The Washington state Department of Health on Thursday finalized a rule defining what constitutes a 60-day supply of medical marijuana.

An initiative passed by state voters in 1998 allows use of marijuana for “terminal or debilitating illnesses” when recommended by a physician. Existing law limits patients to have a 60-day supply, but health department spokesman Tim Church says it does not define supply, leading to confusion among patients, doctors, advocates, and law enforcement.

Health Department Spokesman Tim Church comments

The amounts in the rules were set after the agency reviewed published studies on the medical use of marijuana; took input from patients, advocates, doctors, law enforcement, and the public; and researched laws and rules of other states that allow the use of medical marijuana.

Tim Church continues

The 24-ounce total for useable marijuana is more than allowed in some other states, but is the same that is allowed in Oregon, and less than what is permitted in several California counties.

Washington’s rule takes effect Nov. 2.

County coroners say they are taking steps to ensure that infant fatality investigations are as thorough as anywhere in the nation, although Idaho remains the only state with no system for reviewing child deaths.

Coroners from around the state met Friday in Idaho Falls to discuss rules that the Department of Justice is implementing for investigations of suspected sudden infant death syndrome.

In Idaho, coroners are legally responsible for investigating all deaths resulting from violence or under suspicious or unknown circumstances. With an estimated 5,200 cases of SIDS in the United States each year, federal investigators are concerned that some coroners may wrongly be determining SIDS in cases of accidental death, death from abuse, or other causes.

The Idaho Association of Counties’ board of directors voted in April to develop a mandatory training program. Penalties for non-compliance remain undetermined, but officials say county commissioners would likely have the power to replace coroners who don’t get the training.

Between 1997 and 2003, Idaho had a group of doctors, law enforcement officials and others that examined child deaths, but the panel disbanded, partly because it had trouble obtaining medical records after the passage of federal medical privacy legislation. Child death review panels helped create programs on child car safety restraint education, home storage of firearms and canal safety and fencing.

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The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is releasing a video to help police and other emergency workers resolve problems involving mentally ill youth.
The 30-minute training video stems from a classroom training project developed by the department’s Children’s Mental Health Program. It’s designed to help police recognize the signs of mental illness and suicidal tendencies in youth and then talk the youth out of the crisis.
Children’s Mental Health training specialist Stacie Golden says kids with mental health issues shouldn’t be treated like adults, and that the training will help police use an approach that will lead to a peaceful resolution. (AP)

The Idaho Medical Association says the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether some doctors in the state violated federal antitrust laws with how much they charged and by refusing to treat some patients.

The association revealed the investigation to its 2,400 members earlier this month in a memo obtained by the Idaho Statesman.

The association says it has been ordered to turn over records dating to January 2005, and that federal authorities are also investigating the Idaho Industrial Commission. The commission pays doctors to treat patients through its worker’s compensation program.

The association also says the government has demanded records from the Idaho Orthopaedic Society. (AP)

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is releasing a video to help police and other emergency workers resolve problems involving mentally ill youth.

The 30-minute training video stems from a classroom training project developed by the department’s Children’s Mental Health Program. It’s designed to help police recognize the signs of mental illness and suicidal tendencies in youth and then talk the youth out of the crisis.

Health officials say kids with mental health issues shouldn’t be treated like adults, and that the training will help police use an approach that will lead to a peaceful resolution. (AP)

Officials in northern Idaho are warning swimmers to avoid areas where blue-green algae is present.
The Panhandle Health District and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued the warning this week for the algae blooms that occur naturally from late summer until the end of fall.
Officials say some types of the algae can release toxins that can sicken people, pets and livestock.
DEQ says the blooms generally occur in smaller lakes. (AP)

The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s smoking ban applies to private clubs that have employees.

In Thursday’s 5-4 decision, the majority said the law created by Initiative 901 clearly prohibits smoking in workplaces — including private clubs.

American Legion Post 149 in Bremerton sued the state and Kitsap County after it was ordered in 2006 to ban smoking or face prosecution.

The court’s dissent argues that voters never intended to require private clubs to be part of the smoking ban, and the initiative didn’t change the underlying law to include those clubs.

Voters overwhelmingly approved a statewide indoor smoking ban in 2005. Initiative 901 prohibited smoking in bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, minicasinos, most hotel rooms and most other nontribal businesses that had been exempted by the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act, which already banned smoking in most public places.

The post argued that the initiative did not change language in state law that reads the chapter is not intended to restrict smoking in private facilities which are occasionally open to the public except upon the occasions when the facility is open to the public.

But the majority, led by Justice Mary Fairhurst, said that I-901 broadened the prohibition against smoking to include any place of employment. (AP)

A recent report on mental health care systems shows Idaho is one of the lowest ranking states for mental health care nationwide.

The Idaho Legislature funded the study by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which examined the current state of mental health care in Idaho.

The report assessed Idaho’s mental health treatment capacity, cost, eligibility standards and its areas of responsibility in dealing with health care issues.

Health officials say the report shows what mental health professionals already knew: that Idaho doesn’t get enough funding for mental health and substance abuse services. (AP)