Public health research dating back decades found that needle exchanges for intravenous drug users saved lives.
Why Don’t We Have Full Drug Reciprocity with Other Countries?
According to one study, recognizing drug approvals by regulatory bodies in Canada and Europe between 2000 and 2010 would have given U.S. consumers quicker access to 37 “novel” drugs for which “no other FDA‐approved prescription medicine had the same mechanism of action,” including 10 drugs treating mostly orphan diseases “for which no alternative therapy was available in the USA.” Such recognition would have allowed U.S. consumers to access those drugs a median of 13.6 months earlier.
Monday Links
- Is attractiveness discrimination being ignored?
- Study: was lead poisoning the cause of dysfunctional behavior in the 1960s, including crime? No
- Most Americans are ignoring MyPlate, the substitute for the Food Pyramid that was introduced by Michelle Obama. That’s probably a good thing since following the advice from MyPlate is likely to make you fatter.
- In 2021, more than 10,000 adults took advantage of CAnada’s permissive euthanasia law to end their lives. That’s more than 3% of all deaths. (NYT)
- For $579, you can have your own drone. Cameras enable spying on your neighbors. Smart bombs are extra.
Internships Boost Health Care Workers in Rural CO
I grew up in a small town in the middle of nowhere. My parents house was 19 miles East of the Colorado border. The adjacent Colorado counties were so sparsely populated that the ranches were open range. There were no fences. The local hospital where I got my tonsils removed only had 9 beds. The hospital is county-owned, as is the long-term care facility. Some of the local health care providers are subsidized by the county, with free office space and guaranteed incomes. Otherwise, the only health care providers would be miles away in other counties.