Will New Jersey
Make Legalize Marijuana? Chris Christie Says Probably Not
A measure is working its way through the Legislature that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana – but it now seems unlikely that Governor Christie will sign it if it passes.
A measure is working its way through the Legislature that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana – but it now seems unlikely that Governor Christie will sign it if it passes.
Speaking
at his latest town hall meeting in Piscataway, the Governor said “I don’t think
you will see me sign a bill that legalizes marijuana in this state – and for
people who disagree with me that’s fine- you’re welcome to disagree…I’m the
Governor and I get to make those calls – when those bills come to my desk, and
if that bill comes to my desk – it’s not one that I’m going to sign.”
He told
the crowd he would not let the Garden state become like Colorado or California
– where medical marijuana laws are so loose, that it’s as if pot were legal.
“There are
shops everywhere” said Christie, “there are fly by night doctors who are
writing prescriptions for someone who walks in and says they’ve got some stress
from the flight they just took …you’ve got essentially the legalization of
marijuana in Colorado and California – I don’t think that’s where we want to go
as a state.”
He also
said he’s in favor of making treatment mandatory for every non-violent offender
charged with drug possession, “but I don’t think that what we should do is
increase the number of drugs that we’re making legal…people who are supporters
of the legalization of marijuana make a couple of different arguments – I get
well alcohol is legal – and I say well okay, my mother told me a long time ago,
2 wrongs don’t make a right…and they say to me you can tax it if you make it
legal – and I’m like, I get it, but no thanks – I think I’ll pass on another
tax.”
While
Christie’s tone was generally negative about marijuana, he did not specifically
discuss pending legislation to decriminalize possession of pot in small
quantities.
Workplace Insurers Spend More Than $1 Billion on Narcotic Painkillers
Costs related
to narcotic painkillers are growing for workplace insurers, which are currently
spending an estimated $1.4 billion on the drugs, The New York Times reports. The companies are facing
payouts to workers with injuries who are being treated with opioids, including
many who do not return to work for months—or who don’t return at all.
Opioids
can increase disability payouts and medical expenses by delaying employees’
return to work, if the drugs are used too often, too early in treatment, or for
too long. A study by the California Workers Compensation Institute conducted in
2008 found workers taking high doses of opioids to treat injuries, such as back
strain, were out of work three times longer, compared to those with similar
injuries who took lower doses of medication.
A 2010
study by the insurer Accident Fund Holdings found that when disability payments
and medical care are combined, the cost of a workplace injury is nine times
higher when a strong painkiller such as OxyContin is used, compared to when an
opioid is not used, the article notes.
“What we
see is an association between the greater use of opioids and delayed recovery
from workplace injuries,” Alex Swedlow, the head of research at the California
Workers Compensation Institute, told the newspaper.
Although
there is little evidence that opioids provide long-term benefits in treating
common workplace injuries such as back pain, these drugs are widely prescribed
for these problems.
Insurance
industry data shows that between 2001 and 2008, opioid prescriptions as a
percentage of all drugs used to treat workplace injuries rose 63 percent. Costs
have also increased. To reverse this trend, some states have issued new pain
treatment guidelines, or are expected to do so.
Treating Teens for Depression Can Reduce Odds of Future Drug Abuse
Treating
teenagers for major depression can reduce the odds they will develop a drug use
disorder, a new study suggests.
The
five-year study included 192 teenagers across the country who were treated for
depression for 12 weeks. The teens had no preexisting problems with alcohol or
drug abuse. They had major depression before treatment began. The researchers
found that among those whose depression was successfully treated, 10 percent
later abused drugs, compared with 25 percent whose depression continued even
with treatment, Health24 reports. Treatment methods included cognitive
behavioral therapy, medication, a combination of treatments, or a placebo.
Researcher
John Curry of Duke University said improved regulation of mood from medication
or skills learned in cognitive-behavioral therapy, along with support and
education received by all study participants, may have helped keep the teens
off drugs. Depression treatment did not have an effect on alcohol abuse, the
researchers were surprised to learn. “It does point out that alcohol use
disorders are very prevalent during that particular age period and there’s a
need for a lot of prevention and education for college students to avoid
getting into heavy drinking and then the beginnings of an alcohol disorder,”
Curry said in a news release. “I think that is definitely a take-home message.”
The study
is published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
A new drug may be on the horizon for treating patients with cocaine dependency.
An article
shares information about a clinical trial in the works. Catalyst Pharmaceutical
Partners, Inc. announces that it has recently reached the number of study
participants needed to complete the first round of the drug trials. What they
hope to achieve through this study and approval of the drug is another option
for patients to be able to receive the treatment they need for an addiction to
cocaine. Cocaine affects the mind in a way that when a user abuses the drug
over and over the less effects they feel so they are more inclined to
repeatedly use the drug to get high. When the high is not received from the
previous use, then they think they need more of the drug. When the abuser
cannot get enough of the drug, then this is what leads to overdose and potentially
death.
If this
new drug is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) then this
could be an option for sufferers to lessen their dependency on the drug.
Cocaine
use is a growing problem in the United States and across the globe. Statistics
from 2009 indicate that more than four million people use or have used cocaine.
The costs associated with this type of drug use are also on the rise, including
crime and treatment for patients. According to the pharmaceutical company that
is developing the treatment, no therapy currently exists that can properly
treat those addicted. With millions abusing cocaine that number is certain to
continue to grow unless there is either a crackdown on making and selling the
drug or a way to eliminate the high that a person gets from its use.
Study:
Fewer Alcohol-Related Traffic Deaths in States With Heavier Control
A new Keystone Research Center report has found
that states with more control of the sale and distribution of alcohol
have fewer alcohol-related traffic fatalities than states with no
such controls. The new analysis showed that with all else equal, a state with
control characteristics like Pennsylvania has 58 fewer adult deaths per year
from alcohol-related traffic accidents than it would if the state had no
control over the distribution of alcohol. The findings reinforce the recent
Community Preventive Services Task Force recommendations against the
privatization of alcohol sales, and are particularly relevant in Pennsylvania
given recent moves to privatize there.
News from Trust for America’s Health (http://healthyamericans.org/)
·
Many
of you are probably being asked about the potential impact of the upcoming
Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act upon the prevention and
public health provisions in the Act. Attached is an independent analysis
from The George Washington University, Department of Health Policy,
produced for TFAH.
·
This January, all nondefense discretionary (NDD)
programs “face indiscriminate, across-the-board cuts of 8.4 percent through a
‘sequester.’ Such cuts will devastate medical and scientific research;
education and job training; infrastructure; public safety and law enforcement;
public health; weather monitoring and environmental protection; housing and
social services; and international relations.” The Coalition for Health
Funding (CHF) is urging organizations to sign onto this letter –http://publichealthfunding.org/uploads/NDD_Sign_On.June2012.pdf
– drafted by CHF and other leaders of national coalitions—urging Congress to
avoid the sequester by passing a “balanced approach to deficit reduction that
does not include further cuts to NDD programs.” To sign onto the
letter by June 22nd, click on the following -- https://nlihc.wufoo.com/forms/signon-letter-stop-acrosstheboard-cuts/.
Heroin Use Rises as Prescription Painkillers Become Harder to Abuse
Regulations
designed to make it more difficult to abuse prescription painkillers are
leading to an increase in heroin addiction, MSNBC reports. Heroin is
inexpensive, powerful and may be even more destructive than painkillers,
experts note.
Law
enforcement officials report there is an abundance of cheap heroin from Mexico.
They are seeing it in upscale suburbs, where heroin was once hard to find.
Young heroin users are increasing in areas including Illinois suburbs, Long
Island, New York, and Seattle. Emergency room visits for heroin use among young
adults are on the rise, according to the national Drug Abuse Warning Network.
Until recently, heroin addiction was seen mainly in men living in urban areas,
many of them minorities. In Ohio, most people entering treatment programs for
heroin addiction are white, and many are young. They come from both poor rural
areas and wealthy suburbs, and many are female.
In Ohio,
“doctor shopping” for painkillers has become more difficult since the state
implemented a database to track prescriptions. The state also passed a law in
2011 to help fight “pill mills” that dispense painkillers. Many other states
have taken similar steps to fight prescription drug abuse, the news report
notes. As a result of these measures, prescription painkillers have become more
expensive–$30 to $80 per pill, compared with $10 for a bag of heroin.
Dr. Steven
Matson of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, says he now sees
many young people from upscale suburbs who use heroin. “Because of the
availability of these drugs now, it is not an unusual story that we hear, ‘I
went to a party, some friends there were doing heroin, so I shot up,’” he said.
“It seems like madness that you would go to a party and never have used
anything and then use heroin. But that’s what’s happening with some children.”
Prescription Painkillers Containing Hydrocodone May Become More Tightly Regulated
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet this fall to discuss whether prescription painkillers containing hydrocodone should be more tightly regulated, Bloomberg reports. They will evaluate the risks and benefits of hydrocodone preparations that are used to treat pain and coughs.Emergency room visits related to hydrocodone, the key ingredient in Vicodin and other painkillers, have soared since 2000. Vicodin, which also contains acetaminophen, is subject to fewer regulations than pure hydrocodone, the article notes. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wants to change the way drugs that combine hydrocodone with other products are classified, to require patients to have more interaction with doctors in order to obtain prescriptions for them. “It has to do with penalties for trafficking,” Barbara Carreno, a spokeswoman for the DEA, told Bloomberg. “You have to go back to the doctor when you run out of medicine. It’s more oversight by the doctor.” She said that if the FDA decides that the drugs should have more oversight, the DEA will change its drug classification schedule accordingly.
The FDA and DEA have repeatedly passed information back and forth about hydrocodone, without making any final decisions about the drug.
The DEA classifies drugs on a five-stage scale, which takes into account the potential for addiction. Currently, hydrocodone is considered by the DEA to be a Schedule II controlled substance, the second-highest level. Hydrocodone combinations, such as Vicodin, are Schedule III, and therefore have fewer restrictions on sales.
Schedule II drugs must be locked up at pharmacies. Physicians can only prescribe one bottle at a time and patients must have an original prescription in order to obtain the medication. Schedule III drugs can be refilled up to six times without visiting a doctor, who can phone or fax in a prescription to the pharmacy.
Government Study Finds More Teenagers Smoke Marijuana Than Cigarettes
More teenagers smoke marijuana than cigarettes, according to a survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The survey found 23 percent of high school students said they recently smoked marijuana, compared with 18 percent who said they had smoked cigarettes.The number of teenagers who smoke cigarettes has been declining for decades, the Associated Press reports. Marijuana use has risen in recent years. The AP notes that 2011 was the first year that marijuana smoking exceeded cigarette smoking among teens.
The new findings echo those of the nationwide Monitoring The Future survey, which also found marijuana was more popular than cigarettes among teens. According to that survey, marijuana use among teens rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year—a sharp contrast to the considerable decline that had occurred in the preceding decade. Daily marijuana use is now at a 30-year peak level among high school seniors.
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