Mental Health

  • Read more: The Opioid Crisis Requires Evidence-Based Solutions, Part III: How the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction Dismissed Harm Reduction Strategies
    Article

    The Opioid Crisis Requires Evidence-Based Solutions, Part III: How the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction Dismissed Harm Reduction Strategies

    By Mason Marks Drug overdose is a leading cause of death in Americans under 50. Opioids are responsible for most drug-related deaths killing an estimated 91 people each day. In Part I of this three-part series, I discuss how the President’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis misinterpreted scientific studies and used…

  • Read more: Civil Commitment and the Opioid Epidemic: A Call for Research
    Article

    Civil Commitment and the Opioid Epidemic: A Call for Research

    By Scott Burris, JD There is a lot of interest in civil commitment these days, as a possible tool to fight two big health problems. As we continue to watch the rates of opioid-related deaths climb, and in the wake of an unfunded emergency declaration by President Trump, some policymakers are looking to involuntarily commit…

  • Read more: The Opioid Crisis Requires Evidence-Based Solutions, Part II: How the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction Ignored Promising Medical Treatments
    Article

    The Opioid Crisis Requires Evidence-Based Solutions, Part II: How the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction Ignored Promising Medical Treatments

    By Mason Marks Last year more than 64,000 Americans died of drug overdose, which is “now the leading cause of death” in people under 50. Opioids kill an estimated 91 Americans each day and are responsible for most drug-related deaths in the US. This public health crisis requires solutions that are supported by science and…

  • Read more: The Opioid Crisis Requires Evidence-Based Solutions, Part I: How the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction Misinterpreted Scientific Studies
    Article

    The Opioid Crisis Requires Evidence-Based Solutions, Part I: How the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction Misinterpreted Scientific Studies

    By Mason Marks The opioid crisis kills at least 91 Americans each day and has far-reaching social and economic consequences for us all. As lawmakers explore solutions to the problem, they should ensure that new regulations are based on scientific evidence and reason rather than emotion or political ideology. Though emotions should motivate the creation…

  • Read more: Reflecting on Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians
    Article

    Reflecting on Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians

    By Gali Katznelson This month, the Petrie-Flom Center collaborated with the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior  to host a panel entitled “Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians.” The panelists, Bruce Price, MD, Francis X. Shen, JD, PhD, and Rebecca Brendel, JD, MD, elucidated the problems, as well as potential solutions, to the…

  • Read more: Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians
    Article

    Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians

    Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians November 15, 2017 12:00 PM Pound Hall, Room 102 Harvard Law School, 1563 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA Our judiciary and our elected officials are getting old. Five of the nine Supreme Court Justices are 67 or older, with two over age 80. The President is 71, the…

  • Read more: Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians
    Article

    Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians

    Dementia and Democracy: America’s Aging Judges and Politicians November 15, 2017 12:00 PM Pound Hall, Room 102 Harvard Law School, 1563 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA Our judiciary and our elected officials are getting old. Five of the nine Supreme Court Justices are 67 or older, with two over age 80. The President is 71, the…

  • Read more: Instagram and the Regulation of Eating Disorder Communities
    Article

    Instagram and the Regulation of Eating Disorder Communities

    By Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair I’m sure not how much time the average health law enthusiast spends on Instagram, but as a rare opportunity to see health regulation in real-time, I’d encourage logging onto the site, which curates content based on user profiles and by tags, and searching for the following tags; #thinspo, #thighgap, and #eatingdisorder. The…

  • Read more: “Siri, Should Robots Give Care?”
    Article

    “Siri, Should Robots Give Care?”

    By Gali Katznelson Having finally watched the movie Her, I may very well be committing the “Hollywood Scenarios” deadly sin by embarking on this post. This is one of the seven deadly sins of people who sensationalize artificial intelligence (AI), proposed by Rodney Brooks, former director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at…

  • Read more: The State of Care in Mental Health Services in England 2014-2017
    Article

    The State of Care in Mental Health Services in England 2014-2017

    By John Tingle The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. They have recently published a report of inspections on specialist mental health services. The  report is very thorough and detailed and reveals both good and bad practices. When reading the report however the poor practices…