The Entire world Health and fitness Firm on Wednesday pledged to carry on its pursuit of the origin of COVID-19 amid a report that it deserted component of its investigation, but the team acknowledged that it desires much more cooperation from China.
The report from Mother nature reported that WHO “quietly shelved the 2nd period of its considerably-predicted scientific investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing ongoing worries above attempts to carry out essential scientific tests in China.”
But Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO mentioned that was not what transpired.
“This is an error in reporting, which is genuinely rather about due to the fact it is really triggering some headlines that are inaccurate,” Van Kerkhove reported through a press briefing on Wednesday. “I imagine we need to be flawlessly apparent that WHO has not abandoned learning the origins of COVID-19. We have not, and we will not.”
She stated that there “was no silent shelving of any strategies,” adding that options were “updated” alternatively.
“Initially, period two was a strategy to be a continuation of that January 2021 mission to Wuhan, which was in a feeling observed as section one particular, but we current our ideas,” Van Kerkhove reported, referring to the metropolis in China exactly where the virus was initial noted. She said that “in a sense” section two became the everlasting establishment of the Scientific Advisory Team for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, which she claimed “was, in effect, our most effective hard work to move this do the job ahead.”
Cartoons on the Coronavirus
She did concede that WHO is continue to asking for much more cooperation and collaboration from China for origin scientific tests that need to have to take spot there.
“We will proceed to check with for international locations to de-politicize this do the job, but we will need cooperation from our colleagues in China to progress this,” Van Kerkhove mentioned.
She included that time is of the essence for origin scientific studies.
“We will not prevent until eventually we have an understanding of the origins of this, and it is getting to be significantly challenging mainly because the more time that passes, the more hard it gets to be to truly fully grasp what happened in those early stages of the pandemic,” she reported.
Reluctance from China on origin research has been an ongoing pattern in WHO’s initiatives.
International researchers collected by WHO unveiled a analyze in March 2021 that comprehensive 4 feasible routes of introduction of the virus to human beings: transmission directly from an animal resource, transmission from an contaminated intermediate animal host, unfold by the trade of frozen merchandise or introduction by way of a laboratory accident. The intermediate host concept was “most likely to very most likely” the pathway, in accordance to the analyze, whilst the lab idea was an “incredibly unlikely pathway.” But the researchers also pointed out that the “Chinese crew was and even now is reluctant to share uncooked facts.”
Van Kerkhove on Wednesday said that WHO will “follow all hypotheses, follow any science that qualified prospects us in any route.”
Two prominent physician groups quit the Mission Health system in the first two weeks of the year, the latest in an exodus from the hospital since its sale three years ago to for-profit HCA Healthcare.
The seven doctors at Asheville Ear, Nose & Throat “decided to no longer provide medical or surgical care at Mission Hospital or Asheville Surgery Center,” as of Jan. 1, they wrote in a letter to their patients.
Also on Jan. 1, the 10 surgeons at Carolina Spine & Neurosurgery Center parted ways with Mission and joined UNC Health’s Margaret R. Pardee Memorial Hospital in Hendersonville. They retain privileges to practice at Mission.
HCA declined repeated requests for the number of doctors who have left the Mission system since it took over in February 2019 and refuses to say how many doctors are on staff today, other than that the number is “relatively the same.”
But Asheville Watchdog identified 223 doctors who appear to be no longer practicing there; their names were on the Mission Find a Doctor website as of August 2019 but had been removed as of February 2022.
Another 57 doctors still on the website are no longer listed as employed or affiliated with Mission.
Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, who was among a group of elected officials signing a scathing public letter in February 2020 over concerns about patient care and staffing at Mission, said of Asheville Watchdog’s analysis,“It seems unavoidable that Asheville, Buncombe County and Western North Carolina will see a deterioration in healthcare as a result of Mission-HCA hemorrhaging doctors.”
“It seems unavoidable that Asheville, Buncombe County and Western North Carolina will see a deterioration in healthcare as a result of Mission-HCA hemorrhaging doctors.”
Asheville mayor Esther Manheimer
State Sen. Julie Mayfield said,“The loss of these doctors represents collectively hundreds of years of experience, long-standing relationships within and outside the hospital, and consistency of and confidence in care for patients.”
“These physicians were a key part of what made Mission a world-class hospital system that prioritized patient care,” Mayfield said, “and it is truly unfortunate that HCA chose from the start to prioritize its profit over its people.”
Nancy Lindell, director of public and media relations for HCA Healthcare’s North Carolina Division, which includes Mission Hospital, said in a statement to Asheville Watchdog, “Mission Health is grateful to our team members who provide quality care to our community every day … It is expected that the transition to HCA Healthcare, life events, effects of a global pandemic, and the increasing demand for healthcare services, etc., would lead to both some additions and departures.”
HCA refuses to give numbers
The 223 doctors no longer on Mission’s Find A Doctor site include 33 family medicine physicians, 25 surgeons, and 15 pediatricians or pediatric specialists. More than 100 doctors moved out of the state or region; others are listed as affiliated with hospitals in Hendersonville, the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, or private practices, according to the North Carolina Medical Board and Internet searches.
Lindell said many of the doctors still in the region continue to practice at Mission and “are still part of our medical staff and hospital teams, making the number of physicians on medical staff relatively the same.”
Lindell said the Find a Doctor site does not include open positions or doctors in the process of being hired and is not meant as a tool “for tracking the medical staff.” Mission has an office dedicated to medical staffing, but Lindell declined to provide even basic information about the number of doctors at Mission before and after HCA took over.
Asheville Watchdog sent Lindell the names of the doctors who are no longer on Find A Doctor or listed as employed or affiliated with Mission. She declined to comment beyond her statement and reiterated, “We continue to have approximately the same number of providers on the medical staff to serve the needs of our community.”
Providers include others besides doctors, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists and dentists.
Doctors Frustrated
In interviews, doctors who left Mission cited concerns about declining patient care, job burnout, and frustrations with HCA’s emphasis on profits. Five of the doctors said some of their patients needing hospitalization were asking to be treated at hospitals other than Mission.
One doctor who remained in the area and spoke to Asheville Watchdog on the condition of anonymity because he said he feared retribution from HCA said, “I get asked every day by a patient if I can treat them elsewhere than Mission.”
Dr. Martin Palmeri
Dr. Martin Palmeri, an oncologist who left Mission in December 2019 to join Messino Cancer Centers, said the hospital system before HCA “was run primarily by doctors and nurses and now it’s being run by businessmen.”
“Bedside care is knowing what patients and families are suffering,” Palmeri said. “Patient suffering is off their (HCA management’s) radar.”
He said the hospital needs more doctors in leadership. “We need the right balance between bedside care and corporate benchmarks and revenue,” said Palmeri, who was recently elected president of the North Carolina Oncology Association.
Dr. Ben Aiken, a primary care physician employed by Mission until January 2020, said many patients are skeptical “that HCA has their best interests in mind as a for-profit company.”
Aiken, who piloted a subscription fee direct primary care practice under Mission’s former leadership, said Mission used to employ more primary care doctors even though that specialty is less profitable. HCA shuttered two primary care practices in 2020, in Biltmore Park and Candler, and sold Aiken’s pilot program, now called Lantern Health, to him.
Dr. Ben Aiken
“Primary care generally is not an emphasis in HCA,” Aiken said.
At least 30 primary care or family medicine doctors and 10 internists have left Mission’s employment, Asheville Watchdog found in its analysis of the Find A Doctor website.
Aiken said Mission long was able to recruit high-quality physicians to Asheville, considered a desirable place to live and practice. But he said, “The type of physicians that were attracted to Mission may not be attracted to HCA. The business approach is very different.”
“Exact same doctors,” then-CEO pledged
An emergency room doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mission before HCA “could be choosy” about the doctors it brought on staff because so many wanted to work there. “Now they just fill the gaps.”
The doctor said that nurses in the emergency room are caring for more patients while management concentrates on meeting minimum standards and “metrics” such as how long a patient waits to be seen.
“When HCA came in, there were so many emails on metrics,” he said. “We’ve gone from providing amazing care to mediocre care.”
Aiken said he wants to see a high-quality hospital in Asheville but believes Pardee UNC Health and AdventHealth, both in Hendersonville, are likely to expand if skepticism about Mission continues.
Lindell said Mission patients “continue to receive outstanding care at our hospitals by our clinical teams and board-certified physicians.” She said Mission recently passed a state inspection with no deficiencies, and a national accreditation review measuring 1,600 points of care did not produce “a single finding that required corrective action or a repeat visit.”
She said hospitals nationwide are struggling to hire and retain doctors, a shortage exacerbated by the pandemic, but that the Mission system in western North Carolina “welcomed almost 60 new physicians to our staff in 2021.”
In May 2018, before the sale of the hospital system, Dr. Ronald A. Paulus, then president and chief executive officer of Mission Health, told a local business group that Mission Health under HCA would still have “the exact same people and exact same doctors and exact same nurses” and provide similar or even superior care.
Paulus received a multimillion-dollar payout from Mission and joined HCA as a strategic advisor just days after the sale was concluded.
Staffing is key concern
A common complaint among doctors, nurses and patients is that Mission under HCA has skimped on staffing, among the largest costs for hospitals. In 2018, the year before the sale, Mission Health System reported more than 12,000 staff. The website now lists 10,500. Lindell said some employees formerly included under Mission, such as those working in billing and “our supply chain team,” are now counted under different entities.
But doctors and other employees told Asheville Watchdog there are fewer people in direct patient care, including certified nursing assistants (CNAs), health unit secretaries and mental health professionals, as well as support positions such as housekeeping, dietary services, and the morgue.
Dr. Mitchell Li, an emergency medical specialist and the founder of Take Back Medicine, an organization that raises awareness about the dangers of the corporatization of medicine, told Asheville Watchdog that such staffing companies often replace ER physicians with nurse practitioners and physician assistants, a practice he observed first-hand while a resident at a Detroit area hospital staffed by TeamHealth. Li did not work at Mission or HCA.
“HCA and corporate ER staffing groups figure [they] can get away with a minimum of physicians,” said Li, who now operates a private, direct primary care practice serving Asheville, Black Mountain and nearby communities.
Asked whether emergency room doctors have been replaced with lesser trained staff such as nurse practitioners, Lindell said, “Most hospitals throughout the nation contract with ER provider groups … We also augment their care with other staff in addition to these ER physicians when further care providers are needed.”
Patients in “excruciating pain”
In interviews, doctors said staffing turnover and reductions have affected nurse-to-patient ratios and quality of care at Mission.
Palmeri said he was “horrified” to find on more than one occasion his patients at Mission in “excruciating pain” because nurses responsible for seven to eight patients each could not administer pain medications on time.
Dr. Ken Zamkoff, a retired hematologist in Asheville, said, “When a patient is lying in a bed, it’s not just the doctor, it’s the whole team that cares for the patient. If you don’t have nurses, CNAs, and the whole ancillary staff, you can’t do it properly. When you decimate the team, the patient suffers.”
Another former Mission doctor, who still has privileges there, said the reduced staffing places a burden on those still practicing at Mission and leads to an “erosion in quality.”
Before HCA, he said the staff included many longtime employees who had worked together for years, but “now there’s no consistency.”
Vote of no confidence
In their letter to patients, the doctors at Asheville Ear, Nose & Throat did not specify a reason for their departure from Mission but said, “All of our doctors will continue to provide medical and surgical care for our patients at both Pardee Hospital and Park Ridge Hospital (now known as AdventHealth Hendersonville). We also now offer outpatient surgical care at Western Carolina Surgery Center.”
The surgeons at Carolina Spine & Neurosurgery Center declined requests for comment. Phil Bridges, spokesman for UNC Health, confirmed that the doctors have affiliated with UNC Pardee, and said current and new patients can expect a seamless transition.
Some doctors have cited pay and management issues in their decisions to depart Mission, including attempts by HCA to cut some physicians’ compensation by as much as 25 percent, according to interviews and published reports. Lindell said that Mission Health compensates physicians in accordance with fair market rules.
But HCA’s approach to healthcare has led many to depart.
Palmeri, the oncologist, said he concluded that HCA’s approach to cancer treatment was, in his opinion, “focused on return on investment.”
“There’s a lot of aspects of oncology that are not that profitable,” Palmeri said, such as cancer care in small communities.” He said he saw “HCA pulling away from that.”
Palmeri said he wanted to ensure access to cancer care throughout the region. His practice, Messino Cancer Centers, has six locations, including Asheville. “I grew up here in Western North Carolina. It was critical for me to do that for our community,” he said.
Lindell said that Mission Health recently partnered with the Susan Cannon Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare, known for its research, to expand its services across Western North Carolina.
The doctor who asked not to be named, and who said patients ask every day about alternatives to Mission, told Asheville Watchdog he left after being asked to take a salary cut, and seeing that “the patient experience was declining.”
“Concern for the community” at Mission, he said, “turned into care for the shareholder.”
A hematologist, who was on the medical staff at Mission and requested anonymity, said that the Mission oncologists last year were increasingly hearing from patients that they were “resistant to going to Mission.”
In June, the oncology team, troubled by quality of care and other concerns, took a no confidence vote in HCA management, he told Asheville Watchdog. “We brought up the issues again and again,” the doctor said, but little changed. Shortly after, he said he concluded that Mission “was more business oriented, not patient oriented,” and left.
Asked about the no confidence vote, Lindell said, “We have full confidence in our management team. We regularly gather feedback from physicians, nurses, patients and the community … The feedback raised at these meetings has been addressed.”
But two current oncology providers, who asked not to be named, told Asheville Watchdog that patient care concerns continue. They said nurse-to-patient ratios remain inadequate to provide needed care for the sickest patients, including providing pain medications on time; there are too few certified nurses for chemo treatments, which forces delays in administering the needed drugs; and there are too few CNAs.
While some patients may be seeking care elsewhere, Lindell said, “We continue to see patients choosing to come to our hospitals.”
Doctors have also left HCA-owned hospitals in other states for similar reasons. In Rochester, N.H., for example, 12 of the 14 primary care doctors at Frisbie Memorial left within 15 months after HCA acquired the local nonprofit community hospital in 2020. Some of them cited a lack of support for medical staff and a focus on profits rather than patients.
Top doctor departs
Mission’s highest-ranking doctor, Chief Medical Officer Dr. William Hathaway, announced on Jan. 6 that he, too, was leaving to become chief executive at MAHEC, the Mountain Area Health Education Center in Asheville, where he has been chairman of the board.
Dr. William Hathaway
Hathaway told Asheville Watchdog that “my acceptance of the job was purely in relation to the retirement” of MAHEC’s CEO, Dr. Jeff Heck, which was announced last summer. Hathaway started as chief medical officer under nonprofit Mission and was the most senior of the previous Mission leaders under HCA.
But Hathaway, a cardiologist and third-generation physician, said he was excited to start at MAHEC, an organization he described as having a tremendous reputation. “It’s all about care for the patients,” he said.
HCA profits soar
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein reviewed and approved the sale of Mission to HCA, requiring 15 conditions, of which the most significant are restrictions on closing or selling facilities, continuing to provide certain services, and continuing Mission Hospital’s charity care policy. Separately, HCA made certain capital expenditure commitments.
Quality of care and staffing levels were not among the 15 stipulations added by Stein.Stein, however, is “extremely concerned about healthcare in western North Carolina,” said Laura Brewer, Stein’s deputy chief of staff.
“Healthcare facilities must be adequately staffed to ensure patients get the treatment they need,” Brewer said. “While the pandemic has exacerbated healthcare shortages all over the nation, reports of acute shortages at HCA are concerning.”
She added that the Attorney General will “continue to ask questions about HCA’s policies and commitments.”
An independent monitor, Gibbins Advisors, is responsible for ensuring HCA lives up to the Mission asset purchase agreement and the additional 15 conditions.
In April, Ronald Winters, a principal at Gibbins Advisors, said in a virtual public forum that Gibbins would examine the issue of physician departures. “To the extent those departures impact services at hospitals, that’s certainly something we’re going to look at and inquire about,” Winters said.
Winters told Asheville Watchdog last month that the evaluation is ongoing but declined further comment.
Mission has become a valuable asset in the portfolio of HCA, the largest hospital corporation in the nation. In January, the companyreported a near doubling of profits during the full pandemic year of 2021, from $3.75 billion in 2020 to $6.96 billion in 2021.
Just months after the consummation of the sale of Mission Health, HCA raised prices across the Mission system by an average of 10 percent. By the end of the first year, net patient revenue increased $548 million compared to the 12-month period before the sale, Greg Lowe, president of the North Carolina Division of HCA Healthcare, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Stein on April 30, 2020. The letter was obtained by Asheville Watchdog under a public records request.
With annual net patient revenue exceeding $1 billion, Mission Hospital ranked No. 2 among more than 180 HCA hospitals in both 2020 and 2021, according to the consulting firm Definitive Healthcare.
“Healthcare should be the least transactional business in the world,” said the doctor who was asked to take a salary cut, but HCA’s “approach is very transactional.”
He said the upshot at Mission, where he said collegiality and community commitment were once hallmarks, is “the pride is gone. It’s just sad.”
Peter H. Lewis contributed to this report.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Barbara Durr is a former correspondent for The Financial Times of London. Contact her at [email protected]. Sally Kestin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. Email [email protected]. Peter H. Lewis is a former senior writer and editor at The New York Times. Email [email protected].
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by Asheville Watchdog, North Carolina Health News March 26, 2022
The four free of charge covid-19 quick tests President Joe Biden promised in December for just about every American house have begun arriving in earnest in mailboxes and on doorsteps.
A surge of covid bacterial infections spurred large demand for over-the-counter antigen exams during the holiday seasons: Clinics have been confused with individuals in search of tests and the handful of off-the-shelf models were being approximately unachievable to find at pharmacies or even on the internet by means of Amazon. Prices for some take a look at kits cracked the hundred-greenback mark. And the govt vowed that its invest in could present the tests a lot quicker and more affordable so people today, by just swabbing at house, could quell the spread of covid.
The Defense Office organized the bidding and declared in mid-January, following a confined aggressive course of action, that three organizations were being awarded contracts totaling approximately $2 billion for 380 million in excess of-the-counter antigen exams, all to be delivered by March 14.
The substantially-touted order was the newest tranche in trillions of dollars in general public paying out in response to the pandemic. How substantially is the governing administration spending for each individual check? And what were being the conditions of the agreements? The federal government won’t however say, even while, by regulation, this facts really should be out there.
The charge — and, much more importantly, the rate for each check — would enable demonstrate who is finding the most effective deal for safety in these covid periods: the consumer or the corporation.
The reluctance to share pricing particulars flies in opposition to essential notions of value regulate and accountability — and that’s just quoting from a very long-held place by the Justice Division. “The price ranges in government contracts ought to not be mystery,” according to its web site. “Government contracts are ‘public contracts,’ and the taxpayers have a ideal to know — with pretty couple exceptions —what the govt has agreed to invest in and at what charges.”
Americans often pay back significantly much more than persons in other designed international locations for checks, medicines, and medical gadgets, and the pandemic has accentuated these variances. Governments abroad experienced been obtaining swift assessments in bulk for over a 12 months, and several national wellbeing expert services distributed free of charge or very low-cost exams, for much less than $1, to their citizens. In the U.S., retailers, organizations, colleges, hospitals, and each day consumers were competing months later on to invest in swabs in hopes of returning to normalcy. The retail selling price climbed as large as $25 for a single exam in some pharmacies tales abounded of corporate and rich customers hoarding assessments for perform or getaway use.
“We really do not know why that details is not displaying up in the FPDS database, as it really should be visible and searchable. Army Contracting Command is seeking into the problem and working to remedy it as promptly as attainable,” spokesperson Jessica R. Maxwell stated in an e mail in January. This thirty day period, she declined to provide additional information and facts about the contracts and referred all concerns about the pricing to the Office of Well being and Human Services.
Only vague information is out there in DOD push releases, dated Jan. 13 and Jan. 14, that notice the overall awards in the preset-value contracts: iHealth Labs for $1.275 billion, Roche Diagnostics for $340 million, and Abbott Quick Dx North The us for $306 million. There were no details relating to contract standards or terms of completion — which includes how several test kits would be offered by each enterprise.
Without the need of knowing the rate or how several checks just about every business agreed to source, it is impossible to identify whether or not the U.S. governing administration overpaid or to estimate if a lot more assessments could have been supplied faster. As variants of the fatal virus keep on to emerge, it is unclear if the governing administration will re-up these contracts and beneath what terms.
To set forth a bid to fill an “urgent” national will need, companies had to supply responses to the Protection Division by Dec. 24 about their capability to scale up manufacturing to produce 500,000 or additional exams a 7 days in 3 months. Between the thoughts: Experienced a firm already been granted “emergency use authorization” for the check kits, and did a enterprise have “fully made unallocated stock on hand to ship in two weeks of a agreement award?”
Dependent on responses from about 60 organizations, the Defense Department mentioned it despatched “requests for proposals” instantly to the suppliers. 20 organizations bid. Defense would not release the names of fascinated firms.
Emails to the 3 picked out organizations to question the conditions of the contracts went unanswered by iHealth and Abbott. Roche spokesperson Michelle A. Johnson responded in an email that she was “unable to supply that information and facts to you. We do not share customer deal info.” The consumers — listed as the Defense Department and the Military command — did not offer solutions about the agreement phrases.
The Army’s Contracting Command, centered in Alabama, in the beginning could not be achieved to remedy issues. An e mail tackle on the command’s web-site for media bounced back as out-of-day. Six mobile phone figures stated on the command’s web site for community data were being unmanned in late January. At the command’s protocol business office, the person who answered a cellular phone in late January referred all queries to the Aberdeen Proving Floor offices in Maryland.
“Unfortunately, there is an situation with voicemail,” said Ralph Williams, a agent of the protocol office. “Voicemail is down. I necessarily mean, voicemail has been down for months.”
Requested about the bounced electronic mail targeted visitors, Williams stated he was astonished the address — [email protected] — was mentioned on the ACC internet site. “I’m not certain when that e-mail was very last applied,” he mentioned. “The military stopped applying the electronic mail handle about eight many years back.”
Williams furnished a immediate cellphone variety for Aberdeen and apologized for the confusion. “People should really have their cellular phone forwarded,” he claimed. “But I can only do what I can do.”
Joyce Cobb, an Military Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Floor spokesperson, arrived at by using cell phone and e-mail, referred all inquiries to Defense personnel. Maxwell referred far more detailed questions about the contracts to HHS, and emails to HHS went unanswered.
Equally the Defense and Army spokespeople, just after numerous e-mail, said the contracts would have to be reviewed, citing the Liberty of Information and facts Act that safeguards privacy, in advance of launch. Neither discussed how recognizing the price tag for every test could be a privacy or proprietary concern.
A Protection spokesperson added that the contracts had been fast-tracked “due to the urgent and persuasive need” for antigen assessments. Defense obtained “approval from the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, & Know-how to deal devoid of giving for entire and open up competition.”
KHN independently searched for the contracts on the sam.gov site during a cellphone phone with a government representative who assisted with the look for. Through an extended mobile phone session, the agent identified as in a supervisor. Neither could locate the contracts, which are current twice a 7 days. The representative questioned regardless of whether the figures outlined in the Protection push launch had been wrong and supplied: “You might want to double-verify that.”
On Jan. 25, Protection spokesperson Maxwell, in an e-mail, mentioned that the Army Contracting Command “is operating to get ready these contracts for public launch and part of that features proactively readying the contracts for the FOIA redaction.” 3 days afterwards, she despatched an electronic mail stating that “under the minimal level of competition authority … DOD was not necessary to make the Ask for for Proposal (RFP) accessible to the general public.”
Maxwell did not react when KHN pointed out that the contracting provision she cited does not prohibit the release of this sort of info. In a Feb. 2 email, Maxwell mentioned “we have practically nothing even further to supply at this time.”
On sam.gov, the covid spreadsheets consist of a disclaimer that “due to the tempo of operations” in the pandemic reaction, the databases shows only “a portion of the work that has been awarded to date.”
In other phrases, it could not vouch for the timeliness or precision of its possess database.
RI leaders close to legalization deal; Bourbon-selling KY senator worried about medical marijuana; Record IL cannabis sales
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Your good deed for the day: donate to an independent publisher like Marijuana Moment and ensure that as many voters as possible have access to the most in-depth cannabis reporting out there. Support our work at https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW The federal monopoly on growing cannabis for research has officially ended, with two companies telling Marijuana Moment that they’ve harvested their first Drug Enforcement Administration-approved crops in recent weeks. Rhode Island’s House speaker and Senate president indicated in opening remarks at the start of the legislative session that they are nearing a deal on how to regulate the marijuana industry in a new legalization bill expected to be filed this month. But Gov. Dan McKee (D) might not be on board with a key detail. Kentucky’s Senate majority floor leader—who owns a bourbon company called “Kentucky Senator”—said he opposes medical cannabis despite strong support from his constituents.
“If they don’t like it, they can take it out on me in the next election.”
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation reported that marijuana businesses set a sales record in December, closing out a year with nearly $1.4 billion worth of legal cannabis products sold—more than doubling 2020’s total. / FEDERAL Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tweeted, “The War on Drugs has been a war on people—particularly people of color. I’m working to pass our bill to end the federal marijuana prohibition, enact criminal justice reforms, and ensure equity for those impacted by the War on Drugs.” Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, currently the lieutenant governor, tweeted about a local move to reduce some marijuana charges, saying, “Lebanon 🔴 is one of Pennsylvania’s most conservative counties. I commend the DA for adopting these common sense changes to marijuana charges. Legalization is “inevitable” in PA. Those aren’t my words. They belong to a Republican state Senator.” Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Charles Booker tweeted, “There is overwhelming bipartisan support to legalize medical cannabis in Kentucky. The politicians blocking it know that very well.” Texas Democratic congressional candidate Coy Branscum tweeted, “I support federal efforts to legalize adult use marijuana. This will be a boon for investment in our country and will provide much needed criminal justice reform for our country.” / STATES Mississippi’s lieutenant governor pushed back against Gov. Tate Reeves’s (R) criticism of pending medical cannabis legislation, while the House speaker said it is “not the top issue” for the session. Separately, a senator is proposing a medical marijuana bill that would ban smoking. Tennessee Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Martin tweeted that voters told him it’s a priority to work on “updating Tennessee’s antiquated marijuana laws.” The Louisiana legislature’s Industrial Hemp Advisory Committee met. An Indiana representative said he doesn’t think there’s enough support in the legislature to pass marijuana reform. A Wisconsin senator applauded Gov. Tony Evers (D) for pardoning people with marijuana convictions. Montana’s Supreme Court has been slow to set up a specialized court to handle marijuana expungements. Massachusetts’s top marijuana regulator said implementing delivery services can “take a big chunk out of” the illegal market. Virginia regulators are considering amending rules for marijuana field tests and are accepting comments on proposed changes to rules on medical cannabis product labeling and access to facilities. Illinois regulators are beginning rulemaking on changes to the medical cannabis program. The New York Department of Agriculture and Markets tweeted, “We’re proud to announce that our Hemp Program Plan has been approved by @USDA. All growers who were licensed under our former Industrial Hemp Agricultural Research Pilot Program need to reapply under this new program in order to grow hemp this year.” Colorado regulators gave an update on the marijuana program in the Department of Revenue’s annual report. Oklahoma regulators sent an update about a switch to new medical cannabis licensing software this month. The Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission reported on hemp projects it is funding. — Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 800 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. —
/ LOCAL Portland, Oregon officials posted application materials for cannabis business emergency relief funds. Oakland, California’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission will meet on Thursday. / INTERNATIONAL Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will “never, never apologise for the deaths” in his nation’s bloody “drug war.” London, England’s mayor clarified that a new arrest diversion plan will only apply to people under 25 and for marijuana only, not other drugs. A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacted by saying that “illegal drugs destroy lives and fuel violence.” And the leader of the Labour Party said he’s “not in favour of changing the drugs laws.” Quebec, Canada’s government is denying access to marijuana and alcohol retail locations to people who have not received COVID vaccinations. / SCIENCE & HEALTH A study concluded that medical cannabis “use for chronic pain is increasing with cannabis legalization.” A study of mice suggested that “both cannabinoids and terpenes in oil extracts should be considered as potential therapeutic agents against epileptic seizures and epilepsy.” / ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS The Kentucky Democratic Party tweeted, “Nine out of 10 Kentuckians support legalizing medical marijuana. Republicans in Frankfort aren’t representing Kentucky’s interests — just their own.” The Indiana Democratic Party tweeted, “A state that Donald Trump won by 16 points [Montana] made recreational cannabis legal. The @indgop’s opposition to marijuana is more out of touch with most of the larger @GOP. Their partisanship is harming Indiana’s economic potential.” The Association for Cannabis Health and Medicine will host a summit on cannabis in sports on January 22. / BUSINESS MJBiz was acquired by Emerald Holding, Inc. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company acquired Luxx Lighting and True Liberty Bags. Trulieve Cannabis Corp. won a dismissal of a lawsuit that accused the company of misleading investors about the quality of its cultivation facilities. The Honeybee Collective raised a $107,000 funding round. / CULTURE David Crosby gave a reporter tips about how to roll a joint and spoke about his forthcoming cannabis brand.
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