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Tag: new bill

  • Colorado Cannabis Bill Aims To Ease Restrictions For Parents

    Colorado Cannabis Bill Aims To Ease Restrictions For Parents

    Parens of children who depend on cannabis-based medications for epilepsy and other medical conditions are championing the new bill. 

    A Colorado bill aims to make it easier for parents of children enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program to get the cannabis-based medications that their children need. 

    According to current state law, children in the medical marijuana program — who are often severely ill — can have only one primary medical marijuana caregiver who is permitted to pick up his or her cannabis medications, according to Westword.com.

    Having to choose just one parent who has this permission can be stressful for families like that of Christine and Matthew Cerrato, whose four-year-old son Ethan uses cannabis to treat epilepsy and other medical conditions. 

    Because their son in so young and medically fragile, the Cerratos need to travel 80 miles to secure his medication, which is not sold locally. This is complicated by the fact that Ethan is often in the hospital: He was there 11 times just last year. 

    “For the first year, I was the caregiver. But when we’d be at the hospital, I couldn’t just leave this small child, who is sick yet also very cognitively aware, with strangers. But on the other side, what else can I do, let him lapse in treatment? There is this really bizarre gap here,” said Christine. Matthew is Ethan’s primary medical marijuana caregiver, so only he can go to the dispensary. 

    “We’ve got other kids and have to take care of groceries and meals. Matt has the availability to go [to the dispensary], but if he’s sick or occupied, he still needs to go, even though I’m totally healthy and able-bodied to do this myself,” Christine said. She pointed out that although their family can manage, other parents find the situation even more complicated to navigate. 

    “But we’re still lucky: We’re part of this gap that is married, in the same home, and Matt’s not traveling for work. We’re able to manage it, but I’ve had friends in the cannabis community go through ugly divorces… . Whatever the parental situation might be, it just doesn’t make sense,” she said. 

    When Christine posted her frustrations on Facebook one night, State Representative Matt Gray answered. After learning more about the issue he introduced the bill to allow both parents to be medical marijuana caregivers. The measure will be considered this week, but Gray says he doesn’t anticipate any opposition. 

    “This is a common-sense idea. The idea that one parent can give their kid medicine and the other can’t is kind of ridiculous,” he said. 

    Christine hopes the strange law changes soon. 

    “We’re all busy. Both of us being able to make Ethan’s purchases just makes things run more smoothly,” she said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Congress Passes Bill To Penalize, Convict Patient Brokers

    Congress Passes Bill To Penalize, Convict Patient Brokers

    The new bill would impose prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines as high as $200,000.

    A bipartisan bill—passed as part of the SUPPORT Patients and Communities Act on Oct. 24—will impose criminal penalties on individuals or organizations that accept or give payments or other incentives to prospective rehabilitation patients in exchange for referrals to treatment facilities.

    An op-ed piece in USA Today noted that these “patient brokers” connect those seeking treatment with centers or sober homes without proper or reputable means of providing assistance to patients; the result is loss of funds, increased insurance rate and in many cases, greater chances of overdose or death.

    The new bill would impose prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines as high as $200,000.

    S.3254—the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018—will allow federal prosecutors to pursue and penalize patient brokers, phone-call aggregators and the companies that allegedly pay them for referrals.

    As USA Today noted, it has been illegal for Medicaid or Medicare facilities to accept kickbacks since 1972, but it remains fair game for treatment centers and sober homes that take private insurance, including policies sold through the Affordable Care Act.

    The USA Today op-ed claimed that patient brokers can be a persistent presence wherever individuals suffering from dependency issues might be found, from drug courts to street corners. The facilities that they promote also maintain a media presence through television and internet advertising, and call aggregators can purport to connect prospective patients to treatment, but actually collect their information to sell to the highest bidding facility.

    A bipartisan group from the Energy and Commerce Committee questioned eight such call aggregators about their business practices in May 2018.

    Avoiding such blatantly predatory entities can be a challenge for the more than 2 million Americans suffering from opioid dependency. While some can consult family medical practitioners or guidelines from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and other organizations, state laws vary on the regulation of treatment centers, so that what may be illegal in some areas can pass in others.

    As USA Today noted, penalizing those that prey on individuals in crisis is an important step in providing proper assistance to those with dependency issues.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Senate Considers Opioid Crisis Bill, But Critics Say It Isn’t Enough

    Senate Considers Opioid Crisis Bill, But Critics Say It Isn’t Enough

    “A little drama for little substance,” said one addiction advocate familiar with the bill. 

    The Senate is preparing to pass a bill to address the opioid epidemic, but critics say that the legislation skirts around the most important — and contentious — issues that could help change the way that opioid addiction is handled. 

    “A little drama for little substance,” one addiction advocate familiar with the bill told STAT News. 

    The bill addresses treatment and prevention, according to a copy reviewed by STAT. There are provisions that will better equip law enforcement to detect fentanyl being shipped in the mail system and that will help develop a have a better disposal system for unused opioids, in order to reduce the amount of opioids on the street. In addition, there are provisions to expand treatment by easing access to medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine, training doctors to screen for substance use disorder and increasing access to treatment via telemedicine. 

    However, treatment advocates say that the bill will do little to affect how treatment is delivered because it does not take enough bold steps to change the status quo. 

    “Overdose rates continue to rise, and our response is still falling short given the mammoth size of the problem,” said Andrew Kessler, the founder of Slingshot Solutions, a behavioral health consulting group. “We are in the early phases of our response to this epidemic, and I can only hope that this bill is the first of many we can pass.”

    One big change that has a chance of passing is repealing the IMD exclusion, which prevents treatment centers with more than 16 beds from receiving Medicaid payments.

    An opioid response bill passed in June repealed the exclusion, but only for treatment for opioid and cocaine addiction.

    Despite the fact that the current Senate bill doesn’t mention the exclusion, Ohio Senator Rob Portman said that he is hopeful a repeal will be included in the final bill. He said that leadership has agreed on the repeal, but could not gather enough votes. 

    “We’ve worked out an agreement that I think most leadership on both sides agree with, but we weren’t able to get the signoff from everybody,” Portman said.

    The Senate bill also includes a call for the development of best practices in disclosing a patient’s history with substance abuse. The House bill would allow a history of addiction treatment to be disclosed without a patient’s expressed permission, but Senate lawmakers are concerned that this could lead to breaches of privacy and stigma. 

    With the coming November election, many lawmakers are hesitant to vote on anything controversial, meaning that the bill may languish. However, some Senators are pushing to make sure it gets a vote this month. 

    “As soon as both parties agree, we can have a roll call vote next week. When we do that, it’ll get virtually unanimous support, and then we’ll work with the House and put the bills together,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who has spearheaded the bill. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Safe Injection Sites Get Green Light From California Lawmakers

    Safe Injection Sites Get Green Light From California Lawmakers

    “I am committed to opening one of these sites here in San Francisco, no matter what it takes, because the status quo is not acceptable,” said Mayor London Breed.

    Last week, California lawmakers green-lit a bill that would allow safe injection sites in San Francisco as part of a three-year pilot program. 

    The forward-thinking measure, authored by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman and state Senator Scott Wiener, has already enjoyed support from local advocates and lawmakers.  

    “I am committed to opening one of these sites here in San Francisco, no matter what it takes, because the status quo is not acceptable,” Mayor London Breed said Monday. 

    Eggman voiced similar support for the proposed program. “Should we keep trying what has failed for decades,” she said in a statement, “or give San Francisco the choice to try something that we know saves lives, reduces disease, and saves money?”

    The city’s Director of Health Barbara Garcia estimated that San Francisco has more than 22,000 people using IV drugs. 

    Last year, a slightly broader version of the bill stalled in the state Senate. That iteration of the would-be law would have authorized six counties—Alameda, Humboldt, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Joaquin—to participate in the harm reduction program.

    The current version applies only to San Francisco:

    “This bill would, until January 1, 2022, authorize the City and County of San Francisco to approve entities to operate overdose prevention programs for adults that satisfies specified requirements,” the bill reads, “including, among other things, a hygienic space supervised by health care professionals, as defined, where people who use drugs can consume preobtained drugs, sterile consumption supplies, and access to referrals to substance use disorder treatment.”

    The revised version also retools the language, calling it an overdose prevention program instead of a safer drug consumption program. Whatever it’s called, greenlighting the program would not skirt federal drug laws and it’s not clear how the federal government would respond to such a program were it put into effect.

    “People are injecting drugs whether or not we intervene,” Wiener said, according to the San Francisco Examiner. “Safe injection sites provide people with an opportunity to inject in a clean, safe environment, with healthcare personnel available to prevent overdoses, and with an opportunity to offer people addiction, healthcare, housing, and other services.”

    Now, the bill is waiting for a vote in the state Assembly. The last time around, the lower chamber approved the bill 41-33, according to Curbed. 

    If the measure sails through the Assembly this time around, it’ll still need a signature from Gov. Jerry Brown before it becomes law, potentially taking effect at the start of next year.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • New York Takes Big Step Towards Legalizing Recreational Marijuana

    New York Takes Big Step Towards Legalizing Recreational Marijuana

    Governor Cuomo’s big move could pave the way for New York to become the 10th US state to legalize recreational marijuana.

    Governor Andrew Cuomo made a big step towards legalizing marijuana for adult use on Thursday as he pulled together a group to write the bill, Vox reports.

    The proposal is based on the recommendations of New York’s Department of Health regarding the legalization and regulation of marijuana.

    “As we work to implement the report’s recommendations through legislation, we must thoroughly consider all aspects of a regulated marijuana program, including its impact on public health, criminal justice and State revenue, and mitigate any potential risks associated with it,” wrote Cuomo in a statement.

    Heading up the group writing the bill is Alphonso David, counsel to the governor, who is getting feedback from officials as well as a panel including public safety, public health, and economic experts. If the state’s legislature is satisfied with the resulting bill, they will sign it into law and make New York officially the tenth state to legalize recreational marijuana.

    Cuomo’s proposal is a welcome one to the New York Health Department. In a 75-page report, the department concluded that legalization would be a net positive.

    “Numerous [New York state] agencies and subject matter experts in the fields of public health, mental health, substance use, public safety, transportation, and economics worked in developing this assessment,” officials wrote in the report. “No insurmountable obstacles to regulation of marijuana were raised.”

    The report also backed up key points that marijuana legalization advocates have extolled for decades: the criminalization of marijuana has done nothing to stem its use, marijuana law disproportionately targets “low-income communities of color,” and that the state would not only be able to protect consumers with regulations but reap huge tax revenues as well. The report estimates this amount to be anywhere from $248.1 million to $677.7 million a year.

    However, the report also makes sure to mention the precautions the state should take in legalizing, including remaining vigilant of the effects of usage among its citizens.

    “A regulated marijuana program should monitor and document patterns of use to evaluate the impact of legalization on use,” the report outlined.

    It also warned of the risks of marijuana, including addiction and driving while impaired.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Employment Rights For Legal Marijuana Users Addressed In New Bill

    Employment Rights For Legal Marijuana Users Addressed In New Bill

    Under the proposed legislation, federal employees living in pot-friendly states won’t be penalized for their cannabis use.

    New legislation proposed in the House of Representatives would protect federal employees from getting fired for using cannabis.

    The bipartisan bill—the Fairness in Federal Drug Testing Under State Laws Act—was introduced by Rep. Charlie Crist and Rep. Drew Ferguson last Thursday (July 26) and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, according to Marijuana Moment.

    The legislation would shield federal employees “whose residence is in a State where that individual’s private use of marijuana is not prohibited” from being denied employment or being “subject to any other adverse personnel action” as a result of a positive cannabis test, according to the bill’s text, obtained by Marijuana Moment.

    The bill applies to employees of the federal government “across departments and agencies,” but not those involving “top secret clearance or access to a highly sensitive program.”

    However, if there is “probable cause to believe that the individual is under the influence of marijuana” in the workplace, they may be terminated.

    Tom Angell of Marijuana Moment notes that Rep. Crist previously proposed a measure to protect military veterans from being fired for cannabis use that is legal under state law.

    However, the measure became one of nearly three dozen amendments having to do with cannabis policy that Republican leadership in the House has blocked from being voted on, as Angell reported in early July.

    As more states approve cannabis for either medical or adult use, the rules around it when it comes to things like jobs or housing can get hazy.   

    NORML—the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws—provides a Model Workplace Policy for Cannabis on its website to help employers navigate this new territory. This guide gives a comprehensive background of cannabis and its effects.

    The difficult thing about enforcing DUI laws or anti-drug policies in the workplace with cannabis is the fact that its compounds may remain in a person’s system for days or even weeks after its use.

    As a result, a positive test result from a standard urinalysis test would not “provide an employer with any indication as to whether the substance may have been ingested while their employee was on the job,” the guide explains.

    This complicates an employer’s ability to determine whether an employee has violated policy by using on the job.

    There has yet to be a standard test for cannabis impairment, which presents a challenge for law enforcement as well. 

    As NPR reported last summer, “Despite the increasingly legal use of cannabis in many states, cops still don’t have the equivalent of a reliable alcohol breathalyzer or blood test—a chemically based way of estimating what the drug is doing in the brain.”

    View the original article at thefix.com