The Daily Briefing 7.2.2021

As the first jury trial in nationwide opioid litigation gets underway in New York’s Long Island, jurors will be asked to decide whether drugmakers and drug distributors created a public health crisis and should pay for it—possibly as much as $57 billion for the opioid manufacturers alone. Prosecutors say the companies illegally marketed the highly addictive prescription painkillers and ignored warning signs and suspiciously large orders, leading to more than 500,000 overdose deaths over the past two decades. Jurors on Long Island will be familiar with the crisis, as Suffolk County on Long Island was hard hit by drug overdoses. Other opioid lawsuits are taking place in California and West Virginia, part of thousands of cases across the country to gain compensation from companies accused of fueling the epidemic.

Meanwhile, school districts say they have collectively spent at least $127 billion helping students affected by the opioid epidemic, and are pushing in court to receive compensation as well from the opioid industry. Lawyers representing the schools say the figure almost certainly underestimates the true cost of special education services and social-emotional supports for students whose physical, mental, and emotional health was hurt by the crisis.

And finally, an editorial in the Stamford Advocate newspaper in Connecticut calls on state leaders to use the potential windfall from opioid lawsuits for stopping addiction. With opioid overdose deaths in Connecticut soaring from 298 in 2012 to 1,273 last year, the editorial says the money should not be siphoned off for other purposes, as the state does with funds from the $27.5 billion tobacco settlement in 1998. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed a “lockbox” bill that guarantees such funds will go exclusively to addiction prevention and treatment.

The Daily Briefing 6.30.2021

Colorado was a pioneer legal marijuana state when it decriminalized the drug in 2014, amid great expectations it would usher in a new era of economic prosperity and social justice, and eliminate the black market. It may have succeeded on some levels, with cannabis sales soaring—especially during the pandemic—but for public health, it has been an abject failure, according to a comprehensive review by the Hudson Institute. The black market is flourishing, youth usage and college-age use have increased, as has the use of other drugs, suicides, traffic fatalities, and THC concentrations in marijuana products. “There’s a high cost to making an addictive substance a commercial product,” the report concludes.

With that in mind, it’s not surprising that Colorado Governor Polis has just signed a bipartisan bill that reins in the powerful cannabis industry in the state, and places long-overdue restrictions on THC levels—reducing them to one-fifth of what they currently are— and youth access to medical marijuana. The law also mandates specific warning labels and real-time monitoring of sales, all in response to a report by Colorado physicians concerning the impact of pot on youth mental health, including an “alarming” rise in the number of psychotic episodes among young people using marijuana concentrates.

And finally, conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas may be an unlikely hero of the marijuana legalization movement, after he attacked the federal ban on marijuana and questioned whether the government has the authority to intrude on state-legal cannabis markets. His views appeared in a statement, not a court ruling, but do indicate how he would likely decide if the push for lifting the federal ban ends up before the Court.

The Daily Briefing 6.29.2021

The first jury trial in nationwide opioid litigation opens in New York today, with leading drug manufacturers and drug distributors accused of fueling the ongoing opioid epidemic that has claimed more than 800,000 lives over the past two decades. The case, brought by Nassau and Suffolk counties, is one of several thousand lawsuits brought by states, counties, Native Tribes, and the federal government seeking compensation for the devastation caused by the crisis. Other trials underway in West Virginia and California are before a judge, but in New York prosecutors will tell the jury about the machinery that powered a drug scourge via overdoses of prescription and street opioids. Pharmacy chains were also named in the New York complaint, but they reached a settlement before the trial opened, as many companies in the wide-ranging litigation have already done. Last year, a record 90,000 Americans died from a drug overdose, the majority opioid-related.

Meanwhile, a “lockbox” bill that would guarantee that funds from opioid settlements would go only toward education, prevention, and drug treatment is still on Governor Cuomo’s desk. The bipartisan measure would change the usual practice of placing the money in the state’s general fund, which could divert funding for other purposes.

And finally, in another legal development, e-cigarette maker Juul has reached a $40 million settlement in a North Carolina case, in which the once industry-leading company was accused of deceptive marketing practices that contributed to a wave of teen nicotine addiction. Thirteen other states have filed similar lawsuits against Juul, alleging that its sleek vaping device—originally aimed at helping smokers quit—actually targeted teens and young adults who had never smoked and hooked them on nicotine and marijuana.

The Daily Briefing 6.28.2021

With the support of the Biden administration, Congress has for the first time allocated funding for harm-reduction services, prompting renewed debate about this controversial approach to help substance users. Harm reduction programs can include overdose prevention, distribution of clean syringes, and so-called safe consumption sites with healthcare professionals on hand to provide assistance if needed. Such facilities can save lives and prevent the spread of disease, and they also offer information about drug treatment and referral services. But they usually do not but do not require patients to enter treatment, a flaw that makes them less effective than they could be to assist more individuals struggling with substance abuse to get clean.

Meanwhile, nearly five months into Oregon’s initiative to decriminalize hard drugs and expand treatment, the first results are discouraging. Under the law, anyone caught with heroin or other illicit substances receives a citation (akin to a parking ticket) and $100 fine, which is waived if the individual agrees to get a health screening through an addiction recovery hotline. So far, just 29 people have called the hotline, as there is no mandatory treatment.

And finally, Johnson & Johnson has agreed pay New York State $230 million to resolve an opioid lawsuit against the drug company, one of thousands of such cases that are pending against opioid makers, drug distributors and pharmacy chains for their role in the opioid epidemic. The New York deal came on the eve of a jury trial in the state, and may boost efforts to reach a master settlement similar to the $206 billion agreement in the 1990s against tobacco companies.

The Daily Briefing 6.24.2021

Now that Connecticut has legalized recreational marijuana, how long will it be before the last two holdouts in New England—Rhode Island and New Hampshire—fall in line and allow legal weed? Marijuana supporters say the victory in Connecticut will grease the wheels for the final two states, believing that the lure of tax revenues and new jobs will spur legislators to take action. If Rhode Island and New Hampshire do move in that direction, they should take a page from the Connecticut law that includes much stricter guardrails and protections for public health than in many other legal states. Defying the powerful cannabis industry, lawmakers approved rules including a cap on intoxicating THC levels and an opt-out provision that allows municipalities to ban not only dispensaries but also home-delivery services.

Meanwhile, a Congressional committee has blasted the FDA for lax oversight of the vaping industry, and is urging the agency director to crackdown on e-cigarette manufacturers. The FDA is currently assessing new rules on vaping, after allowing the sale of flavored vaping products, so long as the device cannot be refilled—an approach many say contributed to a youth vaping epidemic of disposable products.

And finally, a new United Nations report finds that the number of people using drugs globally is projected to rise 11 percent by 2030, fueled by the socioeconomic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as easier online drug accessibility. While the number of individuals with drug use disorders has increased, the report noted, the availability of treatment interventions has remained low, with just one in eight of those suffering from drug use receiving professional help in 2019.

The Daily Briefing 6.23.2021

Connecticut became the 19th sate to legalize recreational marijuana, completing a Northeastern block of new legal weed states including New Jersey and New York. But unlike those states, Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill that includes unusually strong public health protections, including a 30 percent limit on levels of intoxicating THC—only the second state to do so after Vermont. In addition, advertising and products designed to appeal to children are forbidden, and municipalities can invoke an opt-out provision to not only prohibit dispensaries but also delivery services, and can set limits on the number of businesses, operating hours and signage. The safeguards are generally opposed by the powerful cannabis industry, but are increasingly being recognized as necessary as states—including Colorado—assess the impact of legal marijuana on health and vulnerable populations, including young people.

Meanwhile, a new study published in JAMA finds that increased marijuana use was associated with greater risks of thoughts of suicide, suicide plan, and suicide attempt among young adults ages 18-35. The large-scale study showed that the associations remained regardless of whether someone was also experiencing depression, and the risks were greater for women than for men. Even those who used cannabis on a non-daily basis were more likely to have suicidal ideation or attempt suicide than those who did not use the drug at all.

And finally, the city of Somerville, Mass., near Boston, is considering opening the country’s first supervised drug consumption site amid a 5 percent increase in drug overdose deaths in the state. Attempts to open such facilities—which provide medical attention, clean needles and overdose reversal drugs—have already faltered in New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia due to legal complications. Safe sites in other countries have proven to be effective to reduce overdose deaths and the transmission of infectious diseases, but are unlikely to engage users in drug treatment.

The Daily Briefing 6.22.2021

As New Yorkers go to the polls today to elect a new mayor, one of the leading candidates, Eric Adams, has expressed concern about the state’s new marijuana legalization law, saying it may “send the wrong message” to young people. Although Adams supports the law and legalization, he’s worried that it implies it’s okay to smoke a joint and go to school, or operate heavy equipment. He said it’s important to let people know about the medical benefits as well as the concerns related to marijuana. Legal pot has not been a hot topic during the mayoral campaign, except during one debate in which the candidates discussed whether to allow smoking the drug in public housing.

Meanwhile, implementing marijuana legalization in New York may be delayed due to a tussle between Governor Cuomo and his critics over his nominations to the marijuana control board. Some accuse Cuomo of not being fully committed to legalization, although he negotiated and signed the bill.

And finally, doctors report that an experimental treatment for drug addiction, known as deep brain stimulation, has helped one patient stay off drugs. If successful, the treatment—which involves inserting an electronic device in the brain—may also allow scientists to better understand the root causes of addiction and reduce the stigma that it is a moral failing. Yet for all the possibilities, deep brain stimulation does not address the psychological, social and socioeconomic factors that complicate the disease, and therefore remains on the outer edge of drug addiction therapy.

The Daily Briefing 6.21.2021

On the 50th anniversary of the War on Drugs, which began under President Richard Nixon, experts are looking back on the effort and assessing the impact—concluding that locking up individuals struggling with drug addiction was largely ineffective. As the nation continues to reel from multiple drug crises—including a record 90,000 drug overdoses last year—they say the war on drugs simply didn’t work, noting that the response to drugs should be handled by doctors and therapists, not cops and prison guards. Today, roughly 20.3 million people have a substance use disorder and nearly half of the inmates in federal prisons are held on drug charges. Meanwhile, America’s streets are flooded with more potent drugs than every before, such as meth and the synthetic opioid fentanyl, as well as high-potency marijuana concentrates. Instead of punishing drug users, many states now advocate decriminalizing all drugs, which would have to be accompanied by mandatory treatment to have the most impact.

Meanwhile, a new study shows the impact of marijuana legalization: first-time cannabis use surged last year among women and Gen Z consumers. The Brightfield Group study found that 50 percent of new cannabis customers indulged in the drug five or more days per while 22 percent of are using multiple times per day. Female users skew younger and are heavier users than men, the report concluded, and nearly one-quarter of users were Gen Z (born after 1997).

And finally, as the Connecticut legislature debates marijuana legalization, a Colorado lawyer who helped to write that state’s law has warned lawmakers about the consequences, including harming children. The lawyer, Robert Corry, said legalization would create another industry like Big Tobacco that targets children and leads to abuse. He also called for tighter regulation and limits on the high levels of intoxicating component of pot, THC, which in Colorado has led to an alarming increase in the number of psychotic episodes among younger users. Colorado recently passed a revised legalization law that includes a crack down on THC levels to curb youth misuse.

The Daily Briefing 6.17.2021

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The nationwide effort to monitor opioid prescribing to curb the opioid epidemic has worked to reduce prescriptions, but it has had a knock on effect for those in pain who legitimately need painkillers and can no longer obtain medications. Since the CDC issued monitoring guidelines in 2016, more than 500 laws and policies have been put into effect to help wipeout pill mills that fuelled the opioid crisis. Yet the pendulum may have swung to far: one in six Americans, or some 50 million individuals, suffer from chronic pain so extreme it prevents them from working or participating in daily activities, and these people must have access to drugs that ease their suffering.

Meanwhile, as the Connecticut legislature moves forward with a marijuana legalization bill, Yale University professor Cyril Desouza continues to study cannabis addiction, noting that approximately three out of ten people are developing a cannabis use disorder. The main reason is the elevated level of intoxicating THC—up to 90 percent in some edible marijuana products—that is a huge increase over the past. All the more reason for the Connecticut legalization bill to include THC curbs.

And finally, the Upstate New York Poison Center is warning about a drastic increase in calls for young children who have ingested marijuana products and are having frightening reactions. Such edibles often come in bright-colored, kid-friendly packaging that look just like popular candy products. The Center says it is preparing for even more marijuana-related calls now that New York has legalized marijuana.

The Daily Briefing 6.15.2021

The California legislature has come up with $100 million to help the state’s struggling cannabis industry, which is still competing with the large illicit pot market nearly five years after voters approved legalization. Despite predictions that the pot market would flourish, marijuana businesses complain that bureaucracy is stifling growth and high taxes are keeping consumers away from legal dispensaries. Another reason: about three-quarters of all California cities have opted out of allowing cannabis shops, putting a big dent in legal sales. Now the state has to bail out the industry rather than, say, putting the money into combating the opioid epidemic.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has declined to hear a case challenging the authority of the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the e-cigarette industry. This ensures that the agency will be able to continue monitoring and issuing guidelines concerning e-cigarettes and therefore addressing the youth vaping epidemic.

And finally, an opinion piece in STAT calls on the government to step up its oversight of increasingly popular marijuana edibles, arguing that officials are once again oblivious to a growing public health threat—as they were e-cigarettes—and are more concerned with promoting the marijuana industry than protecting families and young people from a potentially harmful product. The risks of edibles should not be dismissed, the authors point out, noting that national data show that teens are turning to these modes of marijuana consumption and are more likely to use the drug on a daily basis than those who smoke it. In addition, marijuana companies are using the same marketing playbook for edibles—including cartoon characters and fruity flavors— as e-cigarette makers did with great success.

The Daily Briefing 6.14.2021

The New York State legislature has passed a landmark bill to ensure that all funds from opioid lawsuit settlements or judgments will go solely to a special fund for drug treatment services and prevention. As a number of opioid cases go to trial, and settlement talks move ahead, legislators don’t want any of the windfall to be siphoned off by states for other purposes—as is what happened after the tobacco settlements. If Governor Cuomo signs the bill, all the money New York receives from thousands of lawsuits would go to an Opioid Settlement Fund for prevention, education and treatment programs, which have struggled over the past years due to budget cuts.

Meanwhile, Politico reports that Republicans in several states are targeting needle exchange programs as part of their culture war agenda, shuttering many such facilities at a time when drug overdose deaths are at a record high, including in West Virginia. Republicans accuse the sites of encouraging addiction, despite evidence to the contrary, and ignore studies showing that needle exchanges can reduce the rate of infectious diseases from injecting drugs, such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Needle exchanges are critical as part of harm reduction efforts, but must include mandatory drug treatment to be most effective.

And finally, pro athletes who are increasingly using marijuana and CBD products to manage pain are coming under scrutiny from leagues that point out there’s no scientific evidence such products actually work. In addition, concerned officials say marijuana may be more risky than most people think—especially for elite athletes—and could impair performance and memory, decrease judgment, reduce coordination and cause liver damage.

The Daily Briefing 6.9.2021

There has been a steep rise last year in the number of opioid overdose deaths in Massachusetts among Black men, as the despair of the pandemic and poor health services took their toll. Latest data shows that while overall fatalities across the state increased by 5 percent in 2020, wiping out small gains over the previous years, the rate for Black men was 69 percent. Experts say that job losses, poverty, lack of housing and healthcare including for addiction were to blame for the staggering increase—part of a nationwide trend during COVID.

Meanwhile, as opioid overdose deaths rise among prisoners in Los Angeles jails, the city has begun a program to distribute the overdose reversal drug naloxone to all facilities. This is a straightforward but unusual policy, as L.A. is one of the first counties in the country to ensure the drug is widely available. So far this year the drug has been used 85 times in county jails, compared to 54 incidents in all of 2020.

And finally, although the White House has encouraged states to come up with creative ideas to promote COVID vaccinations, perhaps Washington State has gone a bit too far: it has started a “Joints for Jabs” initiative, rewarding participants who get vaccinated with a marijuana cigarette—not exactly in the interest of public health.

The Daily Briefing 6.3.2021

With overdose deaths spiking 38 percent last year in Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott has signed into law a bill to decriminalize the addiction withdrawal medication buprenorphine, in a move to make the drug more widely available to those in need. It is often used to treat opioid use disorder to diminish the effects of opioid dependence, such as cravings and withdrawal symptoms. On a national level, President Biden recently changed regulations to make it easier for physicians and other medical professionals to prescribe buprenorphine, which is known to be highly effective as part of medication-assisted treatment. Meanwhile, delivery companies including DoorDash, Drizly and UberEats that boomed during the pandemic lockdown are now considering getting into the cannabis home delivery services. They see an opportunity to grow as more and more states legalize marijuana. Still, they face a raft of legal and logistical challenges, including federal-level marijuana prohibition and states laws banning the delivery of cannabis alongside food and alcohol.

And finally, a bipartisan effort by lawmakers in Colorado to impose limits on the sale of high-potency marijuana products—including tracking purchases by teenagers—is meeting resistance from critics who say it may violate privacy rights. Supporters of the measure argue, however, that monitoring sales of cannabis concentrate is essential to enforcing regulations and preventing people, especially teenagers, from visiting multiple shops a day ground around the daily limits. The initiative would limit the size of packages and reduce the about of medical marijuana that young people are allowed to purchase.

The Daily Briefing 6.2.2021

The marijuana legalization movement gained a powerful ally as Amazon, the nation’s second-largest private employer, endorsed ending federal-level prohibition of the drug—and also announced it will stop testing jobseekers for pot. The company says it supports a House legalization bill, boosting efforts by politicians and cannabis industry lobbyists to gain federal recognition at a time when more and more states are moving in that direction on their own. As for its drug testing policy, Amazon will no longer disqualify employees for marijuana use, but will continue to screen certain employees for “impairment” as per Department of Transportation regulations.

Meanwhile, Governor Greg Gianforte has signed into law one of the country’s strictest marijuana legalization bills, banning marijuana advertising and limiting the level of intoxicating THC in pot products. In contrast to most legal states that have overly permissive rules, Montana’s law—formulated with the help of Smart Approaches to Marijuana—will also bar industry activity in the 28 counties that voted against legalization, unless voters chose to opt-in. This added measure of control is one of the most effective ways of pushing back against Big Pot, which has tremendous influence over the drafting of industry regulations.

And finally, leading behavioral health organizations across the country have urged President Biden to finally appoint a new “drug czar” to head the White House Office of National Drug Policy Control (ONDCP).  The organizations say an all-hands-on-deck approach is required to confront national drug crises, and with drug overdose fatalities at a record high, the ONDCP needs a fully functioning director to guide and oversee federal drug policy.

The Daily Briefing 6.1.2021

As the nationwide opioid litigation plays out in court against Big Pharma and companies that distributed and sold the drugs, the lawsuits have ignored one major culprit in the crisis: policies such as prescription monitoring that were intended to curb the epidemic but instead exacerbated it. An opinion piece in Scientific American argues that while policymakers advocated drug monitoring to curb the use of opioid painkillers, they erred by not at the same time expanding drug treatment. Prescriptions did decline, but those addicted to the drugs subsequently no longer had access to them and turned to illegal street dealers who cut their supply with deadly fentanyl. As medical use decreased, the total number of overdose deaths more than doubled between 2011 and 2020—soaring to a record 90,000 or more last year. As we reckon with the causes of the crisis and seek to end the epidemic, it’s important to acknowledge this policy failure and rectify it going forward.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports how the methamphetamine epidemic tore apart a small town in Wyoming, and how two police officers who tried to break up drug dealing ran into a wall of silence that is perpetuating an insidious drug and alcohol problem in the community.

And finally, a town in New York that wants to turn a former prison for drug criminals into a marijuana growing facility is grappling with the implications of cannabis legalization in the state. Supporters of transforming the sprawling site in Warwick into pot production say it would bring jobs and businesses and boost the local economy. But some parents worry that it would send a message to children condoning drug use, and lead to an increase in consumption. It’s an issue that municipalities across the state are confronting as they debate whether to opt out of allowing dispensaries or embrace a potentially risky new industry.

The Daily Briefing 5.27.2021

The years long legal effort to hold OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma responsible for its role in the opioid epidemic is moving ahead, after a bankruptcy court judge approved a controversial plan to collectively settle the lawsuit and send it to claimants to have their say. While the judge has the right to make a final decision, more than 600,000 claimants will weigh in on a deal that many say lets Purdue—and its founding Sackler family—largely escape responsibility for causing the deaths of tends of thousands of people by falsely marketing their highly-addictive prescription painkillers. Claimants who lost relatives would receive between $3,000 and $48,000 while Purdue would contribute $4.5 billion to a national opioid abatement trust fund. The Sacklers would relinquish ownership of Purdue, but also receive blanket immunity from civil lawsuits, a provision that many claimants and states oppose.

Meanwhile, the proportion of U.S. workers who tested positive for marijuana in urine climbed higher in 2020, in parallel with more and more states legalizing the drug. Quest Diagnostics said about 2.7 percent of workers tested positive, up from 2.5 percent the year before, while the overall share of positive drug tests had leveled off.  The uptick took place amid a changing legal environment for cannabis and shifting cultural attitudes that has prompted many employers to drop drug screening altogether, in part to more easily recruit workers as the economy recovers.

And finally, a new study shows that remote prescribing of the addiction withdrawal medication buprenorphine—which was allowed for the first time during the pandemic, as a safety measure—now accounts for roughly one-third of all such prescriptions. The study also showed that just 5 percent of those who prescribed remotely, without an in-person exam, reported patient difficulties with the drug, a component of medication-assisted treatment (MAT).

The Daily Briefing 5.25.2021

President Biden has been slow to embrace cannabis policy reform as advocated by a growing number of Democratic lawmakers, due in part to his age and a family history of substance abuse. Yet a Brookings paper argues that if the Biden White House did jump into the debate, it would ultimately be in a better position to shape such reform to its liking. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, Biden would be able to dampen an overly permissive system of regulation that many progressives in the party prefer. In fact, as president, he could have a powerful role in setting the precise role of the federal government in this space, in a way that reflects his own views. For the most part, Biden favors decriminalization and letting states go their own way on legalization, but does not support ending federal-level prohibition.

Meanwhile, a JAMA research paper finds that the number of calls to poison control centers is increasing for manufactured marijuana products, and links this to cannabis legalization and the emergence of a consumer-driven marketplace for pot. The study showed that between 2017 and 2019, such calls grew from 11 percent of marijuana-related calls to 56 percent, and that calls concerning exposure to edibles most often involved kids.

And finally, fentanyl-related deaths in Santa Clara County, California, more than doubled over the past year, particularly among school-aged children and young adults, including a 12-year old girl (the median age was 26). Many of the victims thought they were taking far less potent drugs, many of which were purchased online. The increase in Santa Clara mirrors a surge in drug overdoses across the country due in large part to the pandemic.

The Daily Briefing 5.24.2021

Big candy companies are taking legal action against upstart marijuana firms that are marketing products in look-alike packaging as the famous brands, endangering children who may inadvertently ingest them. As more and more states legalize recreational cannabis without strict rules and regulations, pot products are being sold in packages that could be mistaken for well-known brands such as Skittles and Life Savers, but are actually filled with high-potency marijuana. The candy companies want to not only protect their profits, but also curb accidental ingestion, as the majority of such products are in the fast-growing cannabis edibles category. Licensed manufacturers in legal states are required to test their products for potency and to adequately label packages, but that hasn’t stopped a spike in cases: in Washington State, for example, 122 cases of exposure to THC in children under 5 were reported in 2020, compared to 85 the year before.

Meanwhile, the number of overdoses and deaths last year in the Washington, D.C., metro area, including Virginia and Maryland, rose significantly, mirroring national trends during the pandemic lockdowns. Fatalities climbed 46 percent in the District, and Virginia reported a similar increase in its deadliest year ever. Shockingly, this is happening not far from the White House, where a Biden administration has been slow to enact promised policies to combat the opioid epidemic and other drug crises.

And finally, with drug deaths climbing in Massachusetts, child welfare officials there are increasingly concerned about children who witness overdoses, find parents unresponsive, and see syringes protruding from their arms. Nearly 500 children received services last year after witnessing deadly or near-fatal incidents, which results in a type of trauma that is often overlooked in the addiction crisis.

The Daily Briefing 5.18.2021

In an unusual rebuke to Colorado’s powerful cannabis industry, lawmakers in the state have introduced legislation to limit marijuana concentrates and medical marijuana in a move to curb teen use and overconsumption of high-potency cannabis. The bill, vehemently opposed by marijuana businesses, would not cap THC levels but rather impose strict new rules on packaging in individual doses no larger than 0.1 grams. It would also limit access to medical cannabis for patients between the ages of 18 and 20 to 2 grams of concentrate per day, down from 40 grams. The proposal comes amid growing concerns about teen use of pot and an alarming spike in the number of psychotic episodes among young people, linked to high-THC pot products. Of all legal marijuana states, only Vermont has a potency cap.

Meanwhile, the town of Weed, in northern California, is trying to cash in on its name by becoming a destination for weed consumers. That makes it an outlier among the state’s smaller towns and cities, 70 percent of which have opted out of allowing marijuana dispensaries. Although most major cities in the state permit the sale of cannabis, smaller and more conservative municipalities bar the drug from being sold—a pattern repeated in many legal states that reflects a not-in-my-backyard attitude on the local level.

And finally, advertising is a powerful tool for companies selling CBD products: a new study finds that 72 percent of patients with fibromyalgia deliberately substitute CBD for conventional medications, including opioids, despite the dearth of evidence show showing that such products may be helpful. The FDA and other agencies are starting to crack down on false advertising for CBD products, as manufacturers falsely claim that what they sell can help with conditions ranging from cancer to Alzheimer’s and even COVID-19.

The Daily Briefing 5.17.2021

More damaging testimony is emerging at the federal opioid trial in West Virginia, including emails from executives at one of the drug distributors in the lawsuit mocking local people for consuming their firm’s additive prescription painkillers. The emails included parody songs denigrating Appalachians as “pillbillies” living in “OxyContinville” at a time when the opioid epidemic was ensnaring thousands of people in addiction and overdose deaths. The Big Three distributors shipped nearly 109 million pills to just one county in the state from 2006 to 2014, with one pharmacy in the state averaging 35,000 OxyContin doses a month. The companies are accused of failing to provide adequate legally required oversight of drug shipments.

Meanwhile, for the first time in 50 years, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has approved new licenses for companies that grow medical marijuana for research. The move, after years of delay, allows researchers to study marijuana from different growers to see if different varieties can be effective in alleviating pain, fighting seizures, and combating both depression and PTSD—among the many conditions medical pot might be effective. The approvals are important as more states legalize medical cannabis and add conditions for which the drug can be prescribed.

And finally, a new program in New Jersey is proving beneficial to parolees fighting drug addiction and at risk of opioid overdose. The program—called Swift, Certain and Fair—pairs parolees with a social worker and a peer recovery specialist, to ensure they receive services and support once they are out of prison, helping them to stay clean and sober during the difficult transition from incarceration.