PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that supervised injection sites designed to prevent overdoses do not violate federal drug laws, giving advocates in Philadelphia and perhaps elsewhere a boost in their efforts to open them. U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh said there’s no evidence that Congress... Read more
Forget going through the trouble of growing mushrooms. Researchers at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio have figured out a way to mass produce psilocybin using bacteria. And they say they’re yielding quantities of the therapeutic compound that would otherwise require some serious square footage, not to mention many months,... Read more
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring would like his state to become the latest to move toward marijuana legalization. Herring, a Democrat serving in his second term as Virginia AG and who intends to run for governor of the state in 2021, made his position known in a tweet on... Read more
Patients receiving treatment for lung illnesses sustained from vaping had injuries that resemble chemical burns from mustard gas, according to a physician at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Brandon T. Larsen, a surgical pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, told the New York Times that lung tissue samples... Read more
It’s been almost one year since cannabis became legal in Canada. In light of the upcoming anniversary, a new study looked at the ways that cannabis has affected the workplace. Findings from this study show that by and large legalization has had a much smaller impact on things than... Read more
After prescribing opioids to a West Virginia woman who subsequently died, a Virginia doctor has been sentenced to 40 years in prison. A district court ruled that Joel Smithers was guilty of over 800 federal drug charges, including illegally distributing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose. The prosecution... Read more
The Department of Veterans Affairs ushered in a new policy this week making its healthcare facilities completely smoke-free. Most notably, the policy, which took effect on Tuesday, eliminates designated smoking shelters that had been a fixture at many VA hospitals. Now, smoking is strictly prohibited on the grounds of... Read more
Healthcare products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with two Ohio counties to settle a lawsuit over the company’s role in the ongoing opioid crisis. Under terms of the settlement, Johnson & Johnson would pay Cuyahoga and Summit counties a total of... Read more
