First Edition: May 9, 2023

KFF Health News: Legal Pot Is More Potent Than Ever — And Still Largely Unregulated 
Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plant’s main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available. Although decades ago the THC content of weed was commonly less than 1.5%, some products on the market today are more than 90% THC. (Hilzenrath, 5/9)

KFF Health News: California Debates Extending PTSD Coverage To More First Responders
A paramedic for about 30 years, Susan Farren knew all was not well with first responders: Eight of her colleagues had died by suicide. Others had grappled with substance abuse or gone through painful divorces. So, in 2018, Farren founded a nonprofit in Santa Rosa to train and support emergency personnel struggling with trauma and stress. Hundreds of firefighters, police officers, and other first responders have since availed themselves of the organization’s timely help. (Sciacca, 5/9)

The Hill: Uvalde Families Cheer After Two Republicans Help Advance Texas ‘Raise The Age’ Bill
The families of the Uvalde school shooting victims erupted in cheers after two Republican state legislators voted to advance a bill that would raise the minimum age limit to buy semiautomatic rifles in Texas. Two Republicans joined Democrats in the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety to approve the “raise the age” gun bill in an 8-5 vote and advance it to the House floor. After they voted, families of the victims of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting could be heard cheering and sobbing in videos reported by KXAN News. (Sforza, 5/8)

The New York Times: In Shift, Texas House Advances Bill To Raise Age To Buy Assault Weapons 
The preliminary vote was remarkable in a State Capitol dominated by Republicans, all the more so because it had been entirely unexpected: When the day began, the 13-member committee had not been scheduled to meet at all. (Goodman, 5/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Mauricio Garcia, Gunman In Texas Mass Shooting, Was Terminated By Army For Mental-Health Issues 
The gunman authorities said was responsible for the deaths of eight in Allen, Texas, was terminated by the Army for mental-health reasons three months after he enlisted in 2008, and recent social-media postings officials are examining show links to white-supremacist views. (Kesling, Gurman and Flores, 5/8)

NPR: Teens' Social Media Use Should Be Monitored By Parents, APA Says
For the first time, the American Psychological Association has issued recommendations for guiding teenager's use of social media. The advisory, released Tuesday, is aimed at teens, parents, teachers and policy makers. This comes at a time when teenagers are facing high rates of depression, anxiety and loneliness. And, as NPR has reported, there's mounting evidence that social media can exacerbate and even cause these problems. (Doucleff, 5/9)

NBC News: Teens Should Be Trained In Media Literacy And Limit Their Screen Time, Psychologists Say
“There is a lot of talk about social media these days, including some suggestions that do not fit with the science,” said APA chief science officer Mitch Prinstein, a co-chair of the advisory panel that developed the recommendations. “We are releasing this report now to offer a science-based and balanced perspective on this issue so all stakeholders can make decisions based on our expertise regarding benefits and potential risks associated with social media.” (Rosenblatt, 5/9)

ABC News: FDA Advisory Committees Meeting To Discuss Over-The-Counter Birth Control
Advisory committees of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are meeting Tuesday and Wednesday to review the first-ever application for an over-the-counter birth control pill. At a joint meeting, the Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee will discuss whether pharmaceutical company Perrigo can make its oral contraceptive Opill, which currently requires a prescription, to be available on store shelves. (Kekatos, 5/9)

AP: Abortion Clinics In 3 States Sue To Protect Pill Access
Abortion providers in three states filed a lawsuit Monday aimed at preserving access to the abortion pill mifepristone, even as the drug is threatened by a separate Texas lawsuit winding its way through U.S. court system. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Virginia on behalf of clinics in Virginia, Montana and Kansas, is the latest legal action over the decades-old pill, which is part of the two-drug regimen used in most U.S. abortions. (Perrone and Lavoie, 5/8)

Reuters: Abortion Pill Case To Be Heard By Conservative, Anti-Abortion Panel 
A case brought by anti-abortion groups seeking to ban the abortion pill mifepristone nationwide will be heard next week by a panel of three deeply conservative judges hostile to abortion rights, a federal appeals court revealed on Monday. ... The administration will be appealing to Circuit Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod, who upheld a Texas law making it more difficult for abortion clinics to operate in the state; James Ho, who has called abortion a "moral tragedy"; and Cory Wilson, who supported abortion bans as a Mississippi state legislator. (Pierson and Thomsen, 5/8)

AP: Abortion-Restriction Effort Reintroduced In Nebraska 
A new effort was introduced late Monday in the Nebraska Legislature to restrict abortion access in the state, less than two weeks after a bill that would have banned abortion at around six weeks of pregnancy failed to overcome a filibuster. The new plan to ban abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy drew fervent protests from opponents who had been assured by Speaker of the Legislature Sen. John Arch that the abortion proposal was dead for the session. (Beck, 5/9)

AP: Ohio Constitution Overhaul Faces Deadline, Backlash 
An effort by a Republican faction in Ohio to make it harder to change the state constitution faces a critical juncture this week, with action needed in the politically fractured Ohio House where the undertaking has so far stalled. ... Abortion rights groups are working to put forward a ballot measure in November that would permanently enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution. Certain GOP lawmakers are working to set a special election in August where voters could choose to curtail their own rights to bypass lawmakers on that and other subjects. Its backers argue publicly that the supermajority requirement will prevent deep-pocketed interest groups from targeting Ohio’s founding document, but documents and other evidence have made clear that the push is aimed at tanking the abortion measure. (Smyth, 5/9)

The Hill: Trump Meets With Prominent Anti-Abortion Group Following Criticism
Former President Trump met with the prominent anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America on Monday after the group criticized Trump for his stance on abortion restrictions. “During the meeting, President Trump reiterated his opposition to the extreme Democratic position of abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers — and even in some cases after the child is born,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “President Trump believes such a position is unworthy of a great nation and believes the American people will rebel against such a radical position that aligns us with China and North Korea.” (Vakil, 5/8)

The Washington Post: TB Cases Rise, CDC Says, Spotlighting An Increase Among Young Children 
In 2022, 8,300 cases of tuberculosis were identified in the United States, marking a 5 percent increase from the year before, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 2022 rebound in TB cases included a 26 percent increase in TB diagnoses in children 4 or younger — from 160 cases in 2021 to 202 last year. That increase is concerning, CDC officials said in a news release, because cases in that age group are usually the result of recent transmission rather than reactivation of a long-standing latent infection. (Searing, 5/8)

NBC News: Rise Of Mpox Cases In Chicago Raises Concern About Possible Summer Spread
A recent uptick in mpox diagnoses in Chicago, some of them in people vaccinated against the virus, has raised concerns about a possible increase in cases among gay and bisexual men during the summer. (Ryan, 5/9)

Axios: COVID Test Kits From Insurance End May 11 With Public Health Emergency
With the pandemic public health emergency ending Thursday, time is quickly running out for most people to get COVID-19 tests covered by insurance. The end of the federal government’s health emergency that began in March 2020 will shift who pays for the testing kits and some COVID-19 treatments. (Tyko, 5/8)

Stat: Bernie Sanders On Insulin Costs And Generic Drug Negotiations
Wednesday’s Senate hearing on high costs for insulin “is not the end” of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plans for drug pricing interrogations, he told STAT in an interview. But it will be a show. The Vermont independent is bringing executives from drugmakers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, along with pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts, OptumRx and CVS Health, to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee this week. (Owermohle, 5/9)

AP: US Backs Study Of Safe Injection Sites, Overdose Prevention 
For the first time, the U.S. government will pay for a large study measuring whether overdoses can be prevented by so-called safe injection sites, places where people can use heroin and other illegal drugs and be revived if they take too much. The grant provides more than $5 million over four years to New York University and Brown University to study two sites in New York City and one opening next year in Providence, Rhode Island. (Johnson, 5/8)

The Washington Post: Overdose Prevention Centers Are Tough Sell In U.S. Despite Successes 
Addiction experts and others regard the facilities as ways to reach people who use drugs where they are — and keep them alive — despite questions about the sites’ legality under federal law. But even with the success of New York City’s OnPoint NYC, the only government-sanctioned program operating in this country, such facilities are proving a tough sell over concerns they encourage drug use, crime and neighborhood blight. (Ovalle, 5/8)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Rule On Caregiver Wages Gets Blowback From Providers
Home care providers are pushing back on part of a proposed rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requiring states to spend 80% of Medicaid home- and community-based services funds on caregiver wages. The proposal is aimed at attracting and retaining more direct care workers as the industry continues to face severe staffing challenges due to high demand for in-home care from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some providers say they could be forced to pause hiring, cut workers or go out of business if they are unable to use home- and community-based services funds for staff training and administrative costs. (Eastabrook, 5/8)

Modern Healthcare: How The FTC's Noncompete Ban Could Apply To Nonprofit Hospitals
While the legislation that created the Federal Trade Commission may shield nonprofit entities from the agency’s oversight, some former FTC staffers say the commission could invoke other laws to prevent individual nonprofit hospitals from using noncompete provisions in employment contracts. (Kacik, 5/8)

The New York Times: Corporate Giants Buy Up Primary Care Practices At Rapid Pace 
It’s no surprise that the shortage of primary care doctors — who are critically important to the health of Americans — is getting worse. They practice in one of medicine’s lowest paid, least glamorous fields. Most are overworked, seeing as many as 30 people a day; figuring out when a sore throat is a strep infection, or managing a patient’s chronic diabetes. (Abelson, 5/8)

NBC News: Stressed Out And Burned Out: Younger Nurses Feel Strain Of Nursing Shortage
It's unusual for Emma Cooper, a nurse who cares for women after they've given birth, to be proud of the work she does every day. "To have a patient sitting in front of me crying because they feel that they haven't been taught how to feed their baby is so upsetting," Cooper, of Portland, Maine, said. (Edwards, 5/8)

Stat: Doctors Support Expanded Newborn Genomic Screening
Plummeting costs of DNA sequencing technologies are injecting urgency into the longstanding debate over whether to dive deeper into the genomes of more infants — even apparently healthy ones. (Molteni, 5/8)

Stat: What To Know About The FDA Hearing On Sarepta's Gene Therapy
On Friday, a committee of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss Sarepta Therapeutics’ closely watched experimental gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It will be the first FDA advisory panel hearing for a Duchenne drug from Sarepta since 2016, when hundreds of patients and family members traveled to the FDA campus in Maryland to plead with experts to authorize an earlier therapy from the company despite limited evidence. (Mast, 5/9)

Stat: Obesity Experts On Risks Of Wegovy, Ozempic Weight Loss Drugs
Amid rising demand for drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, and Mounjaro that can lead to significant weight loss, some obesity experts are concerned about the drugs’ costs — both to patients’ finances and to their health. (Castillo, 5/8)

CBS News: Magic Mushroom Guides In Oregon Face Uncertain Trip Ahead
In the last few weeks, dozens of students have graduated from schools in Oregon where they were trained to guide people through magic mushroom trips that can last as long as six hours. At one school, an alpaca farmer, a social worker, an ER nurse and a nutritionist were all in the same class, attempting to learn the tricks of a new trade. (Doan, 5/8)

AP: Minnesota Senate Approves Paid Family And Medical Leave Plan
The Minnesota Senate approved a plan Monday to entitle workers across the state to paid leave when they’re sick or caring for relatives who are ill. While Senate Democrats hold only a one-seat majority, paid family and medical leave has been a priority of the party for several years, and the final 34-33 vote followed party lines. The proposal passed the House last week on a 68-64 vote, and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is expected to sign the final version that emerges from a House-Senate conference committee. (Karnowski, 5/8)

North Carolina Health News: Medicaid Is An ‘Expensive Proposition’ For Free Clinics
For nearly 20 years, uninsured people in the Sandhills have turned to Moore Free and Charitable Clinic for medical services. Operating in a converted warehouse at the end of an unassuming road near Pinehurst in Moore County, the clinic provides free or low-cost care to patients with diabetes, hypertension and other chronic illnesses. Construction is underway to add a dental treatment area to the facility. (Baxley, 5/9)

Los Angeles Times: New Cigarettes May Violate California's Flavored Tobacco Ban
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has issued warnings to two tobacco companies, stating that they may be in violation of the state’s ban on flavored products, a measure upheld by nearly two-thirds of voters last year. (Arredondo, 5/8)

Military Times: The Marine Corps Will Once Again Require Troops To Get Breathalyzed
Marine units must once again conduct random breathalyzer tests on assigned troops, following a years-long pause in the program because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because Marines must blow into the apparatus, the federal government’s COVID-19 emergency policies had “necessitated” a halt to the testing of on-duty Marines for alcohol via breathalyzer, according to a Marine administrative message. But with the public health emergency officially ending May 11, units are required to resume the testing by June, if they haven’t done so already. (Loewenson, 5/8)

Reuters: Global Push To Tackle Maternal And Newborn Deaths Has Stalled, WHO Report Finds 
Progress in reducing deaths during pregnancy and childbirth and among newborn infants has stalled since 2015, and over 60 countries are on track to miss 2030 targets at current rates, a World Health Organization report released on Tuesday found. The COVID-19 pandemic, poverty, and worsening humanitarian crises have strained already pressured healthcare systems, the U.N. agency said in a statement. (5/9)