800: Hemp’s Hazy Status, Climate Change Impacts Health Equity

SUMMER JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Wednesday, November 27,  2024. I'm Summer Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

CHRISTINA SEVERIN: 

So these are products that are mostly showing up in like foods, beverages, maybe things that look like candy or snacks that have hemp in them, which has a component that can be psychoactive.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO's latest Health Policy Update, zeros in on the hazy status of hemp and hemp-derived products. ASTHO's Christina Severin authored the resource and says hemp used to be considered a controlled substance.

SEVERIN: 

So, the 2018 Farm Bill changed that, and it sort of opened up this option for industrial hemp farming, production, things of that nature, but it removed very specific definition of hemp from that sort of definition of marijuana. So, it was no longer considered a controlled substance under federal law if it met this definition.

JOHNSON: 

 Severin says the increase in hemp products has necessitated some action by the feds.

SEVERIN: 

The Federal Trade Commission and the FDA have taken some actions to sort of issue warnings about that, but people may not even know what they're eating or really how much of an intoxicating substance they're getting, so there have been some reports of adverse events as a result of that confusion, and also that children are having access to these products.

JOHNSON: 

Litigation activity in the states has also made the issue increasingly complex.

SEVERIN: 

There have been a number of instances where states have also been challenged in court for taking these actions. Given the sort of unique federal overlay and the challenging landscape here, there has been some litigation that has been pursued against states for their actions in this area, and we highlight some of that there in the blog as well.

JOHNSON: 

ASTHO details it all in the new Health Policy Update. The link to the article is in the show notes.

ASTHO continues to make sure you have opportunities to hear and replicate what other public health departments are doing all around the country. On yesterday's newscast, we told you about California's Climate Change and Health Equity branch, or the CCHE branch of DPH. The office ensures public health is accounted for in all California climate policy today. Linda Helland, who is with the CHE branch, tells us more about the work they're doing with communities.

LINDA HELLAND: 

We've provided health and equity data, metrics, and guidance to over $8.5 billion in state grants distributed to communities across California to dozens of plans and policies.

JOHNSON: 

CCHE has several pilot programs that are making a difference at the local level.

HELLAND: 

Our Community Health Workers Healthy Homes and Healthy Families pilot program has trained community health workers to connect farm worker families to weatherization and energy efficiency services that can improve their housing conditions, reducing risk of extreme heat, wildfire, smoke, and air pollution exposure.

JOHNSON: 

The CCHE branch is also measuring the impact of its work.

HELLAND: 

So, we do track outcomes, such as emergency department visits for heat, and populations affected. But as it takes a long time to move the dial on health outcomes, and it's hard to tie improvements to our interventions, we also seek to measure process improvements and climate resilience indicators.

JOHNSON: 

Learn more about the CCHE branch by using the link in the show notes.

Also today, ASTHO's looking for qualified candidates to be its Senior Director of Accounting Operations. If you think you might be a good fit, use the link in the show notes to apply today.

Finally, this week is all about gratitude, and we've asked public health leaders to weigh in. Here's Dr Natasha Bagdasarian, an ASTHO member, and the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan.

NATASHA BAGDASARIAN: 

I just want to thank all of our amazing community partners that work with us in public health every day to improve the lives of people and improve their health.

JOHNSON: 

That'll do it for today. This newscast will be taking a break the rest of the week for the holiday, but we're back bright and early Monday morning at 5:00 a.m. with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Summer Johnson. You are listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great holiday weekend.