Sen. Dodd to address opioid crisis in town hall

The town hall follows a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimated that 10,000 Californians died of drug overdoses over a one-year period.|

AMELIA RICHARDSON

ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

April 19, 2022

Featured speakers

Senator Bill Dodd

Attorney General Rob Bonta

Mona Leonardi, co-founder of the Napa-based fentanyl awareness nonprofit named for her son, Michael Leonardi, who died from fentanyl poisoning

Dr. Mario San Bartolome, medical director of Social Determinants of Health Center for Innovation and board member of the California Society of Addiction Medicine

Dr. Tauheed Zaman, addiction psychiatrist at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center and assistant professor of psychiatry at University of California San Francisco

North Bay Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, is set to host a virtual town hall later this month to address the surging opioid and fentanyl crisis in the state.

The event, set for 6 p.m. April 26, will feature California Attorney General Rob Bonta along with a panel of healthcare experts and community leaders.

The town hall follows a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimated that more than 100,000 Americans, including 10,000 Californians, died of drug overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin, was responsible for many of those deaths.

In Petaluma, the drug is blamed for dozens of deaths, including two high school students in the past two years.

The town hall will be streamed live online and broadcast on KSVY Sonoma. Speakers will take questions via email and phone.