Public Health Law Blog Archive

Regulating marijuana can be complex. Nevertheless, many of the obstacles that policymakers wrestle with in regulating the use of an illegal drug are familiar to those who have worked for decades to protect the public from the devastating health impact of a product that has been legal for centuries – tobacco.  

A federal district court struck down Idaho’s law, one of the more rigorous of the state Ag-Gag laws. Ag-Gag is the term given to legislation that targets undercover investigations of animal operations by preventing the filming and photographing of activity on farms without consent, among other things.

It seems that everywhere I turn in public health circles these days, I’m part of conversations about improving access to mental health services, integrating mental and physical health, and promoting mental health and wellness as a key part of overall health. Importantly, those conversations are beginning to make their way into law and policy.