Issues

The parents of a 17-year-old ask you to recommend medical marijuana for their daughter, who was injured in an auto accident six months ago and still has back pain. Hydrocodone and acetaminophen initially helped, but the patient stopped taking the medication because of unpleasant side effects. She told her parents she smokes marijuana "for fun" on weekends and believes it improves the pain. Her parents say they also think medical marijuana would be helpful for their daughter's back pain. They smoke legal marijuana recreationally and feel like it’s a benign drug. This scenario is becoming more common. more »

Senator David Vitter: A bill to prohibit certain abortion-related discrimination in governmental activities; a bill to prohibit family planning grants from being awarded to any entity that performs abortions; a bill to impose admitting privilege requirements with respect to physicians who perform abortions; a bill to require states to implement a drug testing program for applicants for and recipients of assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program; a bill to clarify eligibility for the child tax credit; a bill to prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or gender. more »

One reason for this is what we might call the divorce echo effect. Older individuals are more often in remarriages, not first marriages, and remarriages have long been more likely than first marriages to end through divorce. People who have been divorced in the past are more willing to divorce again in the event a marriage becomes unsatisfying. In contrast, some proportion of those in first marriages are unwilling to divorce even if they have an unsatisfying marriage. more »

Nearly 42 percent of US adults who drink also report using medications known to interact with alcohol, based on a study from the National Institutes of Health released January 16, 2015. Among those over 65 years of age who drink alcohol, nearly 78 percent report using alcohol-interactive medications. more »