Tag: News

Michigan Grapples With Marijuana Licensing

Michigan has been slow to give out business licenses to sell marijuana.

A judge in Michigan ruled this week that the state could not shut down marijuana retailers while they await a review of their application for a license to sell marijuana.

The ruling highlights the latest in a series of hurdles facing states in the process of setting up a retail marijuana market. In Michigan, which became the first midwestern state to legalize recreational cannabis last November, marijuana business owners have complained about the state’s slow approval process.

Because the state has been slow to give out licenses, dispensaries have been allowed to remain open while their applications were reviewed, according to the Detroit Metro Times.

There had been a deadline of March 31, but on Thursday (March 28) a judge from the Michigan Court of Claims barred the state from shutting down the shops.

“Until further order of the court, [The Bureau of Marijuana Regulation] will maintain the status quo and not enforce the March 31 deadline with respect to both temporary operating facilities and caregiver products,” said David Harns, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

Even though Michigan legalized marijuana, the slow pace of setting up its legal market has allowed illegal sales to continue to thrive. Not to mention the steep cost of obtaining a license to sell marijuana—which includes a $6,000 application fee and $66,000 a year for the license.

The state has struggled to license enough dispensaries to keep up with demand, Harns said in February.

“We are focused on moving ahead by setting [a] regulatory framework to help create an industry in which licensed businesses can be successful,” he said. “We are constantly in contact with stakeholders, licensed operators and applicants to get a better understanding of how the regulatory environment affects them.”

Michigan isn’t the only state that has legalized marijuana only to grapple with licensing issues.

In March, the Sacramento Bee reported that California officials had approved only a fraction of its total applications received. The state gave out temporary licenses as a way to keep the legal market going despite the slow approval process.

However, those temporary licenses are set to expire in the coming months and California has yet to approve enough permanent licensing to support the legal cannabis industry.

“This is the worst way to transition a multibillion-dollar agricultural crop, which employs thousands of Californians. Without legal licenses, there isn’t a legal, regulated market in California,” said State Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat who sponsored a bill to extend the validity of temporary licenses.

McGuire added, “In a time where the Golden State is working overtime to bring the cannabis industry out of the black market and into the light of a legal regulatory environment, we can’t afford to let good actors who want to comply with state law fall out of our regulated market just because timelines are too short and departments have been unable to process applications in time due to the sheer number of applications.”

View the original article at thefix.com

3 April 2019
Why Aren't More Doctors Embracing Medication-Assisted Treatment?

A new op-ed suggests that concerns about “branding” may deter many doctors from offering medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder.

A new op-ed on STAT News highlights a troubling concern in regard to medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

Author David A. Patterson Silver Wolf, PhD, opined that the reason why methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone aren’t more widely used to treat opioid use disorders (OUDs) may be due to “branding”—specifically, concern on the part of primary care physicians about the stigma associated with OUDs and its effect on their practice.

But as Silver Wolf noted, the toll taken by the opioid epidemic on individuals and families all but required physicians to undertake the necessary steps to prescribe MAT, despite any qualms they may have.

In the article, Silver Wolf, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and faculty member for training programs funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), wrote that he came to his opinion after participating in a national panel of addiction experts that produced “Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Save Lives,” a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

In the report, he and his fellow experts noted that while the need for medication-assisted treatment is sizable, and drugs like methadone and Suboxone have been approved as safe and effective treatments for OUD by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), only a small number of physicians have signed up for the necessary training by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to be able to prescribe it.

Silver Wolf also cited another STAT opinion piece, which speculated on some of the reasons why more physicians haven’t been lining up to prescribe MAT. One deterrent may be the process for receiving a federal waiver and the specialized training required to administer this treatment.

But he also suggested that concern over the perception of those with substance use disorders by other patients may also color certain medical professionals’ opinions, who fear that the inclusion of such individuals to a patient base may negatively impact business.

“Physicians whose practices focus on patients with opioid use disorder don’t have to worry about their ‘brand’ being harmed because it is tied to this treatment and this patient population,” Silver Wolf wrote. “But a typical primary care physician in Manhattan or suburban Atlanta or rural Nevada might worry about the potential trouble that patients with addictions might cause in their waiting rooms.”

The answer, according to Silver Wolf, is for more physicians to look past financial concerns and stigma, and take the steps to make medication-assisted treatment a part of their practice—even though, he adds, that many will not.

But if individuals and families impacted by the addiction crisis—what the National Academies committee has come to view as an “all-hands-on-deck” situation—then Silver Wolf believes that physicians need to do the same.

View the original article at thefix.com

3 April 2019
Could The Nation's First Supervised Injection Sites Be Coming To Maine?

Maine’s bill would allow two facilities in the state and create a half-mile “tolerance zone” around each location, where individuals cannot be arrested for using drugs.

Maine officials held a public hearing Monday to consider a bill that could establish the first safe injection sites in the country. The bill, called “An Act to Prevent Overdose Deaths,” would certify two facilities to “provide safe and secure locations for people to self-administer drugs,” according to FOX 23.

A number of local governments across the U.S. have considered opening “safe injection sites” or “supervised injection facilities” (SIFs) where individuals can safely use illicit substances with clean equipment and under the supervision of trained medical professionals, without the threat of arrest.

The philosophy behind these facilities is that people will use drugs one way or another, and giving them a safe space to do so prevents overdose deaths and the spread of HIV and hepatitis C. At the same time, medical professionals on site can offer recommendations for addiction treatment and other health issues related to drug use.

Places like Maryland, Seattle, San Diego, and Philadelphia have also considered opening safe injection sites. But the process has been slow going, not to mention the threat of legal action from the government.

Most recently, the Philadelphia non-profit Safehouse was sued by state prosecutors and the U.S. Department of Justice to stop the opening of the city’s first SIF.

The legal challenge is based on a section of the federal Controlled Substances Act which intended to close “crack houses” in the ’80s. The ruling on the Philadelphia case is expected to determine the future of SIFs in the country.

Meanwhile, the first of these sites in North America launched over 15 years ago in Vancouver, Canada. According to the BC Coroner’s Service spokesman, Andy Watson, there has not been a single death reported at any SIF in the province since they opened. At the same time, new HIV cases among people who use injection drugs have fallen by 86% since 2005.

Maine’s bill would allow two facilities in the state to act as safe injection sites and create a half-mile “tolerance zone” around each location, where individuals cannot be arrested for using drugs. Said facilities would also gather and report demographic data and other information, which would be used to determine if additional sites should be opened.

According to Maine Public, no one at the Monday hearing spoke against the bill, but “supporters acknowledged that safe injection sites would violate federal law.” So far, it does not appear that there are any legal challenges to this specific bill.

View the original article at thefix.com

3 April 2019
China Promises Tighter Ban On Fentanyl Production

Officials are hopeful that this will help curb the amount of fentanyl on the streets in America.

China has promised to ban all “fentanyl-related substances,” in a move to appease the Trump administration.

According to The New York Times, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised the ban during a meeting with President Trump last December.

Although China had already placed restrictions against fentanyl and related drugs, manufacturers skirted these regulations by tweaking the drugs’ formulations to avoid legal recourse while still supplying a drug with the same effects.

The new ban, which takes effect on May 1st, will cover all “fentanyl-related substances.” The law removed the need for Chinese officials to review and ban analogues one by one, replacing it with a sweeping ban.

Officials are hopeful that this will help curb the amount of fentanyl on the streets in the United States.

“We look forward to our continued collaboration with China to reduce the amount of this deadly poison coming into our country,” said Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spokeswoman Mary Brandenberger.

However, other officials caution that Chinese drug manufacturers can still produce the precursors of fentanyl, which can then be shipped to Mexico and assembled by cartels before being smuggled into the United States.

In announcing the ban, Chinese officials insisted that China’s contribution to the American fentanyl problem is “extremely limited.”

“We believe that the United States is the main cause of the problem of the abuse of fentanyl in the United States,” said vice commissioner of the National Narcotics Control Commission Liu Yuejin.

Amid trade tensions between the U.S. and China, the fentanyl policy change may signal an olive branch rather than a tough intervention. Robert Lighthizer, a trade negotiator for the Trump administration, had previously said that he would try to get a commitment from China to crack down on fentanyl production.

University of California researcher Dr. Daniel Ciccarone said that the move may be a way for Chinese officials to claim they are cracking down, without actually having much of a real-world difference.

“Do they have the capacity?” he said. “Or will they, like U.S. regulatory agencies often do, brag about the ‘one they got’ while whitewashing the ones that got away?”

Ciccarone added that it’s hard to intercept fentanyl shipments because the drug is shipped in much smaller quantities than cocaine or marijuana, making it difficult to detect.

He said, “Stopping production and shipping of a much smaller-volume drug is wishing big.”

Still, he said, with fentanyl killing tens of thousands of Americans each year, the Chinese ban is a step in the right direction.

“This effort is worthwhile even if it has a small chance of success,” he said.

View the original article at thefix.com

3 April 2019
Sober Bars, Mocktails Becoming More Mainstream

Sober bars give people in recovery a place to hang out without putting their sobriety at risk.

“Mocktail” is a term that people who don’t drink alcohol may be familiar with. These non-alcoholic drinks are being served across the U.S., as abstinence and moderation gain popularity.

Sober bars give people in recovery a place to hang out without putting their sobriety at risk.

As Marketplace reports, there is a growing number of sober bars that have opened around the country, including Listen Bar in New York and Sans Bar in Texas. Listen Bar’s slogan is “All Bar No Booze,” and they serve herbal drinks like “She Pretty” and “Ghost me Maybe.”

According to the bar’s official website, Listen Bar is “a booze-free bar in NYC rewriting nightlife beyond alcohol… [our] rowdy vibes have drawn a following among drinkers and non-drinkers alike.”

Chris Marshall, the founder of Sans Bar in Austin, Texas, says, “We handcraft our own specialty ‘mocktails’—things like a rosemary and ginger mule, or a sans-garita, which incorporates lime, agave and apple cider vinegar.”

Marshall’s plans for Sans Bar are ambitious. It has a second location in Kansas City, and has also hosted booze-free events in St. Louis, Portland and Alaska.

With “sober curious” becoming a growing trend and non-drinking events like Dry January also gaining global popularity, Marshall feels there’s a lot of growth potential for the sober bar industry.

“Dry January was this kind of small, inside-baseball thing five years ago,” Marshall explains. “[It’s] now a huge marketing opportunity for brands.”

One of the big keys to sober bars is emphasizing that you can have a good time without getting drunk.

On Sans Bar’s website, it states, “We are a growing group of average people who recognize that life can be fun without alcohol. We are sober, we are on the move, and we believe that real connection happens when people are sober… We believe positive change can happen in the smallest ways, and still yield a tremendous impact.”

Another sober bar is The Other Side in Illinois. As the bar’s co-founder, Chris Reed, told The Fix, having a sober bar “helps people stay plugged in and close to others in recovery… It brings us together and it shows us recovery doesn’t suck, that you can still socialize.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 April 2019
Can Deep Brain Stimulation Help Treat Psychiatric Disorders?

Scientists have been experimenting with whether deep brain stimulation could help those with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Certain neurological and psychiatric disorders may be rooted in dysfunctional circuits in the brain — and some studying the area think deep brain stimulation (DBS) may be one way of treating such disorders.

The idea, according to NPR, is that it may be possible to pinpoint such circuits and manipulate them to be functional by sending electric pulses to exact regions in the brain. These regions are reached by placing an electrode in the brain, which is then controlled with an implanted device, usually in the collarbone region. Once placed, the frequency of the electric pulses can be controlled by doctors.

“Modify the circuit, and you can modify the behavior,” James Giordano, neuroethicist and chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program at Georgetown University Medical Center, tells NPR. “The goal is to use DBS to modify the circuits in such a way as to improve symptoms in a very specific and precise way.”

While this method has potential to treat a number of conditions, the Food and Drug Administration has only approved it for a select few, including movement disorders (like effects of Parkinson’s disease) and a type of epilepsy that does not respond to other treatment methods.

According to NPR, scientists worldwide have been experimenting with whether deep brain stimulation could help those with diagnoses such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Scientists have also tried to use DBS to treat drug cravings.

However, clinical study results haven’t been clearcut, as some patients claim DBS has helped, while others have seen no improvement or felt worse.

According to Giordano, DBS differs from antidepressants because it can be more fine-tuned and tailored to each individual.

“A drug like Prozac or antidepressant drugs is basically like throwing water on your face to get a drink of water,” he told NPR. “Using something like deep brain stimulation is like putting a drop of water on your tongue. We can increase the specificity and precision … and, in many ways, the precision and specificity of deep brain stimulation makes it a more effective tool.”

When it comes to the procedure of placing a device in the brain, Giordano says there are of course the normal risks of neurosurgery, such as infection. Though rare, he adds, there are also some risks specific to the procedure.

“By stimulating Area X, it’s possible that we could get a spillover effect that modulates other things ancillary to that, like personality, temperament, character, personal preferences,” he explained. “There have been case reports and anecdotal reports of things like that happening, but they’re rare.”

As with any new procedure and technology, Giordano acknowledges that learning the ins and outs of deep brain stimulation won’t always be smooth sailing. However, he says, the capabilities of deep brain stimulation are worth continuing to explore.

“Mistakes will get made” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be bright enough to correct them and recognize them when they occur not only in terms of the technological and scientific mistakes but ethical, moral, legal mistakes. In many ways, this represents something of a brave new world of capability. And I think that we have to be very, very sentinel to what the potential of this could yield.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 April 2019
Alaskan Bush People's Matt Brown Celebrates Recovery Milestone

The reality TV star shared his sober milestone with followers on Instagram.

Reality star Matt Brown is making the most of his recent trip to treatment by celebrating his recent recovery milestone on Instagram, according to Pop Culture.

Brown, known for his role in the Discovery Channel reality show Alaskan Bush People, has been in treatment numerous times in the past few years for alcohol use disorder—first in 2016, then 2018 and finally in 2019.

But it seems the most recent time could have been what he needed. On Friday (March 29), Brown posted a photo of himself holding a sobriety coin along with words of encouragement.

“Afternoon everyone! Hope your day rocks! Never give up never surrender,” Brown wrote.

On the post, fans expressed their congratulations and even shared their own stories.

“Proud of you and your recovery,” wrote one Instagram user. “Do what you’ve got to do to take care of you. My dad died of alcoholism 6 years ago. He was a great man, and in the public’s eye, so his disease was a family secret. We tried several times to get him help. But you have to want it for yourself. I’m proud of you!! Stay strong. You’ve got this.”

According to Pop Culture, Brown’s most recent trip to treatment was in February. In early March, the website reports, his parents released $250,000 that he had made for allowing Discovery to document his treatment for the show.

Giving Brown the money was a source of anxiety for his parents, a source told Radar Online. In the past, Brown had taken large sums of money as a reason to fall back into his old ways.

“He finally got the money that was being withheld from him by his parents while he got his act together,” a source told Radar Online. “It’s really a double-edged sword because whenever Matt gets paid, he goes missing and everyone just assumes he is using again.”

In September of 2018, before his second trip to treatment, Brown spoke to People magazine about his struggles.

“I struggle with substance abuse, and after a year of ups and downs, I decided to return to treatment,” he told People. “I’m really grateful for everyone’s support and hope to have my life back on track soon.”

Brown’s parents expressed their support for their son at the time, also speaking to the magazine.

“We miss him terribly, but we’d rather lose him from home for a little while than lose him forever,” said his father Billy. “We just want him to do what he needs to do to get better.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 April 2019
Naloxone-Based Antidote For Fentanyl, Synthetic Opioids Is In Development

The naloxone-based antidote has already shown promise in tests involving animal subjects.

The opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, or Narcan, has proven useful in preventing fatalities from the use of heroin or prescription opioids.

But its duration in the human body – about 30 to 60 minutes – is less effective in countering the effects of powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which can remain in an individual’s system for hours and may require multiple doses of naloxone.

But researchers have begun work on a naloxone-based antidote that may outlast synthetic opioids, and which has already shown promise in tests involving animal subjects.

The results of the test were presented in Orlando, Florida at a meeting of the American Chemical Society on March 31, 2019; there, researchers from Duquesne University, the Allegency Health Network Research Institute and the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center showcased their development of a naloxone-based antidote that used microscopic particles called nanoparticles to deliver a combination of naloxone molecules and a biodegradable polymer, or plastic, called polyactic acid.

As Science News noted, once introduced to an individual’s system, water and enzymes in the body dissolve the nanoparticles and slowly release the naloxone.

According to the researchers, a single dose using this delivery system proved effective in countering the effects of morphine in tests involving mice for up to 96 hours.

Reseacher Saadyah Averick of the Allegheny Health Network Research was quoted as saying that the next phase of testing will involve actual synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl and carfentanil, as well as increased testing to determine if the antidote can prevent a test animal from undergoing overdose.

Data from the National Vital Statistic System’s record of all U.S.-based deaths found that overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids had surpassed overdose fatalities caused by prescription opioids.

A study published in the May 1, 2018 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that of the 42,249 opioid-related deaths in 2016, 19,413 involved synthetic opioids, while 17,087 were due to prescription opioids and 15,469.

More than 79% of synthetic opioid deaths also involved another drug or alcohol, with another opioid and heroin listed as the most commonly co-involved substances (47.9% and 29.8%, respectively).

View the original article at thefix.com

2 April 2019
How Ariana Grande Is Changing Things Up To Protect Her Mental Health

Grande got candid about the emotional impact of nonstop performing and promotional tours on Instagram.

Pop star Ariana Grande opened up about how she’s changing her music-release strategy in order to preserve her mental health

Over the past few years, Grande has publicly dealt with a variety of life-changing events. From the bombing after her show in Manchester, England, which left 22 people dead, to the death of her former boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, as well as a messy breakup with her former fiancé, SNL star Pete Davidson.

Now Grande is making some changes to put less pressure on herself as she moves forward in her career. On Instagram, Grande thanked her fans “for being supportive of my random, impulsive and excessive music releases. The first few years were really hard on my mental health and energy. I was so tired from promo trips and was always losing my voice and never knew what city I was in when I woke up. It was so much. It was worth it, and I am grateful for everything I learned and accomplished when I did things that way, of course.”

Taking a cue from hip-hop artists, Grande is now releasing music on a less rigid schedule that won’t be as mentally and emotionally taxing for the singer.

“I feel like there are certain standards that pop women are held to that men aren’t,” the singer told Billboard. “We have to do the teaser before the single, then do the single, and wait to do the preoder…and all this (expletive). It’s just like, ‘Bruh, I just want to {expletive} talk to my fans and sing and write music and drop it the way the boys do.”

If releasing new singles at her own pace doesn’t bring her the same success as her single, “Thank U, Next,” Grande is fine with that.

“It’s even more beautiful to be honest and just do something. To drop a record on a Saturday night because you feel like it, and because your heart’s going to explode if you don’t – to take back your narrative…I don’t want to do what people tell me to do, I don’t want to conform to the pop star agenda.”

View the original article at thefix.com

2 April 2019
Can Poor Mental Health Reduce Life Expectancy As Much As Diabetes, Smoking?

Experts were surprised with the findings of a new report on healthy communities.

A new report says that poor mental health can have as strong an impact on life expectancy as diabetes, smoking and even a lack of physical activity.

These new findings are part of the Healthiest Communities rankings by U.S. News & World Report in collaboration with the Aetna Foundation.

The rankings examined almost 3,000 different communities across 81 different health-related spectrums, like nutrition, housing and education, CNBC reports.

According to Aetna Foundation President Garth Graham, the link between people’s perception of their own mental health and life expectancy being almost as strong as the link between smoking and diabetes and life expectancy was surprising.

“I at first wanted us to double check,” said Graham, according to CNBC.

In 2018, the link between mental health and life expectancy was not as apparent as it was in 2019, Graham says.

“We often think about health as the four hours we spend in a doctor’s office a year, but health is about so much more than that,” Graham said.

Of the top communities in the Mental Health subcategory, the report states, 16 of the top 100 were in Nebraska. Nebraska sees 26 deaths related to suicide, alcohol-related disease and drug overdoses per 100,000. The only state with fewer deaths per 100,000 is New York, at 25.

Of the nearly 3,000 communities involved in the report, Douglas County, Colorado was reported the healthiest community in the country. Colorado as a whole performed well, with seven communities making the top 20 results. In those seven communities, CNBC reports, nearly all adults reported exercising, which has been known to improve mental health.

Nancy VanDeMark of Mental Health Colorado says that the connection between mental health and life expectancy makes sense, since last year’s CDC data pointed to increased opioid overdoses and suicides—also referred to as “deaths of despair”—negatively affecting life expectancy.

VanDeMark adds that it is vital for people to be screened for mental health issues, just as they are for physical health.

“We have a screening site on our website so people can go in and complete a number of screenings to see if they’re high risk for some sort of mental health or substance use concern,” said VanDeMark.

Colorado resident Kristin Gibowicz says that monitoring her mental health is something she keeps at the forefront of her life. “Just getting out, breathing fresh air and slowing your mind down a little bit, putting your phone down disconnecting,” Gibowicz said.

Also worth noting is that among the top communities in the Mental Health subcategory specifically, the report states 16 of the top 100 were in Nebraska.

Nebraska sees 26 deaths related to suicide, alcohol-related disease and drug overdoses per 100,000. The only state with fewer deaths per 100,000 is New York, at 25.

In addition to Douglas County in Colorado, other communities in the top 10 overall include Los Alamos County, New Mexico; Falls Church, Virginia; Loudoun County, Virginia; Broomfield County, Colorado; Teton County, Wyoming; Hamilton County, Indiana; Carver County, Minnesota; Delaware County, Ohio; and Howard County, Maryland.

View the original article at thefix.com

2 April 2019