By Brian Skinner, Esq. As expected, one of the priorities of the Legislature going into the 2021 regular session was addressing the concerns of businesses and health care providers that they were likely to beset by a wave of pandemic-related lawsuits seeking to blame them for customer, patient, or employee exposure to COVID-19. In response …Read More
The United States, especially West Virginia, is seeing significant increases in drug addiction and overdose deaths while at the same time battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary CDC data show that more than 90,000 Americans died from drug overdose deaths from October 2019 to September 2020, a nearly 30% increase from the previous year. The Substance Abuse and …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. During the 2021 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature, 45 bills and one joint resolution were introduced that involve firearms in one way or another — 17 bills and one joint resolution in the Senate and 28 bills in the House of Delegates. Of the 45 bills introduced, six were …Read More
By Brian J. Skinner, Esq. During the 2021 regular legislative session, approximately 19 bills were introduced that would have impacted women’s health, if enacted. While the vast majority of the introduced legislation were related to abortion, three bills, unrelated to abortion, were enacted and are likely to increase women’s access to health care. The first …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. Even though a total of 17 bills related to marijuana were filed for introduction in the West Virginia Senate and House during the 2021 legislative session, only two received any consideration and none crossed the finish line to become law. Of those 17 bills, three would have lowered or extinguished …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. It has been now over three years since legislation was enacted creating West Virginia’s Medical Cannabis Program. The Office of Medical Cannabis (OMC) recently completed the process of awarding grower, processor and dispensary permits and is now registering patients. It appears that medical cannabis products may be available for sale by …Read More
West Virginia Public Broadcasting | By Emily Allen | Published January 26, 2021 Almost a year after adjourning last March, lawmakers returned to the state capitol early in January to prepare for the upcoming legislative session. But this time, they wore face masks. Some had to work away from the floor, in spectator galleries, apart from the …Read More
By Paige Winfield Cunningham, – Washington Post – January 13, 2021. The Department of Health and Human Services has finalized a rule change that will permit social-service providers that receive government funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “Critics claim the new guidance could have wide-ranging implications for agencies that …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that more than 200 drug and health-focused groups are urging the incoming Biden administration to address opioid abuse and end the drug war. The letter calls on the incoming administration to take bold, decisive, evidence-based action that shifts the government’s response to substance use. The The …Read More
By Brian Skinner, Esq. A new report from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers recommendations aimed at federal, state, and local policymakers to address the opioid epidemic during the pandemic, which has seen sharp increases in fatal and nonfatal overdoses. The report “Saving Lives From Overdose During a Pandemic” draws from …Read More