Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Judge Urged To Lift Stay On Smokable Marijuana In Florida By Pro-Medical Pot Plaintiffs
Orlando Sentinel: Smokable-Pot Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Overturn Delay In Ruling
After a Leon County circuit judge ruled last week that smokable marijuana is allowed under a 2016 constitutional amendment, the plaintiffs in the case are asking her to lift a delay of her ruling that was automatically imposed when the Florida Department of Health appealed. People United for Medical Marijuana and other plaintiffs, including patients with Lou Gehrig’s disease and HIV, filed a motion late Tuesday asking Circuit Judge Karen Gievers to clear the way for her ruling on smokable marijuana to take effect. (Saunders, 5/30)
Stateline: Drugged Driving Deaths Spike With Spread Of Legal Marijuana, Opioid Abuse
As legal marijuana spreads and the opioid epidemic rages on, the number of drugged drivers killed in car crashes is rising dramatically, according to a report released today. Forty-four percent of fatally injured drivers tested for drugs had positive results in 2016, the Governors Highway Safety Association found, up more than 50 percent compared with a decade ago. More than half the drivers tested positive for marijuana, opioids or a combination of the two. (Bergal, 5/31)
The New York Times: They Let Their 15-Year-Old Son Smoke Pot To Stop His Seizures. Georgia Took Him Away.
The pharmaceuticals weren’t working. The 15-year-old boy was having several seizures per day, and his parents were concerned his life was in danger. So Suzeanna and Matthew Brill, of Macon, Ga., decided in February to let their son try smoking marijuana — and his seizures stopped for 71 days, they say. But Georgia is not among the states that have legalized medical marijuana, and the Brills’ decision led to the boy, David, being taken away from his parents, who face possible fines and jail time after being charged with reckless conduct for giving him the drug. (Victor, 5/30)
The Associated Press: Easy Entry Into Oregon's Legal Pot Market Means Huge Surplus
When Oregon lawmakers created the state’s legal marijuana program, they had one goal in mind above all else: to convince illicit pot growers to leave the black market. That meant low barriers to entry that also targeted long-standing medical marijuana growers, whose product is not taxed. As a result, weed production boomed — with a bitter consequence. (Flaccus, 5/31)
Chicago Sun Times: Cannabis-Based Autism Treatments Front And Center At Suburban Conference
Traditional medications tend to target the symptoms of a condition, but CBD goes after the cause of those symptoms, he said. Pharmaceuticals generally stimulate or block receptors to provide their function, while cannabis-based treatments change or adjust receptors in the brain. This means CBD can be used to treat a range of disorders, including anxiety, depression and epilepsy — which affects about a third of people diagnosed with autism. (Schuba, 5/30)
