obtaining it for free. A college campus wishing to purchase the medication must create a naloxone standing order or use the CDPH Naloxone standing order as a template, that must be signed by a MD or pharmacist and purchase naloxone at their local pharmacy or through organizations where it can be purchased in bulk.

For questions regarding this briefing, please contact your Keenan Account Manager.

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