Tech companies, including Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Google (YouTube), TikTok, and others have refused to answer to the government or parents like me who must bury their children because of the dangerous and toxic effects of social media. We are finally at a point in which Big Tech may have to answer for its greedy and misguided actions.
Drugs
Posted inOpinion
I saw parallels to Clancy case as a juvenile court judge
THE TRAGIC DEATH of the beautiful Clancy children may portend a long overdue indictment of the cavalier use of powerful psychotropic medications over non-pharmacological methods of treatment for those suffering from mental illness. For decades in Massachusetts, the reckless indifference of prescribing psychiatrists and other providers has caused lasting and harmful consequences for so many […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Meth use poses rising threat in Massachusetts
THE SCOURGE of opioid addiction has made headlines for years, as state policymakers aim to reduce the epidemic of overdose deaths. Less noticed – but still highly dangerous – is the growing use of stimulant drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamines. “We’ve been seeing that stimulant use, especially stimulant involvement in overdose deaths, has increased dramatically […]
Posted inOpinion
Moderna should do its part, share its vaccine
THROUGH MOST of 2020, most of us had never heard of Moderna, a small start-up pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge. The company had brought no product to market and had lost $241 million during the first half of the year. But, in January 2020, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were already at […]
Posted inHealth Care
Friedman, Senate push transparency in pharmaceutical drug costs
MASSACHUSETTS HAS taken lots of steps to rein in runaway spending on healthcare, but one area has largely avoided state regulation: prescription drugs. “If we’re really going to have a complete picture of what affects health care costs and we are committed, which we are, to our cost growth benchmarks, we have to look at […]
Posted inHealth Care
Senate misfires with prescription drug bill
ON THURSDAY, the Massachusetts Senate passed another ill-considered piece of legislation, Senate Bill 2651, that would impose price controls on one of Massachusetts most important economic sectors, biopharmaceuticals. The bill is ill-considered because its authors assume, as they say in their press release, that the legislation is necessary because of “rapidly rising prescription drug costs.” This […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Marijuana regulators support updates to drugged driving laws
SINCE MASSACHUSETTS LEGALIZED recreational marijuana, Gov. Charlie Baker has been pushing the Legislature to also update the state’s laws against driving under the influence of drugs. But a lengthy discussion by the state’s marijuana regulators on Thursday illustrated the immense challenges lawmakers will face should they choose to move forward with the governor’s bill. […]
Posted inThe Download
A fix for the crisis at Mass. and Cass?
Acting Mayor Kim Janey declared last week that Boston will move to dismantle the tent city of homeless people that has grown in the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard. Janey’s announcement that shelter beds will be found for everyone whose tent is taken down came on the heels of a proposal from […]
Posted inHealth Care
Massachusetts preps for Nov. vaccine rollout to kids
MASSACHUSETTS EXPECTS to receive 360,000 doses of the pediatric Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by November 5, Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said Thursday. Unlike the initial vaccine rollout to adults, when vaccines were scarce, Sudders said the initial allocation will be enough to vaccinate 70 percent of the approximately 515,000 children ages five […]
Posted inHealth Care
FDA’s controversial approval of Alzheimer’s drug draws calls for reform
WHEN MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM announced two weeks ago that it would not offer a controversial new drug treatment for Alzheimer’s disease to patients, it was an important statement from the state’s leading provider network. On Thursday, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state’s largest private insurer, said it won’t cover the drug developed by […]