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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