Healio (9/13, Rhoades) reported a recent study published in JAMA Network Open found “new laws affecting the recreational or medicinal use of cannabis may be associated with changes in the use of prescription drugs to treat mental health disorders, but these links varied by drug class and state.” Investigators “found an association between medical cannabis laws, when in effect, and a 12.4% reduction in the benzodiazepine fill rate…and 1.3% reduction in the mean number of benzodiazepine fills per patient.” Also, “Specifically, medical cannabis laws were associated with improved self-reported mental health symptoms among older US adults, and recreational cannabis laws were associated with worsened mental health symptoms among younger US adults (≤35 years). Another recent study showed that medical cannabis use was associated with an increased risk of emergency department visits for depressive disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Medical, recreational cannabis laws may impact psychiatric prescription trends,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades , Healio , September 13, 2024

The Hill (9/12, Choi ) reports that on Thursday, US “Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) introduced bipartisan legislation…to confront the sale and misleading promotion of prescription drugs by telehealth firms and social media influencers.” The legislation, called “The Protecting Patients from Deceptive Drug Ads Online Act, would impose civil penalties on social media influencers or health care providers who make false or misleading claims regarding prescription drugs.” The legislation “would also enact reporting requirements on payments made by drug manufacturers to health care providers, telehealth firms and social media influencers.”

Related Links:

— “Senators target false prescription medication marketing on social media with new bill,” Joseph Choi , The Hill , September 12, 2024

Fierce Healthcare (9/12, Minemyer ) says Medicare and Medicare Advantage plan enrollees “have cost-sharing obligations for behavioral health services, according to” a new Government Accountability Office report. Agency investigators analyzed CMS data and “found that beneficiaries enrolled in traditional Medicare typically had deductibles and coinsurance on inpatient services as well as coinsurance for many outpatient offerings.”

Related Links:

— “GAO: A look at cost-sharing for behavioral health in traditional Medicare, MA,”Paige Minemyer, Fierce Healthcare , September 12, 2024

The New York Times (9/12, Caron ) reports a new study published Thursday in The American Journal of Psychiatry “found that among people who took high doses of prescription amphetamines such as Vyvanse and Adderall, there was a fivefold increased risk of developing psychosis or mania for the first time compared with those who weren’t taking stimulants.” Investigators also found that a medium dosage “was associated with a 3.5 times higher risk of psychosis or mania.” Meanwhile, investigators identified “no increased risk of psychosis or mania among those who used methylphenidate drugs, like Concerta or Ritalin, regardless of the dose.”

Healio (9/12, Viguers) reports the case-control study “included 1,374 case patients with new-onset psychosis or mania and 2,748 matched controls, all of whom were hospitalized between 2005 and 2019.”

HCPlive (9/12, Derman) says that while “this study does not prove causality, investigators observed a plausible biological mechanism in neurobiological changes: a release of greater levels of dopamine from amphetamines. The dopaminergic changes mimic changes observed in patients with psychosis.”

According to Psychiatric News (9/12), researchers also “found that patients with any past-month prescription amphetamine use were 2.7 times more likely to develop psychosis or mania than those with no use.”

Related Links:

— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Healio (9/11, Welsh) reports trauma exposure is associated with “increased measures of inflammation and neuronal death for Black women and accelerated brain age indicators regardless of race and ethnicity,” according to findings presented at the Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society. Researchers “analyzed data from 252 perimenopausal or postmenopausal women” and found that “compared with no trauma exposure, exposure to one to two traumas (P = .005) or three or more traumas (P = .019) was associated with older white matter age.”

Related Links:

— “Trauma, sexual assault exposure may be ‘toxic’ for women’s brain health,”Erin T. Welsh, MA, Healio, September 11, 2024