opiods

Stopping opioid addiction at one key source: The hospital

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It may not be rocket science, but a group of surgeons at the University of Michigan’s Michigan Medicine have devised a strategy to curb the nation’s opioid epidemic — starting at their own hospital. Their findings appeared online Wednesday in the journal JAMA Surgery. Opioid addiction has been deemed a “national emergency.” It’s estimated to have claimed 64,000 lives in 2016 alone. And research shows that post-surgical patients are at an increased risk of addiction because of the medication they receive to help manage pain during recovery. This story originally appeared at Kaiser Health News.

Quick Reads

AG asks Supreme Court to let states tax internet sales

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New Mexico’s Attorney General is joining with others who say the state should be able to collect sales or gross receipts taxes on all internet sales. Hector Balderas announced Monday that he filed an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief in a case challenging a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision. In all, 36 attorneys general from 35 states and the District of Columbia signed onto the brief, led by Colorado AG Cynthia H.Coffman. That decision, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, was aimed at determining whether a state could collect taxes on sales originating from a company with no physical presence, or “nexus,” in that state.

2017 legislative session

Proposal aims to close campaign donation loophole

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A legislator from Santa Fe County is proposing to close a loophole in the state’s campaign finance law that allows state lawmakers to accept campaign donations while they are in session. State law bans state representatives, senators and candidates for the Legislature from raising money from Jan. 1 until they adjourn. But the statute only prohibits soliciting contributions. It says nothing about legislators accepting money.