News & Insights

As the pandemic in the U.S. continues to worsen, many states are requiring additional disease mitigation measures. While many governors continue to utilize their executive authority under state emergency management laws to protect the public’s health, enforcement of public health orders at the state and local level has been a challenge across the country. One potential solution is for local jurisdictions to utilize civil infractions as an enforcement mechanism for public health orders through the enactment of ordinances.

The current pandemic demonstrates the need for careful and explicit consideration of public health reporting provisions in privacy law. In federally assisted substance use treatment facilities, a lack of clear and standardized public health reporting regulations raises questions about how communicable disease reporting occurs in these settings, including whether the burden of disease among specific patient populations is accurately tracked.

Some of the public health law and policy issues in the headlines in recent weeks include challenges to public health powers; vaccine data and privacy concerns; COVID vaccination mandates and health care workers; California’s proposed legislation extending the state’s eviction moratorium; pandemic-induced food insecurity; the Biden administration’s plans for addressing the ongoing drug epidemic; vaccine distribution challenges faced by states; and the Supreme Court ruling on religious freedoms and COVID restrictions.

This paper identifies barriers to OAT access and potential solutions to improve OAT uptake in eight sectors.

The Network’s Harm Reduction Legal Project works to address the legal and policy barriers that impede the establishment and expansion of evidence-based harm reduction measures such as naloxone distribution, syringe access programs, and access to evidence-based substance use disorder treatment. One of the questions frequently received by the Project is whether federal law prohibits harm reduction organizations and similar groups who are authorized to distribute naloxone from mailing the medication.

Even though cannabis is still illegal under federal law; most Americans (91 percent) favor the legalization of cannabis either for medical or recreational use. This is a serious change in public opinion. In 2010, 52 percent of Americans opposed the legalization of cannabis. This more accepting view of cannabis appeared in the 2020 election, with five states legalizing cannabis through ballot measures. With the legalization trend, it is important to understand the legal process behind the ballot measures that have been central to changing state cannabis laws.

Public health law and policy stories that made headlines recently include mask requirements in schools, SNAP enrollment amidst COVID-19, reparations as a means to address health disparities for Black communities, a Supreme Court Ruling on the ACA’s contraceptive care mandate, U.S. withdrawal from W.H.O., evictions and vulnerable populations, and more.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the challenge for states to provide safe conditions for individuals to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. In two southwestern states, public health executive orders (New Mexico) and legal challenges (Arizona) have been seen ahead of the upcoming election related to voting conditions and voter registrations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the challenge for states to provide safe conditions for individuals to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. In two southwestern states, public health executive orders (New Mexico) and legal challenges (Arizona) have been seen ahead of the upcoming election related to voting conditions and voter registrations.

In the U.S., criminal defendants have the right to be represented by an attorney and states and jurisdictions must provide an attorney free of charge to defendants who cannot afford one. Advocates have sought the same right for citizens facing civil cases, including evictions. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought light to the eviction crisis, the critical need for housing stability, and the role that lawyers can play in protecting tenants from unlawful and abusive eviction.

In this Q&A, Denise Chrysler, director and Peter Jacobson, co-director, of the Network’s Mid-States Region Office, discuss some of the key elements in the chapter they co-authored, Executive Decision Making for COVID-19: Public Health Science through a Political Lens, for the Report.

The Network has partnered with All In Data for Community Health on a series of webinars focused on racial equity and data integration. In this excerpt of a webinar Q&A, Sallie Milam, Deputy Director of the Network’s Mid-States Region, shares her perspective on why racial equity matters and where trust-building can occur in the data life cycle, including her work with Tribal communities.