Mathew Swinburne

As more states legalize medical and recreational marijuana use, they are being confronted with a broad spectrum of policy issues. One of the emerging issues is whether to allow the legal cannabis industry to deliver marijuana directly to customers. Advocates see it as an issue of access, especially for medical marijuana patients. Opponents argue that delivery will make it easier for kids to get marijuana and that the delivery vehicles will be targeted by criminals.

Approximately 37 million Americans lack dependable access to enough food to live healthy lives. The health effects of food insecurity are particularly pronounced for children, putting them at increased risk for mental health disorders, chronic disease and impaired cognitive development. Current proposed changes to the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides qualifying households with funds to purchase food, would put millions of children at risk of experiencing ongoing food insecurity.

Education has emerged as a social determinant of health in its own right. More highly educated individuals are healthier and tend to live longer; they also are at less risk of smoking, drug abuse, accidents and chronic diseases. Despite federal laws that guarantee all children a free appropriate public education, major inequities exist.

Many states allow for license suspension for non-payment of fees and fines for traffic offenses. These suspensions often have significant health impacts, some of which seem obvious—people need transportation to access medical care. But a closer look reveals a plethora of other negative consequences that impact public health.

In the U.S., only half the students who eat school lunch also start their day with a healthy school breakfast. This resource examines the framework of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, the school breakfast gap and its subsequent public health impacts, and the most prevalent state interventions to bridge the breakfast gap.

Dietary supplements and foods containing cannabidiol (CBD) are being sold over-the-counter throughout the United States. The over-the-counter sale of dietary supplements and foods containing CBD has created a lot of confusion regarding the legality of this practice because of CBD’s association with marijuana and recent changes in the 2018 Farm Bill.

This issue brief outlines the four permissible uses of the term as they relate to the percent of organic ingredients included in the food product.

This issue brief examines the major legal underpinnings of the debate surrounding plant-based beverages labeling and looks at the current developments at the Food and Drug Administration that could definitively address this question.

Among the most pressing public health issues of 2018, access to healthcare, electronic nicotine delivery systems, injury prevention, and food insecurity saw significant legislation and policy impacts. In this webinar, subject matter experts will recap how four important public health initiatives—expansion of scope of practice; regulation of electronic nicotine delivery systems; traumatic brain injury prevention; and food insecurity and SNAP—were impacted in 2018.

Many municipalities in the U.S. have enacted nuisance property ordinances, which can have harmful effects on victims of domestic violence. Attend this webinar to learn about the impact of housing law on domestic violence survivors, hear from speakers with experience advocating for the housing rights of domestic violence survivors, and obtain tools and strategies that can be used to provide legal protections for victims.

This resource summarizes lead testing policies in each state for children not enrolled in Medicaid.

WIC is a highly effective program that helps address the food insecurity of young children. However, WIC benefits end at age five, the assumption being that children will start school and participate in the National School Lunch Program. However, thousands of children do not start school until age six, leaving a critical gap in benefits and creating negative effects on the food security of families.