The lowest point in California is in Death Valley. Mountain in Alaska, rises 20,320 feet above sea level and is Whitney is the highest mountain in the contiguous 48 states. To the east,Ĭalifornia covers 163,707 square miles, making it the third largest of theħ,734 square miles of California are covered by water. In the south, California shares an international border with Mexico. Of California is located 38 miles east of Madera.Ĭalifornia is bordered by Oregon to the north. Longitude / Latitudeĥ60 miles: greatest distance East to West.ġ,040 miles: greatest distance North to South. About 71,000 of those deaths involved fentanyl or other synthetic opioids, a 23 percent increase from the previous year.Click here for a few definitions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year, according to the most recent estimates from the U.S. More than 5,500 Californians have died of opioid-related overdoses since 2020. Supporters of this approach, however, contend the sites will help combat the explosion of opioid-related overdose deaths in California and around the country. Opponents have argued they will not only be ineffective, but exacerbate drug use and illegal activity in the surrounding areas. Law enforcement groups have been lobbying against the bill, arguing that it would fuel the opioid epidemic by sanctioning “drug dens” that exacerbate the illegal activity and crime near the sites. Jerry Brown’s desk in 2018, but he vetoed it. One version of the bill, limited to San Francisco, made it to former Gov. Susan Eggman (D-Stockton), when she was in the Assembly, tried three times since 2016 to pass such legislation. The effort to sanction what are often referred to as supervised consumption or overdose prevention centers has been years in the works in California. “To save lives, I fully support a non-profit moving forward now with New York’s model of overdose prevention programs,” he said.Ī veto by the progressive governor, who in 2018 described himself as “very, very open” to the supervised injection in concept, setsĪ new path for Newsom, a leader who has taken strong stances other issues that have run afoul of federal law such as same-sex marriage and cannabis.Ĭalifornia, once poised to be out front on this issue, has been edged out by Rhode Island, the first to approve the sites, and New York City, which opened two sites late last year.

City Attorney David Chiu said after Newsom’s announcement that a program operated by a nonprofit organization, as is done in New York, would be welcome. San Francisco, at least, may yet open an injection site despite the veto. By rejecting a proven and extensively studied strategy to save lives and get people into treatment, this veto sends a powerful negative message that California is not committed to harm reduction.” “The dramatic escalation in drug overdose deaths. “Today, California lost a huge opportunity to address one of our most deadly problems,” he said in a statement. Wiener called the veto a missed opportunity. New York City opened the first one in the nation in November, and other cities have similar plans in the face of the relentless opioid crisis and record number of overdoses. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would have amounted to the nation’s largest experiment with the supervised injection model, where users can get access to clean needles, testing and treatment services. He had until Monday to decide.Īpproval of the bill, CA SB57(21R) by state Sen. Newsom, who had been under intense pressure for weeks, kept a close hold on whether he would sign the legislation, and the announcement was met with both surprise and anger by people on both sides of the debate. The legislation aimed to authorize the five-year pilot programs in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, cities where drug use has contributed to an increase in property crime and homelessness that have tested the tolerance of generally liberal Californians. Supporters hoped Newsom, who has said in the past he was receptive to the concept, would support this latest version from a San Franscisco state senator considered a rising star in his own right. State lawmakers have debated the idea each year since 2016, a recurring struggle between progressive lawmakers who say it will save lives and moderate Democrats and Republicans who warn it would normalize hard drug use. “I remain open to this discussion when those local officials come back to the Legislature with recommendations for a truly limited pilot program,” Newsom said. The governor directed state health authorities to work with local officials to come up with a more detailed and less expansive plan.

State of california