Los Angeles was once seen as a potential showcase for the nascent marijuana industry in California, which legalized recreational pot in 2018 and was poised to become the world’s largest legal market for the drug. But it hasn’t turned out that way. In L.A., illicit trade continues despite legal marijuana dispensaries. And a much- touted program to encourage social-equity and minority-owned pot businesses—to help communities disproportionately impacted by the long-running war on drugs—has been slow to take shape.
While the city council proposes changes to laws regulating the market, the failure of the cannabis industry in L.A. is further evidence that legalization is not a cure-all for many problems facing state governments, including a shortfall in tax revenues and social inequality.
Meanwhile, a thoughtful op-ed in The Hill by Dr. Adam Bruggeman, an addiction medicine physician in Texas, argues that in order to fight the opioid epidemic, we must all work together—including physicians, patients, the government and insurance companies. He points out that only a small fraction of physicians are certified to prescribe addiction medications, and that and insurance companies should re-evaluate the high cost of treatment to make it more widely available.
And finally, a new CDC report says nearly 11 percent of adult Americans over the age of 20 used prescription painkillers between 2015 and 2018. Prescription opioid use was higher among women than men, and use increased with age—important data that can be used to determine further measures to control prescription opioid use.