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EVERYTHING
Treating Women’s Health with Cannabis?
What: A marijuana business trade publication reports that some producers are looking at treating menopause, endometriosis, menstrual symptoms, and more via medical marijuana laws, as a way to reinvigorate the cannabis market.
Key line: “But in an industry that’s struggling to right itself, Women Grow CEO Chanda Macias believes focusing on women’s health issues is an opportunity for marijuana businesses to regain their footing. ‘Our needs are not being met through cannabis-based medicine – it’s very alarming,’ Macias said. ‘We’re starting to see adult-use programs plateau and medical markets sink, but no one is tapping into women’s unmet needs in cannabis.’”
Source: MJBizDaily
NIH Cuts Paused Throughout Country
What: A second federal judge paused NIH funding cuts, this time throughout the entire country. (A judge paused them in the 22 states that attorneys general filed in yesterday.) The Trump administration wanted to cut around $4 billion from grants issued to research institutions, a move that typically requires Congress’ approval.
Key line: “The plaintiffs, including the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, claimed that the sudden funding cut would “wreak havoc” on critical research and ultimately force universities to lay off staff, close laboratories and shutter certain research programs altogether.”
Source: New York Times
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Researchers: One Med Performs So Well It Could Reduce US Maternal Mortality
What: A randomized control trial presented at the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine found that postpartum women who took one blood pressure medicine, nifedipine, had a significantly lower readmission rate than those who took another medication, labetalol. Just over 1% of women taking nifedipine were readmitted, compared to just over 8% of those on labetalol.
Key line: “’Nifedipine should be the first-line agent for management of postpartum hypertension,’ Lovgren told attendees, and now it will be important to identify other antihypertensives for the postpartum period. ‘The implication for this in the United States is, if we move labetalol to a second- or third-line agent, and if even half of that 90% reduction in readmission correlated with reduction of maternal mortality, it could move the needle on maternal mortality in the US,’ Lovgren told Medscape Medical News.”
Source: Medscape
States Vary Widely When It Comes to Maternal Mortality Causes
What: Researchers looked at five years of maternal mortality data in the United States and found significant variation among states as to what was causing deaths. For example, homicide rates were highest in South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Missouri, while drug overdose deaths were highest in North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri, and New Hampshire.
Key line: “The information in this study may provide relevant guidance for state and local intervention strategies to advance the health, safety, and well-being of women during pregnancy and beyond.”
Source: JAMA Network Open
ABORTION ACCESS
The States with Bills to Criminally Charge Women for Abortion
What: The Associated Press has a good overview of where states currently stand with legislation to explicitly ban abortion pills (even if abortion is already banned in the state) and criminally punish women who obtain an abortion, up to and including murder.
Key line: “…one scholar who follows abortion policy said that the bills can affect the debate even if they don’t pick up momentum. ‘The more often that they’re introduced, the more normalized these sorts of bills and these sorts of concepts that they’re pushing become,’ said Laura Hermer, a professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.”
Source: Associated Press
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