Disease burden is the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity or other indicators. When it comes to drugs, we are always talking about overdoses and deaths.  The CDC predicted deaths in the US for the 12 months preceding March 2024, are over 103,000. That is horrible and unacceptable. Death […]

The High Truths Season Finale airs the live conversation from December 13 with Drs. Bertha Madras, Libby Stuyt and Aaron Weiner. The experts share their reflections on 2024, hopes for 2025, and advice for the new Trump administration.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, in 1990, people were dying of prescription opioids. Those were the ‘good ol days” when 100 people a day were dying from drugs. Today we are at 300 a day. There is much to learn from history and my conversation with Mary Bono. The Honorable Mary Bono […]

Drug hijack your dopamine. Dopamine is a neurochemical we need to live. We need it like oxygen and water. Without it, people feel they are dying. Anna Lembke, MD is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she is the author […]

Drug and Alcohol Policy dates to Talmudic times. Ancient Rabbis established rules, or policy for their village. They told their people to avoid crossing to the neighboring village on the Sabbath because those neighbors had a reputation for excessing drinking. Today drug policy can be extremely liberal – allowing free drug trade with no consequences, […]

Alcohol prohibition. Taxes. Quality standards. Potency regulation. What can healthcare policy learn from alcohol and tobacco and apply to today’s cannabis market? David Jernigan, PhD, is a Professor of Health Law, Policy and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health, and senior policy advisor for CityHealth, a project of the de Beaumont Foundation […]