Maryland Tracking Marijuana Trends
The health dashboard is intended to identify areas of concern so that officials can ensure residents use cannabis safely. Elsewhere, social services struggles in North Carolina, climate change in Florida, and more.
WYPR:
Maryland Unveils Marijuana Health Tracking Dashboard
The Maryland Department of Health unveiled a new dashboard tracking adverse incidents to marijuana use on Wednesday. The tool tracks instances like emergency room visits, calls to poison control, youth and adult use and the utilization of substance abuse centers. Maryland saw an increase in ER visits related to marijuana that coincided with the legalization of recreational cannabis. Recreational cannabis was legalized in the state on July 1, 2023.
In 2024, the state saw 817 ER visits per month, a 5% increase from 2023. There was also an increase in calls to Poison Centers. According to MDH, marijuana-related calls tripled for children aged 10 to 14 and increased by 26% for teens 15 to 19 from 2021 to 2023. (Maucione, 11/14)
The New York Times:
Texas Supreme Court Paves Way For Execution In ‘Shaken Baby’ Case
Texas can go forward with the execution of Robert Roberson, who was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a case that relied on evidence of shaken baby syndrome, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday. Lawmakers of both parties in the Texas House, who believed Mr. Roberson deserved a new trial, had temporarily halted the execution last month by issuing a legislative subpoena for Mr. Roberson to testify before a House committee. (Goodman, 11/15)
Carolina Public Press:
WNC Infrastructure Damage A Challenge For Social Services
From monitoring suspected child abuse and neglect cases to accounting for children in foster care to taking on additional emergency responsibilities and maintaining essential services amid power and communication outages, county Department of Social Services offices faced major disruptions as a result of Tropical Storm Helene in Western North Carolina. Damage to roads has created ongoing challenges for mandatory home visits for child protective services and foster care oversight, as well as inspections of long-term care facilities for adults. (Thomae, 11/16)
WUSF:
Health And Heat Are Hot Topics At A Florida Climate Change Conference
Heat, diseases, air quality, mental health and migration. The Florida Climate Conference hosted by the Climate Adaptation Center covered these topics this past week at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. Climate change training isn't part of most medical school curriculums, said Dr. Ankush Bansal, co-founder of the organization Florida Clinicians for Climate Action. And he argued that it should be. (Meszaros, 11/18)
KFF Health News:
Journalists Examine Health Care For Native Americans And Recent Food Recalls
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances. (11/16)
