A ‘frustrating delay’ in Georgia’s medical cannabis oil program

No one has yet been appointed to Georgia’s medical marijuana board — the group that is supposed to oversee in-state cultivation of medical marijuana.

Elsewhere: Louisiana began distributing medical marijuana “as the state became the first in the Deep South to dispense therapeutic cannabis, four years after state lawmakers agreed to give patients access to it.”

Not enough naloxone going out

Naloxone is dispensed only once for every 69 prescriptions of high-dose opioids. “We may never get to 1-to-1 … but we think that ratio of 1-to-70 is too low,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the CDC.

A bit of good news, though: “Naloxone dispensing from retail pharmacies increased from 2012 to 2018, with substantial increases in recent years” according to the CDC.

Shout-out to Jennifer Shannon … again

This time she’s in her local paper, the Johns Creek Herald, for her work to pass our PBM-restriction laws this past legislative session. (Also pictured are GPhA’s Greg Reybold and Bob Coleman.)

Novartis manipulated data, but that’s OK

Novartis deliberately gave the FDA “manipulated” data about its Zolgensma gene therapy, but don’t worry — the agency is still expected to approve the treatment. The company may have to pay a fine for its actions, however (and there could even be criminal charges).

Walgreens closing 200 U.S. stores

It had announced 200 store closings in the U.K., and now per its recent SEC filing…

“Following a review of the real estate footprint in the United States […] the Company also plans to close approximately 200 locations in the United States.

CVS expands delivery program

The company said it’s rolling out its CarePass program to the entire country. For $5 per month (or $48 a year), patients can have their prescriptions delivered in one or two days.

This wasn’t big news to many pharmacies that already offer same-day delivery (often at no charge) … and they don’t usually send a press release about it.

Quick opioid-settlement notes

There’s a good chance there will be a single opioid settlement, much like the tobacco settlement, for the entire country.

The drug distributors are thinking $10 billion. State attorneys general are thinking more like $45 billion.

But that’s for states. It’s possible the 34,000 cities and counties and towns that are already part of the lawsuit won’t go along with that deal — they might want their own. But even if they’re all lumped into a single nationwide “negotiating class,” they’re still arguing with the states over who should control the money.

Could marijuana reduce opioid deaths?

Proponents of access to marijuana say so, and a new study finds that yes, that seems to be the case. As with anything marijuana related, though, this kind of study is still preliminary; researchers simply don’t have a lot of long-term data yet to work with.

Investigators found that legalization and access to recreational marijuana reduced annual opioid mortality in the range of 20% to 35%, with particularly pronounced effects for synthetic opioids.