The Washington Post (5/9, Ovalle, Beard) reports that the DEA “will allow doctors to keep using telemedicine to prescribe certain medications for anxiety, pain and opioid addiction, extending for six months emergency flexibilities established during the coronavirus pandemic.” As such, “the ability to prescribe controlled medications will run through Nov. 11, 2023…and that deadline will be longer still if doctors have already established a telemedicine relationship with patients.” In the latter “circumstance, physicians can keep prescribing the medications virtually through Nov. 11, 2024.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

According to The Hill (5/8, Scully), Congressional legislators “are calling for extensive data on maternal mental health programs to examine their effectiveness, following an alarming spike in the country’s maternal mortality rate.” In their May 8 letter (PDF) “to the Health Resources and Services Administration led by Maternity Care Caucus co-chairs Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), lawmakers requested data on the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline one year after the program started.” Additionally, they “requested data on the Screening and Treatment for Maternal Depression and Related Behavioral Health Disorders…program overseen by the Health Resources & Services Administration,” calling for “qualitative and quantitative data on the two programs.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers ask for data on maternal mental health program’s effectiveness “Rachel Scully, The Hill , May 8, 2023

The AP (5/8, Johnson) reports, “For the first time, the U.S. government will pay for a large study measuring whether overdoses can be prevented by so-called safe injection sites, places where people can use heroin and other illegal drugs and be revived if they” overdose. This “grant provides more than $5 million over four years to New York University and Brown University to study two sites in New York City and one opening next year in Providence, Rhode Island.” Investigators now “hope to enroll 1,000 adult drug users to study the sites’ effects on overdoses, to estimate their costs and to gauge potential savings for the health care and criminal justice systems.”

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— “US backs study of safe injection sites, overdose prevention “Carla K. Johnson , AP , May 8, 2023

CNN (5/8, Holcombe) reports, “Adults in their 20s and 30s with mental disorders have a higher chance of having a heart attack or stroke, according to a new study.” Investigators looked at data on “more than 6.5 million people,” approximately 13% of whom “had some type of mental disorder.” The researchers found that individuals “younger than 40 with a mental disorder were 58% more likely to have a heart attack and 42% more likely to have a stroke than those with no disorder.” The findings were published online in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Related Links:

— “A mental illness in your 20s and 30s could mean a greater chance of heart attack and stroke “Madeline Holcombe, CNN, May 8, 2023

Psychiatric News (5/5) reported, “More than a quarter of people who experience substance-induced psychosis are diagnosed with schizophrenia within six years,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from 3,187 patients in the Norwegian Patient Registry who were between the ages of 18 and 79 and had a diagnosis of substance-induced psychosis from 2010 to 2015.” The findings were published online May 3 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Psychosis Induced by Substance Use Linked to Schizophrenia, Psychiatric News, May 5, 2023

Kaiser Health News (5/7, Hilzenrath) reports, “Marijuana and other products containing THC, the plant’s main psychoactive ingredient, have grown more potent and more dangerous as legalization has made them more widely available,” with some products currently having “more than 90% THC.” These higher concentrations of THC “pose greater hazards, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse,” which said on its website that “the risks of physical dependence and addiction increase with exposure to high concentrations of THC, and higher doses of THC are more likely to produce anxiety, agitation, paranoia, and psychosis.” Psychiatrist Smita Das, MD, “chair of an American Psychiatric Association council on addiction,” said that “cannabis use disorder ‘can be devastating.’” Dr. “Das said she has seen lives upended by cannabis – very successful people who have lost families and jobs.”

Related Links:

— “Legal pot is more potent than ever. And it’s still largely unregulated, putting consumers at risk. “David Hilzenrath, KFF Health News, May 7, 2023

Healio (5/5, Welsh) said, “Women who developed mood or anxiety disorders associated with pregnancy and childbirth had a specific and unique plasma protein signature regulating various neuronal signaling and proinflammatory pathways, researchers reported.” The findings were published online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Related Links:

— “Women with perinatal mood, anxiety disorders have specific altered proteins “Erin T. Welsh, Healio , May 5, 2023

The Hill (5/4, Yarrow) reports, “Medical experts urged Congress to hold insurance companies accountable for inaccurate medical directories that can hamper access for patients seeking mental health treatments,” a “problem…referred to as a ‘ghost network,’ when health insurance” companies “ostensibly provide coverage, but direct customers to nonexistent or unavailable” physicians or other mental healthcare professionals. Some experts “said the problem can have serious consequences for patients seeking psychiatric care or other mental health treatments.”

Related Links:

— “Congress urged to tackle ‘ghost networks’ amid mental health crisis “Grace Yarrow, The Hill , May 4, 2023

Bloomberg (5/4, Kary, Subscription Publication) reports, “Young men who use potent marijuana frequently have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia,” investigators found in “a new study of almost seven million health records.” The study posited that “as many as 30% of cases of schizophrenia among men aged 21-to-30 could have been prevented had they avoided cannabis use disorder.” The findings were published online May 4 in the journal Psychological Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Heavy Marijuana Use Increases Schizophrenia in Men, Study Finds “Tiffany Kary, Bloomberg, May 4, 2023

Healio (5/4, VanDewater) reports, “U.S. counties with greater social vulnerability had higher rates of suicide,” investigators concluded after having “evaluated associations between suicide and social determinants of health…using county-level data from the CDC WONDER database from 2016 to 2020.” Social vulnerability factors: “These factors include lack of access to health care, stress of acculturation, exposure to community violence, historical trauma, and discrimination. Broader societal risk factors include stigma associated with help-seeking and mental illness, easy access to lethal means of suicide among people at risk, and unsafe media portrayals of suicide.” The findings were published online April 26 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Social determinants of health linked to suicide risk “Kalie VanDewater, Healio , May 4, 2023