The Health News USA January 15 2018

• The CDC said in its weekly update on the annual flu epidemic that influenza is peaking at the same time across virtually the whole United States, making for a “very active” flu season. Anywhere between 140,000 and 710,000 people in the U.S. go to the hospital every year with flu and 12,000 to 56,000 people die from it, depending on the season.
• Health officials in a Florida county are calling attention to an alarming increase in opioid overdoses and deaths. According to medical provider Lee Health, Lee County on Florida’s Gulf Coast saw 955 cases in 2017, eight times more than the 171 overdoses reported in 2013. Florida Gov. Rick Scott and President Donald Trump have declared the rise in deaths and overdoses state and national emergencies.
• Cannabis industry analysts predict that legalizing marijuana at the federal level could earn the government up to $132 billion in tax revenue and create more than a million new jobs by 2025. California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996 , paving the way for twenty eight others and D.C. to pass similar laws in the decades since.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 15th of January 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/flu-season-hitting-its-peak-cdc-says-n837201

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly update on the annual flu epidemic that influenza is peaking at the same time across virtually the whole United States, making for a “very active” flu season. Doctor Daniel Jernigan said of the CDC said  “Flu is everywhere in the U.S. right now. There’s lots of flu in lots of places.”

Flu rates were about doubled this past week over the week before. Doctor Jernigan said that the season is shaping up to be severe, but so far is not setting any records. The virus has already killed twenty children and is sending many people into hospitals and emergency rooms. Some emergency rooms in several states have reported they are crowded and a few schools have closed, as happens almost every year, to help let local epidemics burn out.

Anywhere between one hundred forty thousand and seven hundred ten thousand people in the U.S. go to the hospital every year with flu and twelve thousand to fifty six thousand people die from it, depending on the season. Worst hit are the very young, the very old, and people with coexisting medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease. But flu can also kill perfectly healthy adults and children.

Each flu season is different and it’s hard to compare one to another, but Jernigan said this season seems a little less severe than the two thousand fourteen and two thousand fifteen flu season. Several flu strains circulate in any given season and this year, HthreeNtwo, HoneNone and two strains of influenza B are circulating. Right now, HthreeNtwo is the most common strain in the U.S. The CDC said that flu strains mutate a little constantly but the HthreeNtwo now spreading is not a new mutant. The current vaccines on the market protect against all four of the most common strains.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/article194632754.html

Health officials in a Florida county are calling attention to an alarming increase in opioid overdoses and deaths. According to medical provider Lee Health, Lee County on Florida’s Gulf Coast saw nine hundred fifty five cases in two thousand seventeen, eight times more than the one hundred seventy one overdoses reported in two thousand thirteen.

The News-Press reported that street drug heroin and fentanyl deaths accounted for sixty one deaths in two thousand sixteen in the Fort Myers area, while in Naples, they accounted for twenty seven deaths. Nearby Port Charlotte had eight deaths. In all of Florida, the opioid epidemic claimed five thousand seven hundred twenty five deaths in two thousand sixteen, a thirty five percent increase from the four thousand two hundred forty two Florida deaths in 2015 two thousand fifteen, according to a Florida Medical Examiners report.

Florida Governor Rick Scott and President Donald Trump have declared the rise in deaths and overdoses state and national emergencies.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/12/marijuana-legalization-could-generate-132-billion/

Cannabis industry analysts predict that legalizing marijuana at the federal level could earn the government up to one hundred thirty two billion dollars in tax revenue and create more than a million new jobs by two thousand twenty five.

Marijuana is currently legal to varying degrees in twenty nine states and Washington, D.C., and combined their existing cannabis markets are expected to be worth more than twenty four billion dollars by two thousand twenty five. The plant remains illegal under federal law, however, effectively preventing Uncle Sam from filling his coffers with any weed-related tax revenue despite pot’s potential to make bank.

Combined with projected payroll and sales taxes, New Frontier, an industry analytics firm calculated that the government could earn approximately one hundred thirty one point eight billion dollars in cannabis-related tax revenue by two thousand twenty five.

Marijuana legalization also stands to create roughly one point one million jobs during the next decade, including positions encompassing every aspect of the industry from seed to store, according to New Frontier. California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in nineteen ninety six, paving the way for twenty eight others and D.C. to pass similar laws in the decades since.

Seventy percent of Americans voters are opposed to the federal government interfering in states with legal weed laws, and fifty eight percent of voters said the plant should be federally legalized, according to the results of a Quinnipiac University poll published this week.