Psychedelics, Including Magic Mushrooms, Decriminalized In Detroit

PBS NewsHour: Detroit Just Decriminalized Psychedelics And ‘Magic Mushrooms.’ Here’s What That Means
Detroit has joined the growing number of cities and states that have decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi, more colloquially known as “magic mushrooms” and psychedelics. Voters, including the city’s incumbent mayor who won a re-election, passed Proposal E on Tuesday night to decriminalize entheogenic plants and fungi. Just more than 61 percent of voters supported the measure, with nearly 39 percent of voters opposing it, according to the City of Detroit’s unofficial election results Wednesday. (Kai-Hwa Wang, 11/3)

Stateline: Oregon's Drug Decriminalization May Spread, Despite Unclear Results
Progressive lawmakers and civil rights groups want more states to follow Oregon’s recent example and drop criminal penalties for carrying small amounts of heroin, cocaine or other drugs, and to spend more money on addiction recovery services. They say substance use disorder should be treated as a disease, rather than as a crime. Democratic lawmakers in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont all proposed decriminalization bills this year. Advocacy groups hope to get a decriminalization measure on the ballot in Washington in 2022 and in California in 2024, said Matt Sutton, director of public relations for the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit. The Drug Policy Alliance helped fund the ballot initiative that resulted in Oregon’s new law, which took effect in February. (Quinton, 11/3)

In news about environmental health —

Houston Chronicle: ProPublica Mapped Cancer-Causing Pollution Facilities In Houston. Here Are 5 Of The Worst
The investigative news site ProPublica this week released a new mapping tool that offers a concrete look at the persistent, daily cancer risks that residents in parts of this region may have long felt they faced. The reporters explain how their work is especially important because it shows on a granular level what is known as the "cumulative" effects of pollution from all industrial facilities in an area, rather than a single facility on its own. The journalists spent two years analyzing an enormous amount of emissions data from a five-year span. ProPublica calls the final product "the most detailed map of cancer-causing industrial air pollution ever published." It's not meant to be a definitive indicator for any single case of cancer, they explain, but rather a resource for people to understand better the risks of where they live. (Foxhall, 11/3)

Bloomberg: Los Angeles County Declares ‘Rotten Eggs’ Odor a Local Emergency
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declared a persistent “rotten-eggs” smell coming from a nearby river a local emergency. The decision will expand resources to address the levels of hydrogen sulfide gas emanating from the Dominguez Channel that has caused the foul odor for at least four weeks. The county deployed a multi-agency response team to clean up the channel and bring “much-needed relief to affected communities.” The board said the odor remains at levels that aren’t expected to pose long-term health problems and that no imminent danger exists. So far, the odor has led to short-term adverse health symptoms that include headaches, nausea and throat irritation. (Saraiva, 11/3)

Also —

The New York Times: Biden Rejects $450,000 Payments For Separated Migrants 
President Biden on Wednesday said migrants separated from family members at the border would not receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for the damage inflicted by the Trump-era policy, rejecting an option for monetary compensation that had been floated in negotiations with lawyers representing the families. (Kanno-Youngs, 11/3)

The Advocate: Here's Why Bob Dean's 7 Nursing Homes Will Remain Closed For At Least One Year 
In a Wednesday status conference to schedule his license appeal hearings, Dean’s attorney said he expects that information gathering process before going to trial will take 12 months. And an attorney representing LDH, Jay O’Brien, said he also expects a year to 18 months of evidence-gathering. Dean’s nursing homes will remain closed in the meantime. They will not reopen until he goes to trial in the case and a three-judge panel from the state’s Division of Administrative Law issues a judgment, said Dean’s attorney, John McLindon. No trial date has been set yet. McLindon is also requesting that the Division of Administrative Law rule on whether Dean can have his licenses back before they take up his Medicaid provider agreements. (Gallo, 11/3)

The Washington Post: Texas Abortion Ban Is A Major Victory, Antiabortion Protectors Say 
On the fourth Saturday of every month, antiabortion protesters gather outside the Planned Parenthood in Waco, Tex., the only clinic that performs abortions for almost 100 miles in any direction. Each one picks out the sign they’ll stand beside for the next two hours, selecting their favorite antiabortion message from a truck emblazoned with the largest sign of all: “Texas is Pro-Life.” The truck’s billboard has new significance now, two months after Texas banned nearly all abortions, said John Pisciotta, director of the antiabortion group Pro-Life Waco. Even if the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately blocks Senate Bill 8, the law will have sent an important message to the world, he said: Abortion is not welcome in Texas. (Kitchener and Wax-Thibodeaux, 11/3)