Who will President Biden pick to be the nation’s “drug czar”? Speculation is growing he’ll tap former West Virginia health commissioner Rahul Gupta for the job, which coordinates national drug policy. Gupta, now a top official at the advocacy group March of Dimes, won praise for tackling opioid overdose in the state, and is backed by influential West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. But Gupta was also criticized during his tenure for shutting down a needle exchange program aimed at reducing the transmission of HIV/AIDS. The drug czar post may be brought back to a cabinet-level position, an appropriate move at a time when drug overdose fatalities have reached a record level and Biden is promising a robust response to the opioid epidemic.
Meanwhile, concern is growing over the growing number of overdose deaths among Latinos. Although CDC does not classify deaths by race, data has recently emerged about higher rates among certain groups, including Blacks and Latinos. In Maryland, for example, deaths last year related to opioid use among Latinos increased 27.3 percent among Latinos, compared to 13 percent for non-Hispanic whites. Latino adults have experienced more depression and suicidal thoughts than other groups during the pandemic, according to a CDC report, and there is a shortage of bilingual behavioral health professionals.
And finally, New Jersey lawmakers are still haggling over the state’s new marijuana legalization law. Potential amendments include provisions on workplace rules and underage use, which now allows law enforcement to notify parents—but only after a second or third offense. Critics say this unfairly binds the hands of police and leaves parents in the dark about drug use.