Feds issue guidance on medical marijuana
New federal guidelines specify that prosecutors should not target suppliers or users of medical marijuana if they are compliant with state law.
According to The Associated Press:
The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.
Thirteen states have laws allowing the use of medical marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Maryland laws provide for reduced penalties for the use of medical marijuana.
The federal government is still expected to prosecute people who are using medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activities, such as those involving a firearm, sales to minors and money laundering.
The New York Times explains that “Advocates of medical marijuana say it can reduce chronic pain, nausea and additional symptoms associated with cancer and other serious illnesses.”
The Sacramento Bee reports that advocates are wary because the policy memo is vague and the “oversight of marijuana dispensaries remains a hodgepodge of local regulations.” In California, for example, no agency is responsible for regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, giving local officials leeway in how to deal with them.
Recent journal articles on medical marijuana
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Cannabis Treatment for Chronic Pain.
Martín-Sánchez E, Furukawa TA, Taylor J, Martin JL.
Pain Med. 2009 Sep 1. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19732371 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Medical marijuana: the conflict between scientific evidence and political ideology. Part one of two.
Cohen PJ.
J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2009;23(1):4-25. Review.
PMID: 19296351 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Medical marijuana: the conflict between scientific evidence and political ideology. Part two of two.
Cohen PJ.
J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2009;23(2):120-40. Review.
PMID: 19492213 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
The debate about marijuana usage in transplant candidates: recent medical evidence on marijuana health effects.
Coffman KL.
Curr Opin Organ Transplant. 2008 Apr;13(2):189-95. Review.
PMID: 18685302 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Cannabis and anxiety: a critical review of the evidence.
Crippa JA, Zuardi AW, Martín-Santos R, Bhattacharyya S, Atakan Z, McGuire P, Fusar-Poli P.
Hum Psychopharmacol. 2009 Oct;24(7):515-23.
PMID: 19693792 [PubMed - in process]
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Cannabis Treatment for Chronic Pain.
Martín-Sánchez E, Furukawa TA, Taylor J, Martin JL.
Pain Med. 2009 Sep 1. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19732371 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Tip sheet: Mining NLM databases: PubMed, Medline and more
Students, journalists join AHCJ
AHCJ is pleased to welcome these new members who joined last week:
- Jennifer Gustavson, student, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.
- Jackie Lutze, student, University of Wisconsin, St. Paul, Manitowoc, Wis.
- Tauseef Rahman, The News, Peshawar, Pakistan
- Maria Mendell, student, Oceanside, Calif.
- Anne Staylor, senior editor, Medtech Insight, Poway, Calif.
- Richard Peck, independent journalist, , Lakewood, Ohio
Media guide focuses on drug abuse, addiction
Filed under: Health data, Health journalism, Tools
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has released a 27-page media guide condensing up-to-date facts, figures and research on drug abuse and addiction. Get the full PDF here.
The guide is intended to help reporters understand why drug addiction occurs and how it is manifested, which drugs are abused, who abuses them and how they can be dangerous. It also includes a glossary and directions to further resources.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse is part of the National Institutes of Health, which in turn is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Kleyman, Varney recognized by NorCal SPJ
AHCJ members Paul Kleyman, the ethnic elders editor at New America Media, and Sarah Varney, of KQED-FM, were recently honored by the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in its 2009 Excellence in Journalism Awards.
Paul Kleyman (Photo: Frank Klein)
Kleyman, who has dedicated much of his career to in-depth coverage of aging and the elderly, received the Distinguished Service Award. For more than 20 years, he served as editor of Aging Today, the newspaper of the American Society on Aging.
A frequent speaker on the coverage of aging, Kleyman founded and served as national coordinator for Journalists Exchange on Aging, a network of reporters covering aging and health care. The exchange, recently reorganized as the Journalists Network on Generations, delivers a weekly newsletter to 1,100 reporters nationwide.
Sarah Varney
Varney won the broadcast award in the investigative journalism category for “Chemicals at Home - Unknown Substitutes.”
According to SPJ, “Varney’s report revealed that a new state ban on phthalates, used for soft plastic children’s toys in particular, does not address the safety of the chemical substitutes that take their place - and companies aren’t required to identify them. Judges praised the report for embracing the medium of radio along with a subject matter that affects people profoundly.”
HuffPo: EMR cost estimates involve ‘fuzzy math’
Fred Schulte, writing for the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, worked to understand the math needed to attach a $19 billion cost estimate to an electronic medical records program with a $30 billion to $45 billion price tag. The difference will theoretically be made up by the billions of dollars saved by the resulting reductions in federal health care spending, but Schulte talks to experts who say there is no concrete evidence that these hypothetical savings will ever occur.
An example:
Steve Findlay, a Consumers Union health policy analyst who sits on a federal advisory panel on electronic medical record standards, agreed that “nobody knows” whether savings will be realized. “I think that everybody ought to stop guessing at how much money we will save. There’s no way to know,” he said. “It’s an impossible calculation. Everybody should stop trying to predict it.”
In other words, folks should think twice before quoting the administration’s $19 billion estimate. At this point, trying to guess any number other than actual cost is an imprecise exercise fraught with peril.
Doctor’s path shows licensing’s weaknesses
The Associated Press’ Jay Reeves exposes systemic flaws in state medical licensing through the story of a physician who was twice accused of sexual misconduct and thrice fired in Tennessee, and who subsequently set up shop in Alabama, where he has been charged with rape and possession of child pornography.
The doctor’s offenses had never been reported to regulators, and he seems to have been able to repeatedly outrun his transgressions. Reeves reports that unfortunate situations like this are not unusual:
Patient safety advocate and consultant Ilene Corina said states too often let troubled doctors move and switch jobs when they get in trouble.
“There is not sufficient oversight in many cases,” said Corina, of Long Island, N.Y., a board member of the National Patient Safety Foundation. “Is it a problem? Absolutely.”
Under 1959 law, hospitals claim right to bill county for charity care
Filed under: Government, Hospitals, Hot Health Headline
David Gulliver of Sarasota Health News found an almost-surreal local story that demonstrates just how desperate some recession-bitten hospitals have become. There are four major hospitals in the Sarasota area, three for-profit institutions and Memorial Hospital, which receives some subsidies and provides additional services. The three for-profit hospitals, citing an obscure 1959 law, have billed the country for $30.7 million in charity care since December of 2008.
The legislation in question, an amendment to the 1949 law establishing the Sarasota Hospital District (now Memorial Hospital), says that the county should reimburse any other hospitals in the county for charity care just as they do for Memorial. Nobody’s ever tried to take advantage of the provision before, and it may even be defunct. In fact, it’s sometimes difficult to tell just how seriously the parties are taking the whole mess. Fortunately, in Gulliver’s exhaustive chronicle of the dispute, he manages to tease apart the different threads of discord, unearth the real bones of contention and relate it to big-picture health economics, starting at the local level.
County officials say they have no intention of paying the bills, as the law was “superseded in the 1968 revision of the state constitution.” Furthermore, officials estimate that a $1 per $1,000 property tax increase would be required to cover the charity-care expenditures of the other three institutions, a tax officials say which would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on raising taxes to subsidize for-profit industries.
For their part, hospitals say the bills are a means of drawing attention to the tax revenue funneled into Memorial — $47 million last year — and asking for a more “equitable distribution” of taxpayer money among area hospitals. In his story, Gulliver lays out this he-said, she-said, then digs into state laws, politics and more to show readers what’s really going on.
AHCJ welcomes recently joined members
We’d like to welcome the following new members to AHCJ:
- Geri Aston, freelance, Chicago, Ill.
- Jennifer Austin, student, San Francisco, Calif.
- Angie Bailey, reporter/anchor, KOMU; Columbia, Mo.
- Linne Frank Bailey, freelance, Corona, Calif.
- Eric Becker, reporter, Suburban Journals of St. Charles County; St. Peters, Mo.
- Rebecca Beitsch, , Missouri Digital News; Columbia, Mo.
- Sarah Broadbear, student, University of Missouri; Columbia, Mo.
- Ellen Brown, professor, Florida International University; Miami, Fla.
- Carol Brzozowski, freelance; Coral Springs, Fla.
- Jenny Burns, health care reporter, Nashville Business Journal; Nashville, Tenn.
- Elisa Conigliaro, medical editor, Milan, Italy
- Kaley Conner, reporter, Hays Daily News; Hays, Kan.
- Kathy Crawford, freelance, Smithville, Mo.
- Julekha Dash, staff writer, Baltimore Business Journal; Baltimore, Md.
- Charles Ding, reporter, Sing Tao Daily; Alhambra, Calif.
- Carolyn DiPaolo, business editor, The Palm Beach Post; West Palm Beach, Fla.
- Anna Dolianitis, freelance, Old Tappan, N.J.
- Rachel Dornhelm, freelance, Oakland, Calif.
- Mary Duffy, writer, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Nancy Ehrlich Lapid, freelance, Chatham, N.J.
- Lynne Eldridge, freelance, Shoreview, Minn.
- Lindsey Fields, reporter, High Plains Public Radio; Garden City, Kan.
- Monique Fields, freelance, Kaiser Fellow; Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- Wokie Freeman, student, Brooklyn Park, Minn.
- Rebecca Gannon, reporter, KWCH; Wichita, Kan.
- Linda Geist, publisher, The Lake Gazette; Monroe City, Mo.
- Patricia Gibbons, freelance, Rochester, Minn.
- Simone Gold, freelance, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Carol Goldsmith, anchor/reporter, WYFF; Greenville, S.C.
- Florence Graves, director, Schuster Institute for Journalism, Brandeis University; Waltham, Mass.
- Becky Ham, freelance, Phoenix, Ariz.
- Molly Hennessy-Fiske, staff writer, Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif.
- Desonta Holder, freelance
- Nancy Jeffrey, senior editor, People Magazine; New York, N.Y.
- Katherine Kahn, freelance, Huntington, Mass.
- Kristin Kane, senior health editor, About.com; New York, N.Y.
- Lisa Krch, anchor/producer, KBAK/KBFX; Bakersfield, Calif.
- Brenda Krebs, business editor, The Miami Herald; Miami, Fla.
- George Lauer, features editor, Advisory Board Company; Petaluma, Calif.
- Elizabeth Lee, freelance; Marietta, Ga.
- Min-Kyu Lee, professor, Chung-Ang University; Seoul, Korea
- Adam Marcus, managing editor, Anesthesiology News; New York, N.Y.
- Rachel Millard, English editor, Aramica; Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Moryt Milo, editor, San Jose Business Journal; San Jose, Calif.
- Carrie Moore, medical/health reporter, Deseret News; Salt Lake City, Utah
- Kimberly Morrison, Jacksonville Business Journal
- Stefano Nobili, M.D., Studio Bruttomesso; Milano, Italy
- Shalmali Pal, news editor, Oncology News International; Tucson, Ariz.
- Claudia Perry, freelance, North Bethesda, Md.
- Kelly Peterson, producer, KVIE; Sacramento, Calif.
- Kate Pickert, staff writer, Time; New York, N.Y.
- Don Riker, editor in chief, OTC Product News; Chattanooga, Tenn.
- Edward Rosick, freelance, Dewitt, Mich.
- Bill Schadewald, editor, Houston Business Journal; Houston, Texas
- Anne Scheck, reporter, Trammart News; Sacramento, Calif.
- Anna Scott, reporter, Sarasota Herald-Tribune; Sarasota, Fla.
- Chris Seper, co-founder, MedCity News; South Euclid, Ohio
- Mary Shedden, reporter, The Tampa Tribune; Tampa, Fla.
- Courtney Sherwood, reporter, Portland Business Journal; Portland, Ore.
- Stacey Singer DeLoye, health writer, The Palm Beach Post; Boynton Beach, Fla.
- Henry Sporn, freelance, Vancouver, B.C.
- Elizabeth Stawicki, , Minnesota Public Radio; St. Paul, Minn.
- James Steinberg, health & fitness editor, San Bernadino Sun/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin; Redlands, Calif.
- Ingrid Sturgis, writer, Heart and Soul Magazine; Somerset, N.J.
- Susan Sullivan, freelance, Marietta, Ga.
- Anna Tong, reporter, The Sacramento Bee; Palo Alto, Calif.
- Sarah Tribble, staff writer, The Plain Dealer; Cleveland, Ohio
- Daniel Verdon, editor in chief, DVM Newsmagazine; Cleveland, Ohio
- Anita Wadhwani, freelance, Kaiser Media Fellow; Nashville, Tenn.
- Peter Webley, editor & publisher, Caribbean Today; Miami, Fla.
- Melissa Wilson, news anchor/medical reporter, KRIV; Sugar Land, Texas
- Brad Wright, professor, University of North Carolina; Durham, N.C.
- Mohsin Zaheer, reporter, The Pakistani Newspaper; Brooklyn, N.Y.
St. Louis AHCJ members recognized for coverage
The St. Louis American was recognized by the Maternal Child and Family Health Coalition for “contributions to maternal and child health through print media,” earning a Standing Up for Mothers and Babies Award for its efforts. The coalition specifically recognized the twice-monthly health supplement. “Your Health Matters,” as providing “culturally appropriate, easily accessible information on health-related issues promoting health literacy and encouraging healthy choices.”
The supplement is reported by AHCJ member Sandra Jordan. Chris King, the St. Louis American’s editorial director, also is a member of AHCJ and, like Jordan, is a former Midwest Health Journalism Program Fellow.
Furthermore, a story about a search for a match for a bone marrow transplant written by Jordan won second place, Best Health Story in the 2009 Better Newspaper Contest by the National Newspaper Association.
Bioethicist: Health workers must get H1N1 vaccine
Filed under: Hospitals, Hot Health Headline, Public health
On MSNBC.com, University of Pennsylvania bioethics professor Arthur Caplan takes a tough stand on flu vaccines for health professionals, imploring them to stop “whining” and “moaning.” “Doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, nurses’ aides, and anyone else who has regular contact with patients ought to be required to get a flu shot or find another line of work,” Caplan writes. According to Caplan, a 100 percent workers’ vaccination rate can cut patient flu deaths and worker sick days by about 40 percent, and thus health workers who claim mandated flu shots are an infringement of their rights are forgetting a key ethical tenet of their profession, that they put the interests of the patient above their own.
Photo by llu_lu via Flickr
It’s the idea of rights infringement that really sets Caplan off:
Excuse me? What rights might those be? The right to infect your patient and kill them? The right to create havoc in the health care workforce if swine flu hits hard? The right to ignore all the evidence of safety and efficacy of vaccines thus continuing to promulgate an irrational fear on the part of the public of the best protection babies, pregnant women, the elderly and the frail have against the flu? Those rights?
Caplan’s a fellow and former associate director of the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics think tank.
Related
A just-released survey conducted by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists finds that health workers are asking pharmacists the same questions (PDF) that patients are asking:
- Is the H1N1 vaccine safe? (Patients: 52%, Hospital Employees: 54%)
- Do I need to get the H1N1 vaccine? (Patients: 33%, Hospital Employees: 43%)
- Will there be enough H1N1 vaccine to around? (Patients: 27%, Hospital Employees: 27%)
The ASHP also says that “While pharmacists are authorized to administer vaccinations to adults [in most states], the survey also finds that most hospitals are not planning to utilize pharmacists for this service. ” The organization - made up of 35,000 members who include pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy students - is encouraging hospitals and health systems to use pharmacists to administer vaccines to increase vaccination rates. The survey also looks at other H1N1 influenza preparedness issues as well.
-
Awards for Excellence in Health Care JournalismDeadline: Feb. 3
- How I did it: Falsified charts in nursing homes linked to patient care
- Access Denied: Looking at a lack of health care availability
- Transparency & medical errors: Public reporting of patient harm is a potent force
- Focus on freelancing: Tips for buying liability insurance
- Why do some patients get stuck in hospitals for weeks, months?
- Investigate health professionals and the boards that regulate them
- Presidents of AHCJ, SPJ call for more openness from Obama administration
