News & Insights

While “Tobacco 21” and clean air laws are effective tobacco control strategies, particularly at reducing youth use, they’re not politically feasible in much of the country – twenty states still do not have comprehensive indoor smoking restrictions and only California and Hawaii have raised the minimum tobacco purchase age to 21. State and local tobacco licensing programs are critical to preventing youth use of tobacco products. These programs enable communities to identify retail businesses that sell tobacco products.

In 2015, 33,091 Americans died of accidental opioid overdose, that’s more deaths than from car crashes or guns. Early interventions to prevent and treat substance use disorder and opioid use disorder, save lives and resources. Although access to evidence-based prevention and treatment remains far below where it should be, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act have been instrumental in improving it.

Some of the public health law and policy issues that made headlines in February include the impact of Mexico’s soda tax, new federal rules to better serve patients of home health agencies, and proposed changes to CDC’s quarantine powers.

Frustrated by what they perceive as insufficient federal legislative and executive efforts to address climate change, a group of young plaintiffs and other activists have filed suit against the federal government, citing a wide variety of health-related harms they have suffered because of the government’s inability to reduce carbon emissions.

The movement to legalize the intrastate sale of raw milk continues despite warnings from the FDA and CDC that its consumption is a health risk. Federal law prohibits selling or transportation of raw milk, but there is decreased regulation within states. In the first month of 2017, five states have already introduced raw milk legislation to allow or expand its sale within their borders.

Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize emergency use of unapproved medical countermeasures during emergency circumstances to combat threats that involve chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear agents. On January 13, the FDA issued final guidance for industry and other stakeholders on EUA of Medical Products and Related Authorities.

Across the United States, people are identifying mental health as an unmet need in their communities, and are beginning to devise strategies to promote mental health and well-being. Just as we have come to understand the role of the social determinants of health with respect to physical health, we have a growing awareness of the influence of the social determinants of mental health.

Cross-jurisdictional data sharing requires the application of varying, and sometimes conflicting local, state and federal laws. These laws often present barriers and prevent the efficient and effective use of data to tackle important public health challenges. A national IIS cross-jurisdictional data-sharing memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been developed to help address these challenges and will be piloted in six states.

Some of the public health law issues that made headlines in January include President Trump’s Executive Order regarding the Affordable Care Act, policy changes to help unpaid caregivers, a state’s proposed law that would classify homelessness as a medical condition, and the effectiveness of laws requiring breathalyzer ignition systems for DUI repeat offenders.

Health impact assessments (HIAs) can provide decision-makers with critical information on how a proposed policy or program might impact the public’s health. The Network for Public Health Law – Western Region recently collaborated with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) to explore and analyze opportunities to imbed health considerations and HIAs into environmental reviews.

Overview In a recent Network issue brief, we discussed legal issues and policy implications related to the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan,…

A public health professional contacted the Network to ask if the Network could provide them with data use agreement templates for use by local public health authorities?