Event Description In Commonwealth v. Eldred, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that a court may order a defendant who is addicted to substances to remain drug free as a condition of probation and that if a defendant tests positive for an illegal substance, the defendant may be found in violation of his or her…
Event Description As the psychedelic renaissance unfolds, groups are forming to identify national policy priorities. This event assembled a panel of experts from several of these groups for a discussion on setting a national psychedelic policy agenda. Panelists Sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.
Event Description The psychedelic renaissance is characterized by growing interest in researching, commercializing, and consuming psychedelic substances like psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Against this backdrop, a wave of psychedelic legal reform is washing over North America. A dozen U.S. cities have decriminalized psychedelics, and about a dozen U.S. states have proposed laws to legalize these…
Event Description Psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, MDMA, and ketamine are being used increasingly in research and clinical settings. They also are being decriminalized and legalized by cities and states across the country. As research and access advance, a growing body of evidence suggests that one promising application for psychedelics is in the treatment of…
Current and past abortion legislation and court rulings have profound effects on health care providers’ ability to care for their patients. However, media coverage of abortion in the U.S. typically is not geared toward an audience of health care professionals. Health care providers are thus left on their own to grapple with questions of what…
Event Description How can family law support parents and their children when a parent has a substance use disorder? One in eight children live in a home with a parent with a substance use disorder. Most of these children are under the age of five. This discussion examined innovations in family law contexts, such as…
Event Description In 2021, the Mexican government filed a ground-breaking suit in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, against ten US gun manufacturers, accusing them of knowingly facilitating the sale of guns to drug cartels in Mexico. This is the first time that a foreign government has sued the makers of guns in the United States….
Event Description Technology is now part of our lives in ways that were not possible only 10-20 years ago. Smart devices, like watches, phones, and speakers, can gather vast amounts of information about their users, often without the user’s knowledge or consent. As technology continues to improve, many of these devices may also be leveraged…
Event Description The U.S. Supreme Court landmark case of Roper v. Simmons (2005) barring execution for crimes committed prior to age 18 launched a line of cases extending Eighth Amendment protections for juveniles. These cases clearly established that children are not little adults. The April 2021 SCOTUS decision in Jones v. Mississippi appears to signal a shift from federal…
Event Description The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked debates about a number of public health measures, including social distancing, masks, and vaccines. Social media has been the outlet for much of this conflict, and health care providers have, in many cases, been at the center of these debates, whether willing or not. Some health care providers…
