New York last week legalized adult-use recreational marijuana and now it’s New Mexico’s turn to ease access to legal weed. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would sign the bill passed by the state legislature, which had been called in to special session to pass the legalization measure. Much like other states that have legalized pot, the governor hailed the social-justice implications of legalization as well as purported benefits such as job and tax revenue creation—without mentioning the possible risks to public health that other states have already experienced. The state expects to get about $20 million annually but only 2023 when the market is fully established.
Meanwhile, a new study finds that the dangerous mix of cocaine and opioids are increasingly responsible for the surge in drug overdose deaths, which at 88,000 over a 12-month period are at a record high. The study showed that more than 75 percent of cocaine-related overdose fatalities also involved one or more opioids in 2019. At the same time, opioid deaths linked to meth and fentanyl use are also on the rise.
And finally, the Hollywood Reporter writers that Michael Sackler, an heir to the Sackler family fortune from OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, is trying to cultivate a new image by becoming an ethically-responsible investor. In the article, Sackler asserts that he is innocent of involvement with the family firm and its aggressive marketing of prescription painkillers that contributed to the opioid epidemic. But it also points out that this next generation Sackler did in fact play an integral role in the family’s crisis-management efforts as it came under pressure in lawsuits and in the media to take responsibility for its actions and pay compensation to victims.