To: Board of Supervisors
From: Grant Colfax, Health Services Director
Report Title: International Overdose Awareness Day - August 31, 2026
Recommendation: Recommendation of the County Administrator
RECOMMENDATIONS:
ACCEPT recommendation to recognize August 31, 2026, as International Overdose Awareness Day in Contra Costa County; and ADOPT a resolution in recognition to the ongoing prevention efforts led by the Contra Costa County Medication Education and Disposal Safety (MEDS) Coalition, East County MEDS Coalition, National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse (NCAPDA), Behavioral Health and Health Department to raise overdose awareness and promote well-being among Contra Costa residents.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact for this action.
BACKGROUND:
Once a year, Behavioral Health and its partners acknowledge International Overdose Awareness Day in Contra Costa, to highlight prescription drug safety prevention efforts to increase the safety and well-being of Contra Costa residents.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Failure to adopt this resolution would result in a missed opportunity to elevate awareness, reduce the stigma surrounding substance use disorder and drug-related deaths and recognize ongoing prevention, education, harm reduction, and naloxone access efforts led by the Contra Costa County MEDS Coalition, the East County MEDS Coalition, NCAPDA, Behavioral Health, and the Health Department.
The Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County, California
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IN THE MATTER OF Recognizing August 31, 2026, as International Overdose Awareness Day in Contra Costa County
WHEREAS, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors does affirm and acknowledge the harm and hardship caused by drug overdose; and
WHEREAS, we recognize that the purpose of International Overdose Awareness Day is to remember loved ones lost to overdose, support those they left behind, and to end the stigma surrounding substance use disorder (SUD) and drug-related deaths, and
WHEREAS, in 2023, per the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, there were 447,583 opioid prescriptions dispensed in Contra Costa County, an age-adjusted rate of 313.9 per 1,000 residents, higher than the statewide rate of 296.0, and
WHEREAS, in 2024, a total of 17,083 emergency department visits related to any opioid overdose occurred in California, 332 of which occurred among Contra Costa County residents, along with 99 opioid-related hospitalizations in the county, and
WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 79,384 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in 2024, including 54,045 deaths involving opioids; and per the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, 5,462 Californians lost their lives to opioid-related overdose that same year, including 123 Contra Costa County residents; and
WHEREAS, the age-adjusted drug overdose death rate in the United States decreased by 26.2 percent from 2023 to 2024, the largest annual decline in a decade, progress that reflects sustained prevention, education, treatment, harm reduction, and naloxone access efforts that must be continued, and
WHEREAS, we resolve to play our part in reducing the toll of overdose in our community, which continues to claim the lives of Contra Costa County community members every year and forever affects those who loved and cared about them, and
WHEREAS, we affirm that the people affected by overdoses are our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters, family members, and loved ones, and are deserving of our love, compassion, support, and remembrance.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County, along with the Contra Costa County Medication Education and Disposal Safety (MEDS) Coalition, the East County MEDS Coalition, and the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse (NCAPDA), Behavioral Health, Health Department and other community members, does hereby proclaims August 31st, 2026, as the 25th International Overdose Awareness Day “25 Years On. Still Needed.”