Shaping the Future: A New Technique for Sorting Micro-particles Unveiled February 23, 2024
Introduction:
(Eurekalert) Thanks to the rapid progress in tiny tech, we've been mainly using microfluidics to sort tiny particles by size. But now, there's a new way to sort them by shape, which could be a big deal for medical tests and chemistry. This study shows off a new method using sound waves to separate oddly shaped particles from round ones, without needing any labels. This breakthrough could lead to better ways to deliver drugs or diagnose diseases by offering a smarter approach to sort these tiny particles
Vice president criticizes federal cannabis restrictions during White House weed event
Vice President Kamala Harris called the current classification of marijuana under federal law “absurd” during a White House event on Friday, and said she is looking forward to seeing what the Drug Enforcement Administration decides about moving it to a different category.
“I’m sure DEA is working as quickly as possible and will continue to do so, and we look forward to the product of their work,” Harris said at the beginning of a roundtable discussion on cannabis policy with Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.), a handful of people who received pardons from President Joe Biden for low level cannabis offenses and rapper Fat Joe.
The vice president’s comments came as anticipation builds for the DEA to release its final decision on the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation to move marijuana — or cannabis with more than 0.3 percent THC — to a less restrictive schedule under the Controlled Substances Act. Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I narcotic — the same as LSD and heroin — which means it’s deemed to have no acceptable medical uses and a high propensity for abuse.
The White House event is the latest sign that the Biden administration plans to tout its efforts to overhaul federal marijuana policies ahead of the presidential election. Biden also cited his moves to pardon federal marijuana offenders and loosen federal weed restrictions during last week’s State of the Union address. A whopping 70 percent of Americans back marijuana legalization, and that position is particularly popular with young voters, a crucial demographic that Biden is struggling to maintain support from.
Xylazine: Powerful 'zombie drug' known as Tranq has 'penetrated' UK market, experts warn
Wednesday 10 April 2024 13:34, UK
A powerful animal tranquilliser plaguing cities in the US has now "penetrated" the illegal drugs market in the UK, a report has warned.
Xylazine - often referred to as "Tranq" or "the zombie drug" because of its effect on users - has already been labelled an "emerging threat to the nation" by the White House.
The drug was linked to a UK death for the first time during a post-mortem of Karl Warburton, found dead at his home in Solihull in May 2022.
Users often develop skin sores and infections where they inject which can start to rot - leading it to be dubbed "flesh-eating" - and have previously told Sky News that the mix increases their addiction.
Researchers, led by academics from King's College London, say the health threat has "now expanded to the United Kingdom".
The DEA Is Finally Reclassifying Pot as Less Dangerous by Julia Métraux
April 30, 2024
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing that cannabis be reclassified from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, a classification that comes with steep penalties, to the less severe Schedule III, for drugs with significant medical use. If the White House Office of Management and Budget approves the decision, the DEA would be able to offer its proposal for public comment.
Schedule I drugs, according to the DEA’s website, have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”; other Schedule I drugs include heroin and ecstasy. If the proposal moves along, its public comment period would need to be followed with approval by an administrative judge, and marijuana could then be reclassified alongside ketamine and testosterone on Schedule III. Just three states—Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska—currently do not have any laws that let residents use cannabis or cannabidiol for medical purposes.
The move follows a letter from FDA researchers submitted to the DEA in August, which argued that there’s enough scientific research to support the established medical uses of cannabis. On the potential for abuse, they wrote that “evidence exists showing that the vast majority of individuals who use marijuana are doing so in a manner that does not lead to dangerous outcomes to themselves or others.” Marijuana has been found to be helpful in easing pain, controlling nausea, and helping people regain their appetite after treatments like chemotherapy.
People still need prescriptions for Schedule III drugs, meaning that people in states where marijuana is illegal or only allowed for medicinal use could still get in trouble for recreational use. Some have raised objections to keeping the drug scheduled at all: “Rescheduling would allow for the criminal penalties for recreational and medical marijuana use to continue—disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities,” House Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said in a press release that followed the announcement.
Why the Biden administration plan to reclassify marijuana matters
For decades, the United States’ “war on drugs” moved in one punitive direction. As the Biden administration’s dramatic moves help prove, it’s a new day.
It became a point of real pride for the White House — as evidenced by Biden bragging about the policy in his State of the Union address. What’s more, in the same remarks, the president said he was “directing my cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana.”
Evidently, Biden meant it. NBC News reported this week:
The Biden administration will take a historic step toward easing federal restrictions on cannabis, with plans to announce an interim rule soon reclassifying the drug for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was enacted more than 50 years ago, four sources with knowledge of the decision said.
It was Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services that concluded, after a year and a half of bureaucratic review, that marijuana should be reclassified from the strictest Schedule I, covering drugs such as heroin and methamphetamines, to Schedule III, which includes things like Tylenol with codeine and testosterone.
Now, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice Department are endorsing the move, marking the first time that federal officials have acknowledged potential medical benefits to marijuana and opening the door to therapeutic research.
It is, as an Associated Press report noted, the biggest policy change from federal officials on the issue “in more than 50 years.”.....
It’s extraordinary to see how much the landscape has changed in recent years. A decade ago, the total number of states allowing recreational marijuana use was zero, and at the national level, elected officials wanted nothing to do with reform proposals.
Now, 24 states have legalized cannabis for adult use; 37 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medical marijuana; and the Biden administration is moving forward with reclassification plans with minimal pushback from its GOP detractors.
For decades, the United States’ “war on drugs” only moved in one punitive direction. As the latest developments help prove, it’s a new day.
Biden hails 'monumental' steps toward easing marijuana rules as rescheduling process moves ahead
Source: CNN Politics
Published 1:01 PM EDT, Thu May 16, 2024
Washington CNN -- President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday took another step toward reclassifying marijuana as a lower-risk substance, opening for public comment its proposed loosening of federal rules in a step the president deemed "monumental." "Today my administration took a major step to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug," Biden said in a video posted to social media. "It's an important move towards reversing longstanding inequities."
It was Biden's first time speaking out about the proposed rescheduling since his Justice Department recommended in April that marijuana be rescheduled as a Schedule III controlled substance, a classification shared by prescription drugs such as ketamine and Tylenol with codeine.
The proposed changes would amount to significant changes to federal marijuana law, and could provide a political boost to the president at a moment he is working to bolster his appeal among young voters. Biden has already pardoned federal marijuana offenders and urged individual state governors to take similar steps.
On Thursday, the Justice Department is taking the next formal step in the process of easing federal restrictions on cannabis, according to a senior administration official. The rescheduling proposal will appear publicly in the Federal Register, opening it up for a 60-day public comment period.
Maryland governor to pardon 175,000 marijuana convictions in sweeping order https://wapo.st/3L6clzT (no paywall)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will issue a mass pardon of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday morning, one of the nation’s most sweeping acts of clemency involving a drug now in widespread recreational use.
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The pardons will forgive low-level marijuana possession charges for an estimated 100,000 people in what the Democratic governor said is a step to heal decades of social and economic injustice that disproportionately harms Black and Brown people. Moore noted criminal records have been used to deny housing, employment and education, holding people and their families back long after their sentences have been served.
“I’m ecstatic that we have a real opportunity with what I’m signing to right a lot of historical wrongs,” Moore said in an interview. “If you want to be able to create inclusive economic growth, it means you have to start removing these barriers that continue to disproportionately sit on communities of color.”
Moore called the scope of his pardons “the most far-reaching and aggressive” executive action among officials nationwide who have sought to unwind criminal justice inequities with the growing legalization of marijuana. Nine other states and multiple cities have pardoned hundreds of thousands of old marijuana convictions in recent years, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Legalized marijuana markets reap billions in revenue for state governments each year, and polls show public sentiment on the drug has also turned — with more people both embracing cannabis use and repudiating racial disparities exacerbated by the War on Drugs.
Verona Pharma Announces U.S. FDA Approval of Ohtuvayre™ (Ensifentrine) June 26, 2024
Introduction:
(Business Insider) LONDON and RALEIGH, N.C., June 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verona Pharma plc (Nasdaq: VRNA) (“Verona Pharma” or the “Company”), announces the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved Ohtuvayre (ensifentrine) for the maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in adult patients. Ohtuvayre is the first inhaled product with a novel mechanism of action available for the maintenance treatment of COPD in more than 20 years.
Cannabis medications could be eligible for FDA approval under proposed DEA rules
Source: The Guardian
Sat 6 Jul 2024 06.00 EDT
The US Drug Enforcement Administration has proposed new rules that mean, for the first time, medications containing delta-9 THC from the cannabis plant could be eligible for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The rules, if enacted, would move the cannabis plant from a schedule I to a schedule III substance, so its federal legal status would shift drastically from a narcotic with “no accepted medical use” to a regulated medication.
Nearly 4 million Americans are already using medical cannabis in states where it’s been legalized, contradicting federal laws. Given that so many Americans already have access to some form of medical cannabis, it’s unclear whether pharmaceutical companies would benefit from seeking FDA approval for cannabis-based drugs.
Igor Grant, director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego, thinks that the way legalization happened might discourage pharmaceutical companies from investing in cannabis. “The states have got way ahead of the federal government,” he said. “Putting it the other way, the federal government has been way behind the states and public opinion.”
Jahan Marcu, who wrote the book Cannabis Innovations on hemp and cannabis regulation, agrees, and is “skeptical about the notion that there will be a sudden wave of cannabis-derived drugs submitted for FDA approval following rescheduling”.
Under-skin implant dispenses naloxone to prevent opioid overdose deaths
By Ben Coxworth
August 16, 2024
When someone overdoses on opioids, it's critically important that they receive a dose of the opioid-reversing drug naloxone as soon as possible – otherwise, death is a distinct possibility. That's where a new implant comes in, as it automatically dispenses naloxone from within the body.
Its name an acronym for "Implantable System for Opioid Safety," the iSOS implant is being developed by a team of scientists from MIT and the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
The device measures 78 mm long by 12 mm wide by 8 mm thick. It contains 10 milligrams of naloxone in an integrated reservoir, plus it incorporates electronics such as a battery, vibrator and Bluetooth module, plus multiple ECG electrodes and a suite of other sensors.
Men taking sodium valproate are being warned to use contraception while on the medicine, because of a "potential small increased risk" of autism and other neurodevelopmental problems for any children conceived.
They should continue to do so - and cannot donate sperm - until three months after they have stopped taking the drug.
Sodium valproate, prescribed under brand names including Epilim, Belvo, Convulex and Depakote, is an effective treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which issued the warning, stressed patients must speak to their doctors before making any changes to their medicines.
'Safety issue'
The guidance follows a similar warning from the European Medicines Agency, after data from national registries in Norway, Denmark and Sweden suggested 5% of children born to men taking the drug were harmed.
Time_Traveller wrote: ↑Thu Sep 05, 2024 5:17 pmMen on sodium valproate told to use contraception
Men taking sodium valproate are being warned to use contraception while on the medicine, because of a "potential small increased risk" of autism and other neurodevelopmental problems for any children conceived.
British company deliberately hiked price of life-saving drug, court rules
3 hours ago
British taxpayers were forced to pay millions of pounds for a life-saving drug after a pharmaceutical company deliberately inflated the cost, a court has ruled.
Auden Mckenzie and Actavis UK, now known as Accord-UK, engaged in “cartel behaviour” by paying off competitors and raising the price of hydrocortisone tablets by 10,000 per cent between 2008 and 2018.
NHS spending on the treatment then rose from around £500,000 a year to over £80m due to the company’s monopoly, the Court of Appeal heard.
The drug is used by tens of thousands of people in the UK to treat, in some cases, life-threatening conditions such as Addison’s disease.
In 2021, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the company had charged excessive and unfair prices for the hydrocortisone tablets.
