Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld do an excellent job, in "Stop calling addiction a brain disease," explaining how a unidimentional brain disease model, rather than a biopsychosocial model of addiction, birthed the opioid epidemic. The 21st century is not the first time medicine considered addiction a brain disease. In 1889 Massachusetts built the Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates in Foxborough, thinking overuse of alcohol could be cured in the same fashion as insanity was being cured at the time. [continues 116 words]
I cringe to think about some parent whose child is struggling with opioid addiction reading "Stop calling addiction a brain disease," and running to the mall to buy "gift cards or movie tickets" as incentives for their child to "choose" not to use. I cringe to think about the specialists who have worked so long to change our cultural thinking around addiction sighing as these outmoded ideas about addiction-as-a-choice are given prime media play. And I cringe to think of those who have been blessed not to have the specter of addiction touch their families reading this and thinking, "See, it's not a disease." [continues 215 words]
Independence Day is a celebration of freedom. But on this July Fourth, for the first time in more than a century, our freedoms in Massachusetts include the ability to legally buy, possess, and use marijuana. These privileges took effect in December, after voters approved a ballot question on recreational pot use. And that measure remains the law of the land, despite state legislators' ongoing debate over a rewrite of the rules. But it's worth remembering that this freedom is heavily qualified. So, after consulting with law enforcement experts and studying guidance issued by state officials, here are some recreational marijuana do's and don'ts. [continues 786 words]
The fate of marijuana legalization, enshrined in law by about 1.8 million Massachusetts voters, is now in the hands of a half-dozen lawmakers meeting in secret. Those legislators' first action on Monday was to kick out members of the news media, close the door, and begin their deliberations to reconcile fundamentally different Senate and House rewrites of the ballot question that legalized adult recreational marijuana's use and sale. "We're going to ask the press to leave," said Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, the Senate's point person on pot policy. [continues 718 words]
BOSTON -- After a week of sharp divisions and heated rhetoric over the future of the state's recreational marijuana law, it's now up to a conference committee of six legislators to try and sort everything out. On one hand, there's a House bill that infuriated pro-marijuana activists by proposing a major overhaul of the voter-approved law. On the other, a more restrained Senate bill won praise from the groups behind the November ballot question. Democratic Rep. Mark Cusack, the House bill's lead author, suggested before the votes that the two chambers were in about 80 percent agreement on their respective approaches. [continues 569 words]
A city-run day shelter that will house the homeless along Methadone Mile. ON A RECENT afternoon at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, a group of people tried to revive an unconscious man lying on a strip of grass. Only the white soles of the man's sneakers were visible to motorists as they waited for the light to change. Another man darted between the idling cars toward a Boston firetruck and said, "A guy over there OD'd, he needs help." [continues 174 words]
On the heels of a House rewrite Wednesday of the state's adult-use recreational marijuana law, approved by voters in November, local reaction has been mixed. Increasing the tax rate on marijuana sales from 12 percent to 28 percent and allowing local governing boards to ban or limit pot stores without asking local voters are among the more significant changes in the House bill. On Thursday, the debate over reshaping the law shifted to the state Senate, where a more modest set of revisions to existing law appeared headed for passage. [continues 925 words]
QUINCY, Mass. - A Massachusetts medical marijuana dispensary has created a culinary delight for patients who don't want to smoke their pot or eat it in the form of sweets. Quincy-based Ermont Inc. has been selling cannabis-infused pizza for about three weeks to rave reviews. Director of Operations Seth Yaffe says the company has a whole range of marijuana edibles, but he wanted to offer meals that patients could eat without a lot of sugar. The 6-inch cheese pizzas sell for $38 apiece. The tomato sauce contains 125 milligrams of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana. The company has sold about 200 already. Yaffe says if patients want toppings, they can add their own. Only people with state-issued medical marijuana ID cards are eligible to buy the pies. [end]
President Trump is ill advised to expend resources to shutdown state legal marijuana businesses ("Pot plans moving forward despite toughtalk from Trump," Feb. 27). As Jacob Sullum points out in his column: "According to a recent Quinnipiac University survey, 59 percent of Americans think marijuana should be made legal in the United States," while 71 percent "oppose the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana." Among Republicans, only 35 percent favored legalization, but 55 percent opposed federal interference with it." Steven S. Epstein, Georgetown [end]
I'd like to commend The Boston Globe for bringing attention to a new home-based program for children and families affected by the opioid epidemic ("A new program targets children of opioid addicts," Business, Jan. 16). As the article notes, parental substance use disorders present safety, developmental, and attachment-related risks to children, and this is especially so for those under 5 years of age. Sadly, the number of children affected by parental substance use disorders in the United States has more than doubled. For example, from 1998 to 2012, cases in which children were removed from the home because of parental alcohol or substance use rose from 14 to 31 percent of all cases of children being removed. [continues 99 words]
Senator Jason M. Lewis proposed legislation that would reduce the amount of marijuana people 21 years and older could possess in their home from 10 ounces to 2 ounces, and the number of marijuana plants people could grow from 12 per household to six per household. The right of Massachusetts adults to possess and grow marijuana would be sharply curbed, and the ability of retail shops to begin selling recreational pot next year would be deeply undercut if legislation filed Friday afternoon by a key state senator becomes law. [continues 705 words]
[photo] A Walgreens in Boston. An investigation by Attorney General Maura Healey found that some Walgreens pharmacies failed to monitor patients' drug use patterns and didn't use sound professional judgment when dispensing opioids and other controlled substances - a concern because of soaring overdose deaths in Massachusetts. Walgreens agreed to pay $200,000 and follow certain procedures for dispensing opioids, in a settlement filed Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court. "Our records show," Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso said in an e-mail, "that the prescriptions in question were dispensed to patients for a legitimate medical purpose and issued by licensed practitioners," suggesting the drugs were not diverted to the black market. [continues 828 words]
Will lawmakers gut key parts of marijuana law? A marijuana joint was rolled. Marijuana legalization advocates fear the Massachusetts Legislature, which has already delayed the opening of pot shops, will now gut several key parts of the law approved by 1.8 million voters in November. Public comments from Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg about potential changes are setting off alarm bells among backers. Rosenberg has raised the prospect of lawmakers sharply increasing the marijuana tax rate, lowering the 12-plant-per-household limit on homegrowing pot, and even raising the legal age for purchase, possession, and use up from 21. [continues 1067 words]
In a grim indicator of the toll the opioid crisis is taking on children, a program is being launched in Massachusetts specifically to help newborns, infants, and toddlers with addicted parents. Health officials say they believe it's the first such early-intervention program in the state to target these children, some of whom were born drug-addicted. The government-funded initiative will pay for weekly home visits to 36 low-income families in New Bedford, a South Coast community where the number of children born with opiates in their bloodstreams is four times the state average. [continues 493 words]
Law enforcement and veterinary officials are planning an outreach campaign to educate veterinarians about a new frontier in the opioid epidemic: people so desperate for drugs that they take medication that had been prescribed to pets. "The misuse of pet medication has serious safety implications - for people and animals," said Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan, in a letter that will be printed in the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association newsletter this week. "Educating people about the signs of drug misuse, available treatment resources and how to properly store and dispose of all medications is a crucial part of helping to stem the tide of overdoses and death." [continues 393 words]
[photo] (Debee Tlumacki for The Boston Globe) Paul Jehle, pastor of the New Testament Church of Cedarville, shook hands with recovering addict Justin Todd at a Project Outreach drop-in center hosted by the church in Plymouth. One in a series of occasional articles about opiate abuse and its consequences. It took multiple applications of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, Paul Hachey of Plymouth recalled, to revive him in late September. The 38-year-old was "dead" from an OxyContin overdose for three minutes before he slipped back to life, he said. [continues 1192 words]
[photo] A marijuana bud. Across New England, two issues appear to be driving legislatures this year - - and they both have to do with drugs. States are grappling with the emergence of marijuana legalization. But the region is also the epicenter of the opioid crisis, with overdose rates in New Hampshire among the highest in the country. These two debates - separate, but not unrelated - transcend party. Marijuana legalization efforts have been supported by Democrats and Republicans, but none of the region's six governors fully support recreational use of the drug. On the opioid crisis as well, there is bipartisan consensus about the importance of the issue - as well as the fact there's no silver bullet to solve the problem. [continues 611 words]
Holyoke has a number of old mill buildings that Mayor Alex B. Morse believes would make an excellent location for the industry. HOLYOKE - Vacant mill buildings along a series of canals serve as constant reminders of this impoverished city's halcyon days as the Paper City of the World. But the mayor has a distinctly 21st-century plan for the old factories. Alex B. Morse imagines marijuana growing in them. Morse, the 27-year-old wunderkind who has been in office for more than five years , believes his hometown is on the upswing, with the lowest rates of crime and unemployment in many years. But the city, with a poverty rate almost three times the state average, requires an infusion of industry. And the state's nascent recreational marijuana business, he says, would be a perfect fit. [continues 1136 words]
WORCESTER - Last year was another rough year in the fight against opioid addiction, and Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. had some numbers to prove it at a forum Monday night at Worcester Technical High School. The district attorney said there were 148 overdose deaths in Worcester County last year, and he cautioned that as toxicology test results come back, that number could still rise. He said for four years that number has been in the triple digits, and said it has impacted the cities and the suburbs. He said that in nearly three quarters of those overdose deaths, the powerful drug fentanyl played a role. [continues 718 words]
Massachusetts lawmakers have already shown they're willing to tinker with the marijuana legalization law passed by voters in November. But for now, at least, it's legal for adults 21 and older to grow marijuana plants at home: Six plants per person and 12 per household. (Note: Home growing is legal indoors only in Massachusetts.) Curious about how to get started? The Boston Public Library has a perhaps surprising number of books about pot, including several volumes on home growing. They include: [continues 232 words]
Inside Massachusetts
