Healio (9/28, Marabito) reports, “Medical cannabis dispensary workers such as budtenders, managers and pharmacists often made recommendations on cannabis use to customers based on their personal or coworkers’ experience,” investigators concluded after analyzing “the practices of frontline dispensary workers who interacted with individuals purchasing medical cannabis.” Included in the survey were “434 staff members from 351 dispensaries in the U.S.” The study also revealed that “customers rarely received guidance from these staff members on cannabis use disorder, withdrawal, dangers of driving while using cannabis and psychotic reactions.” The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Cannabis use guidance from dispensary workers often lack clinician input, safety warnings “Maria Marabito, Healio, September 28, 2021

The Washington Post (9/27, Barrett, Dwoskin) reports that on Monday, the Drug Enforcement Administration “issued a public warning…that a growing number of pain medications bought on the black market are laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl or the stimulant methamphetamine, driving overdose deaths to record levels.” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told The Washington Post, “We are in the midst, in my view, of an overdose crisis, and the counterfeit pills are driving so much of it.” The Post adds that there were 93,000 overdose deaths last year, up nearly 30% over 2019.

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (9/27, Norton) reports, “When mothers suffer depression during or after pregnancy, their kids may be at heightened risk, too – all the way into young adulthood, a new study suggests.” Researchers followed more than 5,000 children until age 24 and found “those whose moms had depression during or after pregnancy tended to report more depression symptoms themselves.” Depression was reported most “among young adults whose mothers had suffered depression both during and after pregnancy.” The study was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Depression During Pregnancy Raises Risk of Mood Disorder in Kids “Amy Norton, HealthDay, September 27, 2021

HealthDay (9/27) reports, “Sexual-minority adolescents have higher lifetime risks for suicide ideation, plan, and attempt than their heterosexual peers,” investigators concluded after conducting “a population-based longitudinal cohort study involving 1,771 adolescents.” The findings were published online Sept. 27 in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Sexual-Minority Teens Have Elevated Suicide Ideation, Attempt, Plan, HealthDay, September 27, 2021

Healio (9/27, Gramigna) reports, “Premorbid factors including obstetric complications, personal psychiatric background and IQ may help predict which patients are at increased risk for early-onset psychosis,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data of 278 patients with a first episode of psychosis between ages seven and 35 years who participated in a multicenter prospective longitudinal study in Spain between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2011.” The findings were published online Sept. 14 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Obstetric complications, psychiatric history, lower IQ linked to early-onset psychosis “Joe Gramigna, Healio, September 27, 2021