California Legislators Debate Froot Loops and Free Condoms
California state lawmakers this year are continuing their progressive tilt on health policy, debating bills banning an ingredient in Froot Loops and offering free condoms for high schoolers.
Substance Misuse
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More Kids Are Dying of Drug Overdoses. Could Pediatricians Do More to Help?
The surge in overdose deaths among teens is opening a new path to treatment: pediatricians. A doctor in Massachusetts shows how it works with a 17-year-old patient.
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More Women Are Drinking Themselves Sick. The Biden Administration Is Concerned.
Historically, alcohol use disorder has disproportionately affected men. But targeted advertising and changes in societal norms over the past 50 years have led to an upsurge in alcohol-related diseases and deaths among women. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very taboo topic,鈥 one expert said.
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Amid Mental Health Staffing Crunch, Medi-Cal Patients Help One Another
Peer leaders can help ease the shortage of mental health providers and build trust through shared experiences, state health officials say. In 2022, California started allowing counties to use Medicaid dollars to pay them for their work.
By Indira Khera -
West Virginia City Once Battered by Opioid Overdoses Confronts 鈥楩ourth Wave鈥
Years of struggle prepared residents in Cabell County, West Virginia, to confront the latest wave of the opioid epidemic as mixtures of fentanyl and other drugs claim lives nationwide.
By Taylor Sisk -
When It Comes to Ketamine, Meta鈥檚 Posting Policy Is No Party to Decipher
Despite growing awareness that the party drug is dangerous, the social media company is open to promotion of the drug in treating mental health.
By Darius Tahir -
Statistical Models vs. Front-Line Workers: Who Knows Best How to Spend Opioid Settlement Cash?
A mathematical model designed to direct spending of opioid settlement funds is at the center of a debate over whether to invest in technology to guide long-term decisions or focus on the immediate needs of people in addiction.
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America Worries About Health Costs 鈥 And Voters Want to Hear From Biden and Republicans
The presidential election is likely to turn on the simple question of whether Americans want Donald Trump back in the White House. But health care tops the list of household financial worries for adults from both parties.
By Julie Appleby and Phil Galewitz -
California Hospitals, Advocates Seek Stable Funding to Retain Behavioral Health Navigators
California has supported expanded use of medications in the fight against opioid use disorder and overdose deaths. But hospitals and addiction treatment advocates say the state needs to secure ongoing funding if it wants more behavioral health workers to guide patients into long-term treatment.
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Horse Sedative Use Among Humans Spreads in Deadly Mixture of 鈥楾ranq鈥 and Fentanyl
Illegal supplies of fentanyl are being cut with xylazine, a powerful horse tranquilizer. Overdoses involving this veterinary sedative are growing nationally and now Florida officials are tracking the deaths.
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California Gov. Newsom Wants Voters to Approve Billions More to Help the Homeless. Will It Help?
A March 5 ballot initiative seeks $6.4 billion to build thousands of new housing units and provide mental health treatment for homeless people 鈥 on top of the billions already being spent to address the public health crisis. Despite significant support from health and law enforcement officials, many front-line workers are skeptical that more money is the answer.
By Angela Hart -
Health Care Workers Push for Their Own Confidential Mental Health Treatment
Montana may join about a dozen other states in creating 鈥渟afe havens鈥 that keep health care professionals from facing scrutiny from licensure boards for seeking mental health or addiction treatment.
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鈥楩ourth Wave鈥 of Opioid Epidemic Crashes Ashore, Propelled by Fentanyl and Meth
A report based on millions of urine drug tests found the United States is facing a rise in the use of multiple drugs at once, which not only is often more deadly but complicates treatment efforts.
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California Prison Drug Overdoses Surge Again After Early Treatment Success
Drug overdose deaths in California state prisons rebounded to near record levels last year, a big setback for corrections officials who thought they were on the right track with medication-assisted treatment efforts. Prison officials and attorneys representing prisoners blame fentanyl.
By Don Thompson -
Cities Know That the Way Police Respond to Mental Crisis Calls Must Change. But How?
Cities are experimenting with new ways to meet the rapidly increasing demand for behavioral health crisis intervention, at a time when incidents of police shooting and killing people in mental health crisis have become painfully familiar.
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Montana Vows Changes to Avoid Delayed Contracts. Some Health Providers Still Await Back Pay.
The head of Montana鈥檚 health department said the agency is catching up on a months-long backlog of contracts with organizations that connect people to medical care that left organizations without pay, halted some services, and triggered job cuts.
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Ketamine Therapy for Mental Health a 鈥榃ild West鈥 for Doctors and Patients
Ketamine, approved by the FDA as an anesthetic in 1970, is emerging as a major alternative mental health treatment, and there are now more than 500 ketamine clinics around the country. But with little regulation and widely varying treatment protocols, it鈥檚 a medical "wild West."
By Dawn Megli -
Records Show Publix Opioid Sales Grew Even as Addiction Crisis Prompted Other Chains鈥 Pullback
As national prescription drug distributors and pharmacies restricted the flow of oxycodone and other painkillers in response to the growing opioid crisis, Florida鈥檚 most popular grocery store ramped up its sales and distribution of the highly addictive drugs, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis of federal data.
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Delays in State Contracts Leave Montana Health Providers Strapped
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services is months behind in paying organizations contracted to connect people to care. The interruption is likely to have lasting effects, even after the state catches up.
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Doctors Are as Vulnerable to Addiction as Anyone. California Grapples With a Response.
The Medical Board of California, which licenses MDs, is developing a program to evaluate, treat, and monitor doctors with alcohol and drug problems. But there is sharp disagreement over whether those who might volunteer for the program should be subject to public disclosure and over how much participants should pay.