The Washington Times (7/25, Blake) reported that on July 24, the CDC released a report warning of “the risks of consuming marijuana-infused edibles like weed brownies and other snacks.” The CDC report “said…there’s ‘a potential danger’ that comes with consuming marijuana-infused edibles, evidenced by an incident last March in which a 19-year-old man jumped to his death from the fourth-floor balcony of a Denver, Colorado, hotel while high.” The Denver Post (7/25, Paul) also covered the story.

Meanwhile, HealthDay (7/25, Preidt) reported that adolescents “who have legal permission to use medical marijuana are 10 times more likely to say they’re addicted than those who get the drug illegally,” according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. After looking “at nearly 4,400 high school seniors, including 48 who had medical marijuana cards, 266 who used others’ medical marijuana and those who bought the drug from street dealers,” researchers found that teenagers “who used medical marijuana were far more likely to report problems with addiction.”

Related Links:

— “Marijuana in edibles not risk-free, holds ‘potential danger,’ CDC says,” Andrew Blake, Washington Times, July 24, 2015.

In an editorial, the Washington Post (7/26) wrote, “The incarceration of mentally ill inmates is a national epidemic,” which is resulting in “pressure and proposals to divert some people charged with nonviolent and minor crimes to treatment rather than a cell.” While the Post acknowledges Montgomery County, MD has been “a laggard when it comes to devising innovative alternatives to warehousing the mentally ill behind bars,” it praises “key officials” for creating a task force to establish a mental health court to “channel some nonviolent offenders into community-based programs.”

Related Links:

— “A better option for the mentally ill,” Washington Post, July 25, 2015.

TIME (7/25, Sifferlin) reported, “Boys and girls as young as age eight can experience dissatisfaction with their bodies that can predict their risk for eating disorders later in life,” according to a study published in the July issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. After following “about 6,000 children until they were 14 years old,” researchers found that “at age eight, 5% of girls and 3% of boys were unhappy with their bodies.”

Related Links:

— “Kids Are Unhappy With Their Bodies as Young as Age 8,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, July 24, 2015.

Medscape (7/24, Melville) reported that a new meta-analysis published in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that “smoking itself may play a causative role in the development of psychotic illness.” The analysis, which “included 61 studies with data through 2014 involving 14,555 tobacco smokers and 273,162 nonsmokers,” including international populations, found that “57% of people with a first episode of schizophrenia were already smokers, for an overall odds ratio of 3.22 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.63 – 6.33), with some evidence of publication bias.” In addition, “daily smokers were still approximately twice as likely to develop new psychotic disorders as nonsmokers (relative risk, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.23 – 3.85)” and developed such disorders about one year earlier than nonsmokers.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The AP (7/24, Merchant) reported, “Suicide is the leading cause of death in jails after natural illness.” People who are incarcerated “take their own lives three times more often than the average population, according to a 2010 study cited in the National Study of Jail Suicide.” A 2013 article on suicide in Texas jails that appeared in the LBJ Journal of Public Affairs said that jail environment stressors include “isolation, loss of control, conflict with other inmates or staff, frustration with legal proceedings, or distress and shame over incarceration.”

Related Links:

— “TEXAS JAIL DEATH FOCUSES NEW ATTENTION ON INMATE SUICIDES,” Nomaan Merchant, Associated Press, July 24, 2015.