New Jerseyans Will Be Able To Buy Recreational Pot From April 21

Philadelphia Inquirer: Recreational Marijuana Sales In N.J. Will Begin April 21
Recreational cannabis sales in New Jersey will start April 21, the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission said Thursday. For the uninitiated, that’s one day after 4/20, a day many have long celebrated as an unofficial holiday for weed lovers. Specific locations where sales will start were not identified. Regulators said they would post on the CRC’s website a list of which locations will open next Thursday as soon as the medical marijuana companies notify the commission of their opening date. The commission on Monday said seven of the state’s medical cannabis companies, with 13 locations, could expand into recreational cannabis as soon as they paid an expansion fee and passed final inspections. (Brubaker, 4/14)

In related news on the effort to legalize marijuana —

The Hill: Timeline For Marijuana Legalization Bill Slips In Senate
Democratic senators leading a push to legalize marijuana say they are now on track to introduce legislation before recess in August, after initially announcing plans to file a comprehensive reform bill later this month. Senate Majority Leader Charles Scumer (D-N.Y.) — who is heading the effort along with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) — said in a statement on Thursday that he’s proud of the progress senators have made in “bringing this vital bill closer to its official introduction” before the recess in early August.  (Folley, 4/14)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

The CT Mirror: CT Physicians Call For Medicaid Expansion For Undocumented Children
Dr. Nish Pandya, a pediatric resident at Yale New Haven Health, remembers the 10-year-old boy who came to the emergency room five times with breathing difficulties. “His breathing improved when he received the necessary medication and treatment,” Pandya said Thursday. “He started to feel better. The look of fear started to come off of his face.” Pandya asked the boy’s mother what type of medications he was taking at home. “She bowed her head and said, ‘We don’t have medications. We don’t have insurance. We are undocumented,’” Pandya recalled. “This patient had been cared for in the emergency room five times in the past year. His asthma was not managed properly because his family could not afford the medication he needed to be able to breathe comfortably. His family was not able to access care or to afford health insurance.” (Carlesso and Phaneuf, 4/14)

The Boston Globe: State Issues Draft Regulations On Telehealth Visits
More than a year after the passage of a state law that broadened access to telehealth and mandated higher insurance reimbursements for several types of telephonic and virtual visits, the Division of Insurance has issued draft regulations that give insurers and providers more clarity on how to put the law into practice. The regulations, issued Tuesday, came after the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, put into effect its own state-approved policy interpreting the law. On Monday, the Boston Globe reported that the absence of regulations had created uncertainty among providers and threatened to undo gains the health care industry had made in adopting telehealth over the course of the pandemic. (Bartlett, 4/14)

Stat: Anteater's Zoo Transfer Leads To Rabies Treatment For 13 People 
The transport of an anteater from one zoo to another may have exposed more than a dozen people to rabies, researchers said Thursday, serving as a warning that such transfers can expand what are considered “rabies zones.” Thirteen people had to undergo rabies treatment for possible exposure, and no human cases were ultimately reported, according to the report, published Thursday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Rabies, which is almost universally fatal if untreated, is sometimes underestimated as a threat, recent research suggests. A CDC report from earlier this year described the cases of three people who died from rabies contracted from bats, all whom could have survived had they sought or accepted post-exposure care. (Joseph, 4/14)

The Boston Globe: Four Parents Sue Ludlow Public Schools For Policy That Affirms Transgender Children
Four parents have filed a lawsuit against the Ludlow School Committee and several school officials claiming they have violated their rights by choosing not to tell parents when children seek to establish a new gender identity at school, court records show. Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, parents of two children in Ludlow schools, and Jonathan Feliciano and Sandra Salmeron, who also have two children in the district, claim the district’s policy affirming transgender students’ identities violates the US and Massachusetts constitutions, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in US District Court in Springfield. The lawsuit does not identify the policy. (Fox, 4/14)

North Carolina Health News: After A Heart Attack, These Psychologists Help Rural Eastern NC Residents With Health Anxiety
When cardiac patients visit the East Carolina Heart Institute in Greenville, they see the usual providers – internal medicine doctors, cardiologists and nurse practitioners. They also might sit down with a cardiac psychologist, a mental health professional who specializes in supporting people as they navigate the complicated emotions that arise with cardiac issues such as heart attack, heart failure and open heart surgery. At the facility, prospective psychologists and cardiologists train alongside each other and then go on to work side by side, co-treating patients. A new article in the Journal of Health Psychology explores how the facility’s partner school — East Carolina University — has grown its cardiac psychology training program into one of the best in the country. (Donnelly-DeRoven, 4/14)

In obituaries —

Louisville Courier Journal: Longtime Gay Rights Activist And HIV/AIDS Activist, Jack Kersey, Dies
Jack Kersey, a gay activist who was instrumental in opening a hospice facility for homeless HIV/AIDS patients in the Louisville area during the height of the epidemic, died Wednesday at age 90, according to his husband. Kersey, originally from Washington, D.C., spent the majority of his life in Louisville and was one of the city’s most prominent HIV and AIDS advocates in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1986, he helped establish Glade House, the first group home in the area for patients who were diagnosed with the virus. The facility started with six rooms where patients went to die, but it now comprises two housing programs — an emergency shelter and short-term housing — and the virus is no longer a death sentence. (Johnson, 4/15)