Charles Cutler is an internal medicine specialist from Norristown. Want to know what's important in medicine today? Ask Charles Cutler, an internal medicine specialist from Norristown who last month was sworn in as the 167th president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. The society's 16,000 members are physicians and medical students throughout the state. Among the issues it promotes are leadership, education, and public health. Cutler, a member for 35 years, belongs to numerous other medical organizations, including the Board of Trustees of the Montgomery County Medical Society. He is a member of Einstein Physicians Norriton, a part of the Einstein Healthcare Network. [continues 236 words]
Growing up, Evan Blessett was as an avid soccer player and honor roll student. He loved skateboarding and played the drums later in his teen years. But one role that his dad, Doug, never thought his son would play was one of a recovering drug addict. "The thing that gets me is he got past us," Doug Blessett said about his 29-year-old son, who is a counselor at The Healing Place, an addiction recovery center in Louisville. "When my son went through this, I took it personally. You think you would see it, and I didn't." [continues 1428 words]
Marijuana is still illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. But Washington voters in 2012 legalized the cultivation, sale and taxation of recreational marijuana. California voted in November 2016 to do likewise. Will taxes on marijuana help pay high cost of K-12 education funding? The state's Republican lawmakers have been as slippery as a pig on ice when it comes to finding dollars to pay for state Supreme Court-ordered full funding of K-12 education in Washington, a pattern seen Thursday at The Associated Press' legislative forum. [continues 515 words]
A recommendation by state Rep. Joel Kleefisch would have parents request their high school students be tested for illegal drugs. Students drive out of the parking lot at the end of the school day at De Pere High School on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. Students who have parking permits at the school are subjected to random drug testing throughout the school year.(Photo: Adam Wesley/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wi) GREEN BAY - Rep. Joel Kleefisch had a ready response for lawmakers and school administrators who were quick to speak out against a proposal late last year for statewide random drug testing in high schools. [continues 1701 words]
Mandatory drug testing of students at a two-year technical college in Linn, Mo., has been banned by a federal appeals court. The court has reinstated the ban on mandatory drug testing for most students at the State Technical College of Missouri. The decision was the latest ruling in a 5-year-old lawsuit. The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Associated Press reported that by a 9-2 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overturned an earlier decision by a three-judge panel of the court. [continues 132 words]
A study of Washington high school students out Tuesday examining marijuana use among students in the state two years before and after the vote to legalize in 2012 finds that marijuana use increased by about 3 percent among 8th- and 10th-graders over that period. Conventional wisdom, based on results since marijuana was legalized three years ago in Colorado, is that availability of legal weed is having little or no effect on teen's use of the drug. However, a study of Washington high school students out Tuesday flies somewhat in the face of prevailing opinion. Examining marijuana use among students in the state two years before and after the vote to legalize in 2012, it finds that marijuana use increased by about 3 percent among 8th- and 10th-graders over that period. [continues 591 words]
Dugan Arnett wandered down Winter Street while looking for marijuana in Boston. Call me old-fashioned, but I trusted Nancy Reagan when she urged me to Just Say No. I listened when McGruff the Crime Dog insisted that "users are losers." And when my younger sister arrived home one night back in high school smelling of the devil's lettuce, I did what any self-respecting graduate of the DARE program would do: I told my mom. So when my boss approached me to ask if I'd be willing to go out on Thursday - the day marijuana officially became legal in Massachusetts - and attempt to buy some, it's safe to say I was caught off guard. [continues 1008 words]
There is a place in city of Rochester where people from all walks of life have been gathering. About half of them come from the city, the other half drive in from the suburbs, or even farther, to get here every day. It is a hub of diversity, unlike any other in the Finger Lakes region. Men and women, young and old, business executives, soccer moms, students. They drive shiny BMWs, family minivans, and pickup trucks with antlers mounted on the hood. [continues 505 words]
Lacey Township Middle School is one of the first in the region to drug test middle school students. Here's why. LACEY -- Middle schoolers here are among the first in the region to take part in a random drug testing program that could shape the battle against drug abuse. Superintendent Craig Wigley said the program is ready to launch after New Year's, and he expects about 100 of the middle school's roughly 700 students to participate. Parents must enroll their seventh- and eighth-graders in order to take part in the voluntary program, under which students who fail a random drug test would be removed from sports and extracurricular activities for 10 days after the first offense, 45 days after the second offense, and longer for a third offense. [continues 451 words]
Does legalizing recreational marijuana cause more teens to smoke it? That's highly possible, according to a new UC Davis study, which found teens in Washington state were "significantly" less aware of its potential harm and more likely to have smoked pot after it became legal. "Adolescents are particularly important to look at, since some will go on to chronic use. This is something we need to look at further ... to prevent any unintended consequences down the road," said Dr. Magdalena Cerda, associate professor in emergency medicine and associate director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program. [continues 290 words]
The anti-marijuana-legalization movement has made the claim that legalization will lead to an eruption in teenage marijuana use a central part of its narrative. But it turns out that the kids didn't get the memo. The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research is out with its latest national survey of teenage drug use, including marijuana use, and what it found was that since 2012, the year that Colorado and Washington state legalized pot, teenage drug use is down, not up. [continues 647 words]
Officials, former inmate contrast the emphasis on treatment vs. incarceration When Leola Bivins was first sent away for dealing drugs, she was a 22-year-old high school dropout with a 2-year-old daughter at home. Addiction was the center of the life she knew in East Stroudsburg, where she was born and raised, she recalled recently. Bivins' mother was a heroin addict - she eventually died of an overdose - and seemingly everyone around her was either selling drugs or abusing them, Bivins said. [continues 2766 words]
After multiple failed attempts over the course of a century, Proposition 64, which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana, passed with a 56 percent vote in California on Nov. 9. Proposition 64 legalizes the recreational use of marijuana; anyone 21 and older can possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow a maximum of six marijuana plants at home. The proposition can also potentially reduce sentences as well as clearing criminal records of prisoners that have been convicted of felonies related to the possession and consumption of marijuana. [continues 543 words]
Two advocates who previously worked to legalize medical marijuana in Maine together debated the hot topic of recreational marijuana legalization initiative Question 1, taking questions from a raucous audience that ranged from children to medical marijuana caregivers. The debate was held at Unity College Performing Arts Center, which was nearly full to its capacity of about 100 people and smelled faintly of marijuana. A wide variety of people turned out for the event, including families, students, caregivers and a man dressed as a Rasta banana. [continues 772 words]
The legalization of retail marijuana stores two years ago has had profound impacts on the city and county of Pueblo. Some good. Some bad. Now, the time has come for Pueblo voters to decide whether the benefits outweigh the negatives. For months, The Pueblo Chieftain has been intensely studying this issue, both with special and ongoing news reporting, and also with private editorial board discussions with those for and against retail marijuana stores and grow operations. It is an understatement to say the issue is complicated. So bear with us as we try today to discuss the essential concerns. [continues 1593 words]
Colorado has led the charge for legalization of marijuana and many states are following suit and are entertaining the legalization of marijuana in this year's elections. What most people do not know is that Colorado has a public health problem directly related to marijuana and that 70 percent of Colorado municipalities have voted no to having legalized marijuana in their community. Since de facto legalization in 2009 and by vote in 2014, Colorado has taken over the nation in youth use in 12- to 17-year-olds. The industry has evolved over the past several years and adolescents have evolved as well. They are receiving the message that marijuana is safe and natural, that it's an herb, and that its a medication. [continues 549 words]
NCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. - An 8-member panel of students and experts spent two hours Tuesday night exploring the individual views of those in favor of and against Nevada's Measure 2 - which proposes the legalization of marijuana for recreational use for those 21 and older. Dr. Andrew Whyman hosted the forum at Sierra Nevada College, opening up the discussion with topics surrounding marijuana about stigma, social justice, criminal justice, how it impacts youth, regulation, legislation and more. As for panel members, despite their titles, some said they came on their own accord, and thus their views do not represent the views of their organizations. [continues 1134 words]
Flood of fentanyl and heroin is straining budgets, putting police at risk as drug networks spread During an attempted drug-trafficking bust this spring on Chicago's South Side, police Sgt. James Madden took off running after a young man, chasing him into a darkened yard before losing the trail. Sgt. Madden didn't know where he was going. That's because he works for a sheriff's office 500 miles away, in the northwestern corner of Wisconsin. The officer's work doesn't normally take him so far from his home of Superior, Wis., (population 27,000), but today's drug trade is imposing unprecedented new burdens on small-town law enforcement. He made the eight-hour drive to pursue a Chicagoan who allegedly traveled to Superior to sell large quantities of a dangerous drug called fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times as potent as heroin. is supercharging the longstanding problem of drugs in small towns. Police, forensic labs and prosecutors are struggling to identify and safely intercept new narcotics that can sicken or kill anyone who handles them, and to combat trafficking networks that sometimes extend many hours away. Death rates from overdoses are now higher in rural areas than in big cities, reversing a historical trend. [continues 1970 words]
Brightly lit and bustling, Harborside Health Center serves as something of a model for the medical marijuana industry - even as California's freewheeling approach to cannabis is seen as an example of how not to do things. As dozens of customers at Harborside pick their products, chatty budtenders talk knowledgeably about the selection, which includes cannabis for smoking, eating and vaporizing. Business is booming: Between this store in Oakland and another location in San Jose, Harborside's sales total $35 million a year. Sales are so strong that Harborside offers free yoga, tai chi and acupuncture to its customers, who must have a doctor's permission to enter the store. [continues 970 words]
