Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Faulty Drug Tests Led To Unjust Penalties For 1,600 NY Prisoners
The New York Times: N.Y. Prisons Punished 1,600 Based On Faulty Drug Tests, Report Finds
New York’s prison system unjustly penalized more than 1,600 incarcerated people based on faulty drug tests, putting them in solitary confinement, delaying their parole hearings and denying them family visits, the New York State inspector general said in a damning report released on Tuesday. The arbitrary penalties were meted out across the state over an eight-month period in 2019, while the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision relied on improperly administered drug tests made by the company Microgenics, the report found. The tests led to “rampant false positive” results for buprenorphine, an opioid used to treat addiction, as well as synthetic cannabinoids. (Zraick, 1/4)
In news from Montana —
Billings Gazette: MT Bought More Than $1.5M In Cannabis On Opening Weekend Of Recreational Sales
The recreational cannabis market in Montana topped $1.5 million in sales in its first weekend, according to the state revenue department. With a statewide 20% sales tax on recreational cannabis, that opening weekend haul — $1,566,980 — amounts to $313,396 in tax revenue for the state. The Department of Revenue's Cannabis Control Division tallied a combined total of $1,999,597 with recreational and medical sales last Saturday and Sunday. The 4% tax on the $432,617 in medical sales provided an additional $17,305 in tax revenue to the state. (Larson, 1/4)
KHN: Medical Marijuana Users Brace For Shortages As Montana’s Recreational Market Opens
More than a year after voters approved legalizing marijuana for recreational use in Montana, anyone older than 21 can now enter a dispensary and buy cannabis. That has medical marijuana user Joylynn Mane Wright worried. Wright lives in Prairie County, the state’s fifth-least-populated county, with nearly 1,100 people. She already drives about 35 minutes to get to the marijuana dispensary nearest her home, which is 2½ hours northeast of Billings. And now she wonders how much more difficult it will be to get the cannabis she uses to relieve the chronic pain she developed after a 2017 spinal surgery. (Franz, 1/5)
In other news from across the U.S. —
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Ford Says Nevada Will Rejoin Multistate Opioid Settlement
Nevada will reverse course and rejoin a $26 billion multistate settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers in light of recent court decisions and other changes that could delay the state receiving funds, Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Tuesday. Ford said that the state would receive some $285 million through a pair of settlements. “After multiple new developments, I ultimately decided that it was in Nevada’s best interest to join this settlement,” Ford said in a streamed press conference Tuesday. (Dentzer, 1/4)
Kansas City Star: Kelly Calls For Review Of KS Mental Hospital After Escapes
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is calling for an expedited independent security review of Larned State Hospital, a psychiatric facility that treats criminal offenders, after two of its patients escaped within the past six months. The Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services, which oversees the hospital, announced Tuesday an ongoing effort to find an external investigative firm. That review aims to comprehensively assess the problems with the hospital and “produce recommendations to improve security and keep Kansans safe,” Kelly said. “This administration is taking action to identify and fix the flaws that allowed two dangerous residents to escape from a state-operated facility, to ensure that it does not happen again,” Kelly said in a statement. (Lukitsch, 1/4)
KHN: With Sexually Transmitted Infections Off The Charts, California Pushes At-Home Tests
California has become the first state to require health insurance plans to cover at-home tests for sexually transmitted infections such as HIV, chlamydia and syphilis — which could help quell the STI epidemic that has raged nearly unchecked as public health departments have focused on covid-19. The rule, part of a broader law addressing the STI epidemic, took effect Jan. 1 for people with state-regulated private insurance plans and will kick in sometime later for the millions of low-income Californians enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. (Bluth, 1/5)
AP: Bills Open Window For Anderson Victims To Sue U Of Michigan
More than 1,000 sexual abuse victims of a University of Michigan sports doctor would get a window in which they could sue the school for damages under new bills that the Legislature will consider. It is the second time since 2018 that the state might retroactively open a period for lawsuits to proceed if abuse occurred under the guise of medical treatment. Similar legislation was enacted following the conviction of former women’s national gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar, who molested hundreds of girls and women, including at Michigan State University. (Eggert, 1/4)
The Washington Post: D.C. Students Will Get Free Pads And Tampons In School Bathrooms
D.C. students will have access to free pads and tampons in school bathrooms, under legislation approved Tuesday by the D.C. Council. The bill, which was introduced by Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) — whose 2020 council campaign focused on the need for the legislature to better include the perspectives of women — requires public and private schools to stock period products in every girls’ and non-gender-specific bathroom in middle and high schools. (Weil, 1/4)
