California lawmaker looks to Colorado for medical pot guidance while report blasts Rocky Mountain State program

San Francisco Examiner

State lawmakers looking to reform California’s medical marijuana industry point to Colorado, which has a state agency tasked with overseeing the quasi-legal business, as an example to follow. But that state’s cannabis-control arm has squandered money and has not adequately defined its mission, according to a recent audit.

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Addiction injection: the mission to immunize drug users against dependency

Wired.co.uk

Arranged neatly on a granite worktop in a windowless underground laboratory at the Scripps Institute in San Diego, California, are 16 small syringes filled with pure cocaine. Stacked up against the back wall are four rows of steel cages, each housing an albino mouse. The mice are being given a shot that contains 15mg/kg of the drug -- enough to get a human high. But although they're all injected with the liquid, only some of the mice demonstrate signs of restlessness. Over the next half-hour, eight of the red-eyed rodents scurry back and forth wildly, nibbling at their tails and pawing at the metal mesh of the cage.

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Program teaches Sask. students gambling risks at young age

Global News

A program at the Saskatchewan Science Centre is teaching students grades five to nine that gambling is more than just jackpots and sevens. Over the course of the year, students from 35 Saskatchewan schools will attend Risk It All Camp In, and stay overnight at the Science Centre. The event is held in partnership with Saskatchewan Health.

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Healthcare law threatens California jobs, business group says

Los Angeles Times

California could lose more than 26,000 jobs as a result of a tax provision in the federal healthcare law, a small-business advocacy group said. A study by the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation found that employment in the Golden State may see a loss of from 14,322 to 26,296 jobs by 2022 because of the Health Insurance Tax provision. The NFIB is one of the biggest opponents of the federal healthcare law and joined in the Supreme Court lawsuit challenging its constitutionality.

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More Employers Shifting to Value-Based Health Plans, New Survey Finds

California Healthline

Employers increasingly are spurring health plans to adopt benefits designs with the goals to improve quality and efficiency of treatment without raising costs, according to a survey from Catalyst for Payment Reform, Modern Healthcare reports. About the Survey: The survey -- called the National Scorecard on Payment Reform -- was funded by the Commonwealth Fund and the California HealthCare Foundation. CHCF is the publisher of California Healthline.

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HMOs in California earn good grades, except for access to care

Ventura County Star

Patients give their HMO insurance plans good, even excellent scores, for overall care. But when it comes to access, grades plummet, according to a statewide report card. Of 10 HMOs graded in a report released Wednesday by the California Office of the Patient Advocate, seven received grades of “poor” from patients for the ability to get care easily. Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Western Health Advantage were the only plans graded “fair” for access.

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US must step up response to vets, report says

WBAY

Timely and adequate health care is needed to help U.S. military personnel and their families readjust to life after deployment, an Institute of Medicine report finds. The departments of defense and veterans affairs also must step up efforts to reduce the stigma associated with receiving care for mental health and substance abuse problems, the report said. They also should ensure their methods of diagnosis and treatment are in line with the latest medical evidence, according to the report, which was requested by Congress.

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NBC Rock Center Promo Exposing Narconon Tomorrow Evening

Examiner

Breaking news out of New York this evening about NBC Rock Center with Brian Williams, and NBC reporter Harry Smith interviewing two ex-Narconon staff members, Lucas Catton and Eric Tenorio. A short promotion of their Narconon Arrowhead segment will be aired tomorrow night, with the entire show airing on Friday, April 5, 2013, at 10pm EST/9PM CST.

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Methadone Deaths Tied to For-Profit Clinics Prompt Bills

Bloomberg

At least five state legislatures are considering bills to tighten oversight of methadone clinics after allegations that take-home doses of the drug are contributing to illegal street sales, misuse and deaths. Measures in West Virginia, Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Maine, if passed, could increase costs or limit revenue for the nation’s largest methadone chains -- both of them backed by private equity firms: CRC Health Corp. is owned by Boston-based Bain Capital Partners LLC; and Colonial Management Group LP is in the portfolio of Warwick Group Inc. of New Canaan, Connecticut.

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Narconon Arrowhead: Five lawsuits filed allege fraud and deceit and other charges

McAlister News-Capital

Five new lawsuits against Narconon Arrowhead alleging fraud, deceit, breach of contract and civil conspiracy among other allegations were filed today. Narconon Arrowhead is a non-profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Canadian  affiliated with the Church of Scientology that  has been under investigation after several deaths at the facility.

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UPS pays up for illicit pill shipments

UPI.com

United Parcel Service agreed to give up $40 million in payments it charged for shipping products from what federal prosecutors called illicit online pharmacies. The forfeiture was announced Friday in a written statement by the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco and covers payments charged by UPS from 2003-2010 for the delivery of pharmaceuticals that were either counterfeit or had been sold without the necessary prescription.

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DEA official backs tighter rules on narcotic painkillers

Los Angeles Times

A top DEA official is calling on federal regulators to impose tougher rules on the way pharmaceutical companies market narcotic painkillers to physicians, noting that such drugs are involved in more than twice as many deaths as heroin and cocaine combined. Joseph T. Rannazzisi, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Diversion Control, urged the Food and Drug Administration in a letter to adopt stricter limits on OxyContin, Vicodin and similar medications to "safeguard the American public."

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The Changing Aspects of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs

Fiji Times (Pages 14-15)

The Pacific Island population in California is experiencing a surge in Alcohol and Drug Abuse. The local papers, including The Los Angeles Times have been concentrating and highlighting the rogue physicians’ epidemic of narcotic prescription drugs resulting in increasing fatalities. The Pacific Island population, from my review of existing data, does not seem to have that problem. However, there appears to be an abuse of alcohol, kava and other drugs.

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Study: Reform will raise health insurance costs 32 percent nationally

Associated Press

Medical claims costs — the biggest driver of health insurance premiums — will jump an average 32 percent for Americans' individual policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, according to a study by the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts. The increase will be even more pronounced in Missouri and Illinois, where medical claims costs will rise by more than 50 percent, according to the analysis. The findings could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act. The estimates were recently released by the Society of Actuaries to its members.

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Insurers eager to maintain authority over healthcare premiums

Los Angeles Times

While most of us face uncertainty with the rollout of healthcare reform, some insurance companies in California have been feeling their oats lately. Here's how they're responding to Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones' warnings that their latest rate increases are unreasonable: Stuff it, Dave. That essentially was the response of Blue Shield of California and Anthem Blue Cross after Jones flayed their proposed premium hikes — up to 20% for Blue Shield customers and up to 18% for Anthem. The companies moved to implement the increases anyway, although Anthem thought better of it after it started charging the higher rates, and reduced them a bit.

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Health law could boost use of temp workers

Washington Post

The health-care law could prove to be a boon for temporary-staffing companies as employers outsource jobs to sidestep complex requirements for medical insurance. But some experts say the Affordable Care Act’s exceptions for temporary employees could undercut the goal of expanding coverage to more American workers.

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Here’s Obamacare’s most controversial regulation

Washington Post (Blog)

The Affordable Care Act changes the health care system in myriad ways —  everything from allowing insurers to charge tobacco smokers higher premiums to guaranteeing free coverage of breast pumps. One provision, however, has engendered more controversy than any other: The requirement that contraceptives be covered without co-payment has drawn more than 147,000 public comments, according to an analysis from the Sunlight Foundation. These are the letters that companies, non-profits and private citizens send to the federal government, hoping to sway the regulatory process.

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Report: California's Health Care Spending Among Lowest in U.S.

California Healthline

In 2009, California had the sixth-lowest public and private health care spending as a proportion of the economy among all states, according to a report from the National Center for Policy Analysis, the Sacramento Bee's "Capitol Alert" reports.

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Feminist clinic fights to be included in health care reform

HealthyCal.org

As millions of Californians are projected to gain coverage over the next several years, the independent clinics that have traditionally served the uninsured are in for some big changes. Soon, many more low-income patients are expected to have private insurance, following the roll out of the Affordable Care Act’s signature reforms in 2014.

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Dwarfed by the Magnitude of the Problems

Time

That’s the grim bottom line of a major new study in the state of post-9/11 veterans released Tuesday morning by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the prestigious and independent National Academy of Sciences. “Although the majority of returning troops have readjusted well to post-deployment life, 44 percent have reported difficulties after they returned,” a summary of the report says. “Significant numbers of personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and many have shown symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance misuse or abuse.”

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Supreme Court weighs deals to delay generic drugs

Los Angeles Times

A government attorney urged the Supreme Court to allow authorities to crack down on cash deals among prescription drug makers that delay the introduction of generic drugs and keep consumer prices high. The so-called pay-for-delay deals, which allow brand-name drug companies to keep cheaper generic drugs off the market for a time, violate antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission argued Monday.

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Drug-related deaths plunge in first half of 2012

Orlando Sentinel

The number of oxycodone-related deaths in Orange and Osceola counties — where hundreds of people accidentally overdosed on prescription drugs in recent years — plunged during the first half of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, according to new data released by the state. The local statistics mirror a statewide trend showing deaths related to the powerful, addictive painkiller oxycodone are on the decline, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement semi-annual report on the state's drug-related deaths.

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Alcohol turned me into a crazed animal: Binge drinking teen blames booze for making her a violent criminal

Daily Mail (UK)

A young woman who was arrested 30 times for drunken attacks - including punching police officers - has warned against the dangers of binge drinking. Amy Roberts, from Glasgow, told Closer magazine how alcohol transformed her from a shy schoolgirl into a violent criminal. She said: 'Alcohol turned me into a crazed animal – I once punched a man in the face five times until he bled and enjoyed it. It disgusts me now. But I became addicted to the confidence alcohol gave me.'

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Suspended Priest Indicates He May Plead Guilty In Meth Case

Hartford Courant

A suspended Catholic priest from Bridgeport suspected of trying to launder thousands of dollars a week in drug money through an X-rated sexual novelty store has indicated he will plead guilty next week to participating in a bi-coastal methamphetamine distribution ring. Monsignor Kevin Wallin, 61, faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison if he follows through with his plan to changes his plea to guilty on a single charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute the powerful stimulate methamphetamine.

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National Rx Drug Abuse Summit to make impact on America's prescription drug problem

News Medical

The prescription drug epidemic continues to take lives in America, causing 100 overdose deaths daily, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's an epidemic that does not discriminate, wrecking havoc on big cities and small towns alike, striking our youth and aging population.

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Federal authorities raid stores allegedly selling nitrous oxide

Los Angeles Times

A ring of Southern California businesses has been illegally selling nitrous oxide for use as a recreational drug, federal and local law enforcement officials said Friday afternoon in announcing a regional crackdown. Three auto supply employees were arrested earlier in the day in a federal law enforcement sweep that included searches of 17 businesses and nine delivery vehicles linked to the ring, authorities said.

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New laws affect the consequences of calling in an overdose

Golden Gate Xpress (UCSF) (Opinion)

We were cooking up black tar heroin at his place. It was early in my junkie career and I didn’t yet know how to hit my vein with the needle. My friend was there to help. As he sucked up the hot black liquid with a syringe, I told him I wanted to do my half in two shots. He asked what for, why not slam it all at once? Why not, I thought. He slid the needle into my arm, my blood flooded in and he pushed the plunger. A hot wave rushed through me. Nausea. I was so tired. The world closed in. I slid off the couch and everything went black.

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An Ex-Gambler Weighs the Cost of Addiction

New York Times

Sure he knows when he made his last wager, Stephen M. Block said. It was on May 10, 1975, “a lifetime ago.” He had just come from Belmont Park, where he had endured a losing day. Yet another losing day. Now he was sitting at the bar of a social club in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, watching a rerun of Groucho Marx’s old TV game show, “You Bet Your Life.” It featured a wheel, with numbers that determined how much money was at stake for each of the contestants.

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Report Card on Health Care Reform

New York Times

Republican leaders in Congress regularly denounce the 2010 Affordable Care Act and vow to block money to carry it out or even to repeal it. Those political attacks ignore the considerable benefits delivered to millions of people since the law’s enactment three years ago Saturday. The main elements of the law do not kick in until Jan. 1, 2014, when many millions of uninsured people will gain coverage. Yet it has already thrown a lifeline to people at high risk of losing insurance or being uninsured, including young adults and people with chronic health problems, and it has made a start toward reforming the costly, dysfunctional American health care system.

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Outreach effort aims to get uninsured enrolled in healthcare

Los Angeles Times

Ana Soltero arrived at La Placita Church on Sunday holding an envelope filled with documents and hoping for one thing: to get health coverage. She and her 20-year-old son, Alan Servin, had been receiving Medi-Cal but were mistakenly cut off last year. Now she was uninsured, feeling ill and wanting to see a doctor. "I came to see if you can help me with insurance," she told a volunteer.

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HEALTH CARE: Undocumented immigrants would have to wait years

Press Enterprise

Clinic director Fred Bauermeister has watched them pass through his doors for decades: chronically ill, uninsured men, women and children who have delayed medical care because they are in the country illegally. Now, though, a political deal may be in the works that, after many years, could bring health benefits to millions of undocumented people.

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Immigration Reform Plans Could Affect Health Access in California

California Healthline

Federal immigration reform plans would gradually provide health care benefits for undocumented immigrants in California and other states, the Ventura County Star reports. Background: Under the Affordable Care Act, undocumented immigrants are excluded from new coverage opportunities, including state health insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansions. Lawful immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for less than five years may participate in health insurance exchanges and obtain subsidies if income-qualified, but in many states they do not qualify for Medicaid.

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Families share the pain of veterans' PTSD (with video)

Plain Dealer

Lyndsay Glenn and Jean Lauro are the home front's walking wounded of war. They, and others who care for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may not have been in combat, but they can wage much the same battles, suffering similar psychic wounds, as those who have. Their common "enemies" are anger, frustration, isolation, anxiety and a variety of other psychiatric problems.

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Young veteran's suicide shatters air of stability

NorthJersey.com

Bergen County Freeholder David Ganz had a habit over the last two years of giving his colleagues brief updates at their public meetings on his son Scott, a soldier serving with the Army Reserve. His updates were at times a welcome respite from some otherwise tense political arguments. After one particularly long and heated debate in August, Ganz announced: “My son Scott is home. He’s back from Afghanistan.” The room broke into spontaneous cheers and applause. But in late February, the same room turned somber as Ganz disclosed that his son had committed suicide in his apartment in Orlando, Fla. Scott Ganz was 30 years old.

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Suits claim Narconon Arrowhead drugs-for-sex trade

Associated Press

Narconon Arrowhead counselors allegedly traded drugs for sex and fraudulently charged a patient's credit card some $14,500, according to allegations in five lawsuits filed Thursday against the facility. The suits were filed in Pittsburg County District Court against Narconon of Oklahoma, Narconon International, Association of Better Living and Education International on behalf of family members of former clients of Narconon Arrowhead.

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High court weighs drug companies' generics policy

Associated Press

Federal regulators are pressing the Supreme Court to stop big pharmaceutical corporations from paying generic drug competitors to delay releasing their cheaper versions of brand-name drugs. They argue these deals deny American consumers, usually for years, steep price declines that can top 90 percent.

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Wall Street sees opportunity in marijuana

Los Angeles Times

Amid the whir of fans and the glow of soft white light, workers tended to bright green seedlings sprouting in a giant greenhouse. Located about an hour's drive from Manhattan in the hills of northwestern New Jersey, the facility produces basil, chives, oregano and other herbs that are sold in grocery stores around New York City.

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