Viewpoints: Vaping Deaths Require Federal Government To Control Cannabis Policy; Alzheimer’s Impacts All Races, So Why Is There Little Research On Hispanics, African Americans?
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
The Wall Street Journal:
Pot Legalization Makes Vaping Deadly
Doctors have linked a tragic wave of lung injuries and deaths to the vaping of tainted marijuana concentrates. The episode reveals the dangers created by the federal government’s decadelong refusal to challenge state laws legalizing pot and promoting risky uses of its derivatives. (Scott Gottlieb, 10/10)
Stat:
Alzheimer's Research Must Include Latinos And African-Americans
Closing the inclusion gap will be no small feat. UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, the organization we work with, recently analyzed more than 300 peer-reviewed studies of non-drug interventions for Alzheimer’s and dementia. Just under 4% of them focused on communities of color. Overall, just 5% of the studies included even a general strategy for recruiting underrepresented communities. This is startling given the fact that African Americans are two to three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than non-Hispanic whites, while Latinos are 1.5 times more likely. (Jason Resendez and Stephanie Monroe, 101/11)
Orlando Sentinel/Tampa Bay Tribune:
U.S. Surgeons General: Dementia Is Our Top Public Health Crisis
Over the span of more than 20 years and three presidents, as surgeons general we’ve confronted more than our fair share of devastating public health crises, from emerging infections like bird flu, SARS, the H1N1 pandemic, and Ebola, to the opioid crisis and national-preparedness issues like hurricanes and terrorist attacks. All of them are tragic. Each caused governments and private organizations to rally to understand the threat, inform the public, develop solutions, and minimize the impact as much as possible on American families and the economy. (Drs. Richard Carmona, Jocelyn Elders, Antonia Novello and David Satcher, 10/10)
The New York Times:
A Supreme Court Abortion Case That Tests The Court Itself
Under the rules that normally govern the American judicial system, the Louisiana abortion law at the center of a case the Supreme Court added to its docket last week is flagrantly unconstitutional. My goal in this column is to make visible not only the stakes in the case but also Louisiana’s strategy for saving its law, the first of a wave of anti-abortion measures to reach a Supreme Court transformed by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the addition of two justices appointed by President Donald Trump. (Linda Greenhouse, 10/10)
The Hill:
World Mental Health Day — California Takes Initiative In Battling Depression
Today is World Mental Health Day. And, California, a state with 10 percent of the U.S. population, just announced that it’s introducing the first toll-free statewide mental health line for non-emergency emotional support and referrals. What a wonderful way to kick off this occasion. This Peer-Run Warm Line is a reason to celebrate. As a psychologist, I’ve witnessed first-hand the emotional pains people carry, and how hard it is for them to come in for formal therapy. (Joan Cook, 10/10)
Des Moines Register:
Iowa's Law Contributes To The Shortage Of Mental Health Care
This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and it’s not a time to pity those with mental illness. It’s a time to assess what works, and what doesn’t, in our mental health system. In Iowa, the situation for the mentally ill is dire: There is a desperate shortage of inpatient mental health hospital beds in the state. Yet, for example, when a private company sought to build a new 72-bed facility in Bettendorf, using its own money, it was blocked for more than two years because of Iowa’s certificate of need law. (Mark Flatten, 10/10)
The New York Times:
You Know Someone Who’s Had A Miscarriage
As many as 15 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. That amounts to hundreds of thousands of miscarriages in America each year. (10/10)
Los Angeles Times:
When Housing Homeless People Meets Your Backyard
When Pilar Schiavo got word that a homeless housing project might be going up near her daughter’s school, Chatsworth Park Elementary, she went on the parents’ Facebook page “to ask some questions and get the facts.” Four hours later, Schiavo logged off — still short on facts, and chastened by an online juggernaut of parents rallying to block the project. (Sandy Banks, 10/10)
