Linea de Acceso para Servicos y Crisis, Gratuito y Disponible las 24 Horas del Dia (888) 868-1649. Para emergencias medicas, llame al 911.
Resources for Professionals
Local Resources
Opioid Prescription Guidelines for Physicians
The Prescribe Safe initiative was created by health care facilities, law enforcement, and local physicians in response to concerns about prescription medication misuse in our county. Prescribe Safe is meant to guide, educate, and provide resources for our local physicians and patients in the safe use of prescription medications and promote safe and effective pain management in Santa Barbara County.
Lectures and Trainings
Dr. Paul Erickson, MD, Cottage Health Director of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine and Santa Barbara Opioid Safety Coalition member, discusses the neurology behind chronic pain, opioids, and addiction.
Internal Medicine and Addiction Specialist, Joseph Frawley, MD, presents research that shows a connection between pain, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and addiction, and shares his thoughts about what can be done about it.
More Resources for Prescribers
Follow up regularly with patients to determine whether opioids are meeting treatment goals and whether opioids can be reduced to lower dosage or discontinued. These resources on carefully managing Dosage Tapering can help:



Youth Mental Health First Aid 2023 Trainings
Santa Barbara County professionals who work with youth ages 12-18 are encouraged to participate in a free, upcoming Youth Mental Health First Aid training, which teaches participants how to support youth struggling with a mental health or substance abuse problem.
Just as CPR teaches community members to help when a person is having a heart attack, Youth Mental Health First Aid training gives people the tools to identify when a young person might be struggling with a mental health or substance use problem.
Family Service Agency, Mental Wellness Center and YouthWell provide community education around mental health as a way to support youth in our community.
> Find out more
Please be sure to visit our Resources for Policymakers page for more information on model programs, advocacy and patient rights, health care system change, technical assistance to coalitions, public awareness campaigns, and more.
Online Resources
Education and Training Resources
Of particular interest is Taking Action to Address Opioid Misuse, a series of educational courses specific to social workers, peer support workers, and counselors and psychologists. It includes webinars, toolkits, online courses, and articles on MAT and overdose prevention.
Guidelines for Physicians Working in California Opioid Treatment Programs – CSAM/California Department of Health Care Services.
Use of Buprenorphine-Naloxone in the Emergency Department, David Kan, MD and Anna Lembke, MD. Emergency Department (ED) physicians are uniquely positioned to intervene to help patients with OUD at a critical moment in the addiction cycle. Some preliminary evidence suggests that buprenorphine formulations are a safe tool in the ED, do not promote drug-seeking, and may help to engage patients in further opioid addiction treatment.
Practioner Training webpage.
The End of the X Waiver to Prescribe Buprenorphine.
The removal of the X-Waiver requirement presents a significant opportunity to expand access to buprenorphine treatment for OUD and reflects the DEA’s recent trend of liberalizing access to treatment for OUD.
On January 12, 2023, DEA announced its full support for Congress’s policy reform, explaining that the removal of the X-Waiver will help increase access to buprenorphine for those in need nationwide. In concert with the change, all DEA registrants should be aware of the following:
- An X-Waiver registration is no longer required to treat patients with buprenorphine for OUD.
- All future prescriptions for buprenorphine only require a standard DEA registration number. X-Waiver registration numbers are no longer needed for any prescription.
- There are no longer any limits or patient caps on the number of patients a prescriber may treat for OUD with buprenorphine.
CAA 2023 does not impact existing state laws or regulations that may be applicable.
SAMHSA and DEA are also working on the implementation of a separate provision of the CAA 2023 related to training requirements for DEA registration. The provision requires all providers who apply for a DEA license to prescribe controlled substances to undergo a one-time, non-repetitive, eight-hour training on managing patients with opioid and other substance use disorders. These requirements will go into effect on June 21, 2023.