Chronicle AM: Trump Opioid Commission Calls for More Drug Courts, More... (11/1/17)
President Trump's opioid commission issues its recommendations, El Paso becomes the latest Texas locale to ease marijuana possession penalties, would-be Arkansas medical marijuana providers file suit over an application process that excluded them, and more.
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy
Delaware Marijuana Task Force Report to Be Delayed. The legislative task force studying whether to legalize marijuana has delayed issuing its final report from the end of January to the end of February. The delay was requested by the Keep Delaware Safe and Healthy Coalition, a coalition of influential groups opposed to legalization.
New Jersey Court Rules State Must Consider Reclassifying Marijuana. An Appellate Division court ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the state must at least consider removing marijuana from its list of controlled substances. The ruling came in a case brought by two plaintiffs, a man serving a life sentence for marijuana trafficking and a young girl with epilepsy who uses marijuana for medical reasons. The court did not order the state to reclassify the herb, but said the head of the Division of Consumer Affairs should have considered reclassification instead of just flatly denying a petition to do so.
El Paso Becomes Latest Texas Locale to Not Automatically Arrest for Marijuana Offenses. El Paso county commissioners voted on Monday to approve a program under which first-time offenders caught with less than two ounces of weed can avoid arrest and criminal charges. The state passed a law allowing for the down-grading of pot possession offenses in 2014, but it has only been implemented in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.
Medical Marijuana
Arkansas Business Applicants Sue Over Rejected Bids. A group of applicants seeking to open some of the first medical marijuana businesses in the state filed lawsuits last week charging that the state Medical Marijuana Commission erred in its initial assessment of applications, where it rejected several applicants for failing to meet minimum requirements. The lawsuits seek a temporary restraining order to force the commission to include the plaintiffs' applications during a final scoring review.
Heroin and Prescription Opioids
White House Opioid Commission Issues Recommendations. President Trump's commission on the opioid crisis called Wednesday for the nationwide expansion of drug courts and more access to alternatives to opioids for people suffering pain as part of a series of recommendations for shaping drug policy to more effectively address the crisis. The 56 recommendations also include requiring doctors to show they have training in the safe provision of such drugs before their DEA licenses are renewed, requiring health care providers to use prescription drug monitoring databases, and easing Medicaid and insurance payments for opioid drug treatment. The recommendations contain no provision for increased funding.
Comments
the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history?
I keep reading and hearing that we are experiencing "the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history."
If this is true does it mean that over 100 years of nation-wide mandatory prescription laws for narcotic drugs have lead to circumstances in which it is less safe to use opiates than when there was unrestricted access to them?
Opioid death epidemic
The epidemic has, in the past, been fed by pain medications, but the largest part of the problem, by far, is not prescription drugs, but illegal heroin and fentanyl the black market for which is a direct result of our ill-advised pursuit of prohibition. Of the 30,000 opioid deaths occurring each year, only about 5,000 result from prescription opioids alone. About 12,000 result from combining the medication with other drugs such as benzodiazipines. It is crazy to think that more drug courts will make a dent in the massive amounts of heroin and fentanyl being consumed to excess.
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