Australia's medical regulator has approved the use of psychedelics to treat some mental health conditions, making the country one of the first in the world to "officially recognise MDMA and psilocybin as medicines".
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/15/opioid- ... -use-.htmlThe Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisors on Wednesday unanimously recommended over-the-counter use of the nasal spray Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses, which would significantly expand access to the life-saving treatment.
Emergent BioSolutions’ Narcan is the most commonly sold treatment for opioid overdoses. The FDA is expected to make a decision by March 29 on whether to allow people to buy the four milligram nasal spray without a prescription. The agency is not required to accept its advisors recommendation, though it typically does so.
“There is no reason to keep this as a prescription, let’s get it out there and save some lives,” said Elizabeth Coykendall, a paramedic at PM Pediatrics in Raleigh, North Carolina and a temporary voting member of the FDA committee. Emergent BioSolutions said Narcan would be available for the over-the-counter market by late summer if the FDA approves it next month. The company has not yet disclosed how much it would cost.
“We have been working on distribution plans with key stakeholders like retailers and government leaders,” said Matt Hartwig, a spokesperson for the company. Most states have already issued blanket prescriptions that allow pharmacies to distribute Narcan, generically known as naloxone, without the patient having to present a script. But FDA approval of Narcan for over-the-counter use would allow more people to acquire the treatment more easily in more places.
Legislation to legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina has been passed by the state’s full Senate.
By a vote of 36 to 10 the North Carolina Senate passed legislation that would narrowly legalize medical marijuana for those with certain medical conditions. Introduced by Senator Bill Rabon with a bipartisan coalition of 12 cosponsors, the measure now goes to the House of Representative. Passage in the House would send the bill to Governor Roy Cooper for final consideration.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Tens of thousands of Texans from the bustling Dallas-Fort Worth area routinely drive across the Red River to gamble in glitzy, Las Vegas-style tribal casinos or to relax at cabins or swim and ski in lakes that dot southern Oklahoma.
Soon, they could come north for another draw: recreational marijuana.
Oklahoma voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve a ballot measure that legalizes consuming the plant for adults 21 and older. The conservative state already has one of the nation's most robust medical marijuana programs, and industry proponents hope an influx of Texas consumers will be a boon for a market that's become saturated.
“There are thousands and thousands of Texans who are increasingly coming to Oklahoma as a tourist destination,” said Ryan Kiesel, a former state lawmaker and one of the organizers of State Question 820. “I want to be able to sell legal, regulated and taxed marijuana to those Texans over the age of 21, and take their tax dollars and invest them in Oklahoma schools and Oklahoma health care.”
The population of the booming Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone — closing in on 8 million people — is nearly double that of the entire state of Oklahoma.
https://captimes.com/news/government/il ... 3a5c6.htmlIllinois and Michigan again raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue on recreational weed sales last year, and Minnesota is planning to join the party by fully legalizing the drug.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin sits on a near-island of cannabis prohibition, surrounded by states with legal weed. But, as medical marijuana inches toward legalization in the state, experts say policymakers would have the benefit of hindsight from the states who went first.
Wisconsin’s neighboring states are touting the tax benefits of their legal cannabis industries, with a large share of those dollars likely brought in by Wisconsinites crossing the border to buy legally. Critics are wary of the drawbacks, but good data is lacking.
Michigan brought in about $325 million in tax revenue from medical and recreational sales in 2022, through a 10% excise tax and a 6% sales tax, according to the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency. That’s about a 30% increase over 2021’s tax revenue.
In February, the Michigan Department of Treasury announced distribution of about $60 million to municipalities and counties from recreational tax revenue collected during the October 2021-September 2022 fiscal year. The fund also gave about $70 million to both K-12 education and the Michigan Transportation Fund.
According to the Colorado Department of Revenue the state garnered nearly $25 million in marijuana taxes in February.
In total the state made $24,752,691 in taxes from the legal distribution of marijuana and marijuana products in the month of February, roughly a million dollars more than the previous month despite there being just 28 days in the month. The total amount of marijuana taxes garnered in Colorado since the start of legal sales in 2014 now stands at $2,391,141,421.
In Colorado the excise tax on marijuana is set at 15%, which is on top of the 2.9% standard statewide sales tax. In addition to these taxes, localities have the option of implementing a city-wide tax of up to 3%.
The taxes made in February are lower than the taxes made during the same months of 2020, 2021 and 2022. However, the number is higher than every February between 2014 – 2019.
Colorado was one of the first two states to legalize marijuana with the passage of a 2012 citizen’s initiative. Although marijuana possession became legal the following year, the first marijuana stores didn’t begin opening until 2014.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/29/opioids ... rcan-.htmlThe Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved sales without a prescription of the nasal spray Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses, a decision that promises to significantly expand access to the lifesaving treatment.
The FDA’s decision means people will be able to buy the 4 milligram nasal spray in supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations, vending machines and online. Emergent BioSolutions , the manufacturer, has said Narcan should be available without a prescription by late summer.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf, in a statement, said the agency is encouraging the company to make the nasal spray as widely available as possible at an affordable price.
Narcan reverses fatal overdoses by blocking the effect that opioids have on the nervous system. The nasal spray must be administered as soon as an overdose is suspected.
Read more here: https://readsludge.com/2023/03/09/pfiz ... the-line/(Sludge) Last year, as it was raking in cash from its COVID vaccine and newly authorized oral treatment Paxlovid, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer spent big bucks to safeguard its intellectual property (IP), federal lobbying disclosures reveal. The nearly $900,000 lobbying tab came amid a global fight over how best to ensure fair access to COVID tools like vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
Uneven distribution of such tools has been an ongoing problem throughout the pandemic, which has killed more than six million people worldwide by official numbers. Estimates of its true death toll, however, range into the tens of millions. Wealthier nations have hoarded critical supplies while lower-income countries in the Global South have struggled with procurement.
One solution that has gained traction at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) is an intellectual property waiver for COVID tools. The idea has faced stiff opposition from the pharmaceutical industry. Pfizer in particular has long been lobbying to stave off any such waiver.
The company’s spending on the issue through last year, including $140,000 in the fourth quarter alone, shows how significant and persistent a threat those global discussions are to its bottom line and provides insight into how the pharmaceutical giant has prioritized profits over global equity and human lives.
Global Battle For Equity
Efforts to address intellectual property barriers to equitable delivery of COVID tools go all the way back to October 2020. That month, the governments of India and South Africa proposed a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver at the WTO. The proposal, which had the support of 62 member states and more than 100 low-income nations, was expansive. It would have temporarily waived intellectual property protections for COVID technologies including vaccines, diagnostic kits, personal protective equipment, ventilators, preventative medicines, and treatments.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/newsom-sendin ... raffickingSan Francisco has struggled to stem its fentanyl crisis, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to direct the state National Guard and California Highway Patrol to join the city's efforts to fight fentanyl trafficking.
"Two truths can co-exist at the same time: San Francisco’s violent crime rate is below comparably sized cities like Jacksonville and Fort Worth — and there is also more we must do to address public safety concerns, especially the fentanyl crisis," said Newsom on Friday.
The state will expand its law enforcement presence around the city in hopes of mitigating crimes linked to the fentanyl epidemic and, hopefully, reducing the number of overdoses from the powerful synthetic opioid.
"Our Police Department and District Attorney have been partnering to tackle this issue and increase enforcement, but our local agencies can use more support," Mayor London Breed said in a statement. "With the Governor’s leadership and clear direction, our state enforcement agencies can partner with us to make a difference for our residents, businesses, and workers who are living with the impacts every day."
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota House on Tuesday passed a 300-page bill that would allow adults 21 and older to buy, sell and use marijuana, joining nearly two dozen other states that have legalized the cannabis plant for recreational use.
It passed Tuesday afternoon on 71-59 vote, with two Republicans joining all but one Democrat in supporting the proposal. Lawmakers started debating it Monday night before adjourning and resuming discussion the next day.
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-s ... 600270909/
The Minnesota Senate cast its first-ever vote to legalize recreational marijuana on Friday, pushing the proposal closer to becoming law than ever before.
Senators passed the DFL-led marijuana bill on a 34-33 vote, with all Democrats voting for it and all Republicans opposing it. The House approved its marijuana bill on Tuesday. Both the House and Senate bills now head to a conference committee where their differences will be reconciled into a final version.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/10/birth-c ... ption.html
A panel of experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended Wednesday that the agency for the first time allow women to obtain a birth control pill without a prescription. The panel had been asked whether the benefits of selling HRA Pharma’s birth control pill Opill outweighed the risks of consumers improperly using the medication resulting in unintended pregnancy.
The FDA is not obligated to follow the recommendations of its independent advisors, all 17 of whom voted “yes” on the proposal after a two-day hearing. But HRA Pharma expects a final decision by the FDA this summer on its application for non-prescription sales of Opill, which is generically called norgestrel. The Paris-based drugmaker is owned by Perrigo, a manufacturer of over-the-counter drugs.
Since they were approved in the United States more than 60 years ago, oral contraceptives have only been available to women with a prescription for their use. If the FDA approves HRA Pharma’s application, women could obtain Opill without first having to visit a doctor or other health-care provider.
“The history of women’s contraception is a struggle for women’s control over their reproduction, and we need to trust women,” said Dr. Katalin Roth, a member of the FDA advisory panel, and a professor of medicine at George Washington University. “I urge the FDA to approve over-the-counter availability of Opill,” Roth said, in explaining her vote in favor of HRA Pharma’s application.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/05/1 ... nesota-lawMinnesota stood on the edge of joining the nearly two dozen states with legal marijuana after the House voted 73-57 Thursday night to pass the final version of an adult-use cannabis bill. A Senate vote is expected to follow shortly.
It’s a monumental shift in drug policy, even though people on both ends of the debate acknowledged that use is prevalent despite its status as illegal now.
Rep. Patricia Mueller, R-Austin, who opposed the bill when a version initially passed in the House last month, said she had come around to backing it despite having continued reservations.
“The people who care about it, they really care about it. And the people who are against it are really against it,” said Mueller. “But the people who are like me, this why this bill makes it difficult, because there's so many places in it that are very good. I'm very open to the idea. I have just a couple of concerns.”
