MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS CAN no longer walk into recreational marijuana shops, which have been ordered closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to get weed. […]
Drugs
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
The folly of Baker’s drug price control plan
WHEN THE Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) selected Charlie Baker as Governor of the Year in 2018, the group may have misjudged Baker’s understanding of the industry. Baker recently offered legislation that […]
Posted inEconomy
Vaping ban ends with mixed results
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE PUBLIC HEALTH officials acknowledged that they still do not know what is causing lung injuries and illnesses among some people who vape, and reiterated that […]
Posted inOpinion
Why supervised drug injection sites make sense
SINCE 2000, 17,496 citizens of Massachusetts have died from an opioid overdose. Half of those deaths came in the last five years. That’s like one of at least 245 communities […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Rate of growth in Mass. opioid deaths slows
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICERWE THE RATE OF DEATHS due to opioid overdoses is slowing in Massachusetts, but still nearly 1,500 people died of an overdose in Massachusetts through the first […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
House bans flavored vaping and tobacco products
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE voted Wednesday to ban the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products — including mint and menthol cigarettes — and to impose an […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Time to rise up for healing
WE HAVE FAITH but have lost our patience. As faith leaders with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, we call on state leadership to rise up for healing by lowering the […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Medical marijuana vaping ban up in air
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WHEN THE CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION meets Thursday, it could determine whether Gov. Charlie Baker’s temporary ban on vaping product sales should apply to medical marijuana patients […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Judge allows Baker vaping ban to continue
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN A RULING critical of how Gov. Charlie Baker went about banning the sale of all vaping products for four months, a Superior Court judge on […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Walsh flooding the Mass. and Cass zone
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH intends to flood the area around Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue with outreach workers, public works staff, and police officers in a bid to ease […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Stop the war on drug coupons
THROUGHOUT HISTORY, some revolutions ended up turning on the very people they claimed to be defending. With the calls to ban drug coupons, rebels against the drug industry in Massachusetts […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Healey outlines refusal to settle Purdue Pharma lawsuit
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY says she plans to continue to aggressively pursue litigation against Purdue Pharma, the company that made billions selling prescription painkiller OxyContin, despite the company filing for bankruptcy on Sunday, […]
Posted inOpinion
Strong action needed to rein in prescription drug costs
EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO count on having access to health care that is high quality and affordable. But even in Massachusetts, where we have the highest rate of health […]
Posted inOpinion
Insurers, pharmacy benefit managers driving up drug costs
IF WE EVER NEEDED MORE PROOF that insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are a major cost driver for the price of prescription drugs, we need look no further than […]
Posted inThe Download
Surgeons over-prescribed opioids, report says
Research suggests many opioid addictions start innocently, with pain pills prescribed in the wake of an injury or surgery. Much of the blame has fallen on opioid manufacturers, who convinced […]
Posted inUncategorized
Surgeons over-prescribed opioids, report says
RESEARCH SUGGESTS many opioid addictions start innocently, with pain pills prescribed in the wake of an injury or surgery. Much of the blame has fallen on opioid manufacturers, who convinced […]
Posted inThe Download
Fighting opioids in the court and streets
Attorney General Maura Healey announced a massive drug bust just a day after co-penning an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with Gov. Charlie Baker about the opioid crisis and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Fighting opioids in the court and streets
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY announced a massive drug bust just a day after co-penning an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with Gov. Charlie Baker about the opioid crisis and […]
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Healey, Baker respond to Purdue in joint letter
THREE WEEKS AFTER the chairman of Purdue Pharma argued in the pages of the Wall Street Journal against states suing his company to hold it responsible for the opioid crisis, […]
Posted inOpinion
MassBIO’s drug pricing concerns don’t add up
ONE OF THE MORE PUZZLING arguments the Massachusetts biopharma industry is putting forward during the Beacon Hill debate over Medicaid drug pricing is that innovative drugs won’t be developed and […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Time to rein in prescription drug costs
WHEN MICHELLE KATS was diagnosed with diabetes in 2001, her parents would stay in her room at night and check her blood sugar to make sure it was not too […]
Posted inUncategorized
Health panel wants to open ‘black box’ of drug brokers
A QUASI-INDEPENDENT state agency tasked with monitoring the health care marketplace has made a foray into the debate over pharmacy benefits managers, calling for more transparency about the role the […]
Posted inHealth Care
RFK, Jr.’s anti-vaccine campaign is reckless and wrong — say three Kennedys
OF ALL THE WRINKLES in the emerging measles crisis and spotlight it has put on families who have caused the outbreak by refusing to vaccinate their children, the most curious […]
Posted inUncategorized
Senate budget stirs ire of MassBIO with drug pricing proposal
SENATE LEADERS are proposing two ways to reduce the ballooning cost of pharmaceuticals used by Medicaid patients, but an industry group claims one of the ideas is “radical” and “unproven.” […]