Marijuana Addiction Is Surging, But Experts Are Having Hard Time Convincing People It Even Exists

Stateline: Yes, You Can Become Addicted To Marijuana. And The Problem Is Growing.
Many people are unaware of marijuana addiction. But in the public health and medical communities, it is a well-defined disorder that includes physical withdrawal symptoms, cravings and psychological dependence. Many say it is on the rise, perhaps because of the increasing potency of genetically engineered plants and the use of concentrated products, or because more marijuana users are partaking multiple times a day. ...Although estimates of the number of people who have ever tried marijuana or who use it regularly vary widely from survey to survey, the federal government and the marijuana industry tend to agree that total marijuana use has remained relatively constant over the past decade. Increased use in the past three years has been slight, despite increased commercial availability in states that have legalized it. (Vestal, 6/6)

Kaiser Health News: With The Rise Of Legal Weed, Drug Education Moves From ‘Don’t’ To ‘Delay’
California legalized marijuana in 2016, and this past New Year’s Eve eager customers lined up in the darkness outside medical marijuana dispensaries across the state, ready to start shopping at the stroke of midnight. The effect has gone beyond the cannabis cash register. Everyone has seen the ads or heard the chatter — and that includes minors, though marijuana remains illegal for those under 21. (Feibel, 6/7)

The Hill: Ebola Outbreak Appears To Be Slowing In Congo As Vaccines Spread
Early signs suggest that an Ebola outbreak in Congo, which has killed 27 people since erupting in a remote rural village two months ago, is being contained before it can spread further. Fifty-eight suspected or confirmed cases have been documented in the Equateur Province, a few hundred miles up the Congo River from the capital, Kinshasa. In recent days, two more victims have died, and five new suspected cases — all of whom had contact with someone else with the virus — have been identified. (Wilson, 6/6)

The New York Times: Highly Educated, Very Nearsighted?
The more years of schooling you have, the higher your risk for nearsightedness. Observational studies have suggested a link between education and myopia. But a new study used a genetic technique called Mendelian randomization to minimize the effect of several variables and provide stronger evidence of cause and effect. (Bakalar, 6/6)

NPR: A Clinic Creating 3-Parent-Babies In Ukraine Stirs Controversy
In a clinic on a side street in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, doctors are doing something that, as far as is publicly known, is being done nowhere else in the world: using DNA from three different people to create babies for women who are infertile. "If you can help these families to achieve their own babies, why it must be forbidden?" Dr. Valery Zukin, director of the Nadiya Clinic, asks as he peers over his glasses. "It is a dream to want to have a genetic connection with a baby." (Stein, 6/6)

NPR: Mother Of '3-Parent Baby' Shares Her Story
On the third floor of a big Soviet-era apartment building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, the mother of one of the world's first babies created with DNA from three different people cracks open her door. "Hello; my name is Tamara," she whispers, to avoid waking her son from his nap. Her name isn't really Tamara. She asked me to call her that to protect her family's privacy. She knows how unusual — and controversial — her baby might be to some people. (Stein, 6/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Tobacco’s Bet On A Smokeless Cigarette Cools
Big tobacco hoped a promising start for a new cigarette alternative in Japan could be replicated elsewhere, but slowing sales there have sparked concerns about whether smokers the world over will switch. Japan’s smoking culture and love of gadgets have made it a test market for Philip Morris International Inc. and other big tobacco companies for new devices that mimic the sensation of smoking but heat the tobacco rather than burn it. (Chaudhuri and Fujikawa, 6/6)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Hepatitis C Patients Routinely Denied Drugs In 45 States, A Penn Study Shows
Hepatitis C patients are routinely being denied access to life-saving medication at a time when the liver disease is on the rise, especially among intravenous drug users, according to new analysis by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. ...Half of patients with private insurance were denied coverage for the pill regimen, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, according to a review of thousands of prescription claims between January 2016 and April 2017. (Gantz, 6/6)

Sacramento Bee: A Liver Disease You've Never Heard Of Is Putting 12 Million Americans' Lives At Risk
Liver specialists say there’s a form of hepatitis that is sneaking up on about 12 percent of the U.S. population, an estimated 25 million Americans, and they want to urge primary-care providers to send patients for testing earlier in the game. Called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH for short, it does not result from drug use, alcoholism, sexual contact, water contaminants or viruses. Rather this particular liver condition occurs when too much fat is stored in liver cells. (Anderson, 6/7)

Stat: After Malpractice Caps, Doctors Ordered Fewer Invasive Heart Tests
Apatient comes into a hospital emergency department, troubled by chest pain that comes and goes. The doctor asks some questions, draws on clinical experience, and orders a test to rule out — or in — a heart attack. That test could be a stress test that tracks the patient with an electrocardiogram while running on a treadmill. Or it could be a more specific but also more invasive test: an angiography that reveals blocked coronary arteries on X-ray after the patient has been injected with dye. (Cooney, 6/6)

Kaiser Health News: Facebook Live: Sorting Out The Truth About Vitamins
Did you remember to take your vitamins? For more than half of Americans who take vitamin supplements — 68 percent of whom are 65 or older — this is a regular, even daily, question. But whether it’s vitamin E, vitamin D, fish oil or folic acid, among others, how much of a difference do they really make in terms of fending off chronic illnesses and helping people stay healthy? KHN senior correspondent Liz Szabo will explore some of the fact and fiction associated with vitamin regimens and whether early reports of potential benefits tends to outpace scientific evidence. (6/6)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: What You Need To Know About The News On Breast Cancer And Chemo
KHN senior correspondent Liz Szabo discusses the news that as many as 70 percent of women with early-stage breast cancer may not need chemotherapy. Szabo joined host Joshua Johnson and two cancer experts on WAMU’s radio show “1A” on Tuesday. (6/7)