Psychiatric News (9/17) reports that last week, American Psychiatric Association President Altha Stewart, MD, spoke “at a session on mental health at the 48th legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), an organization aimed at advancing the global black community by developing leaders, informing policy, and educating the public.” Currently, “there are only about 2,000 black psychiatrists nationwide, Stewart pointed out.” She stated, “There are not enough black psychiatrists in America to serve all the black people who need mental health care.” Dr. Stewart also “called for all psychiatrists to become more culturally competent, and for all to encourage young blacks with an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to enter the mental health field.” She emphasized, “Medicine needs their voice. We need their presence.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Needs of Blacks Are Not Being Met, Says APA President , Psychiatric News, September 17, 2018.

Several outlets reported on the Senate’s passage of legislation to address the opioid epidemic. Colby Itkowitz writes in the Washington Post (9/17) that the Senate “overwhelmingly” passed a package of bills aimed at the nation’s opioid epidemic Monday by a 99 to 1 vote. The package includes 70 bills covering $8.4 billion in funding for programs across multiple agencies. The legislation requires the US Postal Service to screen packages from overseas, typically China, for synthetic opioids and provides greater access to treatment.

The Wall Street Journal (9/17, Andrews, Subscription Publication) reports Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) was the only senator to vote against the legislation. The package provides funding to the National Institutes of Health to research a nonaddictive painkiller. Another provision clarifies that the FDA has the authority to require prescriptions for opioids to be packaged in set amounts, such as three or seven days.

The AP (9/17, Fram) reports the package creates “new federal grants for treatment centers, training emergency workers and research on prevention methods.” The House passed its own package earlier this summer.

Related Links:

— “Senate passes sweeping opioids package, “Colby Itkowitz, The Washington Post, September 17, 2018.

The AP (9/17, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports “thousands of children in foster care may be getting powerful psychiatric drugs prescribed to them without basic safeguards,” according a report due Monday from the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general’s office that “found that about 1 in 3 foster kids from a sample of states were prescribed psychiatric drugs without treatment plans or follow-up, which are considered standard for sound medical care.” Ann Maxwell, an assistant inspector general with HHS’ inspector general’s office, said, “We are worried about the gap in compliance because it has an immediate, real-world impact on children’s lives.”

Related Links:

— “Watchdog slams safeguards for foster kids on psych drugs, “Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, AP, September 17, 2018.

USA Today (9/14) reported that according to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on Friday, “far fewer people in the United States started using heroin last year, but the decline among young new 18- to 25-year-old heroin users was almost imperceptible” while methamphetamine and marijuana use rose for that group. “In 2015, SAMHSA estimated 8.5 percent of people in that age range misused prescription opioids; that dropped to just over 7 percent in 2017.”

The AP (9/14, Johnson) reported the number of new users of heroin decreased from 170,000 in 2016 to 81,000 in 2017, “a one-year drop that would need to be sustained for years to reduce the number of fatal overdoses, experts said.”

Kaiser Health News (9/14) reported the survey “found that from 2015 to 2017 the percentage of pregnant women who reported marijuana use more than doubled, to 7.1 percent,” often believing it is safer than the FDA-approved drugs for combat nausea and pain, though mounting evidence suggests marijuana can cause preterm birth and long-term neurological problems in babies.

Related Links:

— “Number of new heroin users drops dramatically, but meth, marijuana use up, survey says, “Jayne O’Donnell and Terry DeMio, USA Today, September 14, 2018.

HealthDay (9/13, Dallas) reports, “More than one in three first-year college students around the world struggle with a mental health disorder,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data collected on nearly 14,000 students from 19 colleges in eight countries – Australia, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Spain and the United States.” The findings were published online Sept. 13 in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

Meanwhile, Healio (9/13) reports, “Survey data from a large sample of U.S. college students revealed a high rate of multiple stress exposures among this population, which was strongly” associated with “a greater risk for suicide attempts and mental health diagnoses,” researchers concluded after studying “a sample of 67,308 U.S. undergraduate students across 108 institutions.” The findings were published online Sept. 6 in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

Related Links:

— “1 in 3 College Freshmen Faces Mental Health Woes, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 13, 2018.