MoJ launches inquiry after record number of prison suicides in 2016

The Ministry of Justice has launched an internal inquiry into the mental health backgrounds of prisoners who killed themselves, as new figures are expected to reveal that 2016 was a record high for self-inflicted deaths across prisons in England and Wales.

The justice secretary, Elizabeth Truss, has also ordered more prison staff to be trained as part of the specialist Tornado anti-riot squads after eight serious disturbances and riots broke out in the prison system in the last three months.

The latest quarterly “safety in custody” statistics are expected to confirm the increasingly volatile state of prisons in England and Wales. Self-inflicted deaths are expected to have risen to 113 in 2016, while incidents of self-harm have increased by more than 25%.

If confirmed, the final figure of 113 self-inflicted deaths in 2016 will compare with 89 in 2015 and the previous record high of 96 in 2004.

One key indicator of prison violence – assaults on staff and other inmates – is thought to have risen by more than 33% to an average of 65 a day across the prison system.

Official figures obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the number of incidents requiring the specialist Tornado riot squads to regain control of a prison tripled between 2013 and 2015.

The riot squads, which are specially trained to handle violent disorder, were called out five times in 2013, 16 times in 2014 and 15 times in 2015. The Ministry of Justice has not yet released figures for the Tornado squads for 2016, but recent figures for the deployment of the national tactical response group which deals with more minor incidents including rooftop protests, showed they were being deployed more than 60 times a month last summer.

Truss has told MPs that the existing force of 2,000 Tornado-trained prison staff is being increased “to make sure we can deal with any incidents that arise across our prison estate, particularly while we are building up the strength of our frontline”. An extra 2,500 prison staff are being recruited partially to reverse the deep cuts which have seen 8,000 fewer staff working in prisons over the past six years.

The justice ministry has also launched an internal inquiry following the recent inquest into the death of Dean Saunders, a prisoner at Chelmsford jail, who had mental health problems when he was sent to prison.

Dr Phillip Lee, a junior justice minister, has begun an inquiry into recent deaths in custody to see whether there is a pattern in why they are happening and whether policy changes are needed to the way mental health assessments are conducted in prisons.

Deborah Coles, director of Inquest,said: “This is a complacent response. Dean should never have been in prison in the first place. His death was entirely preventable.

“There have been repeated failures to act on the repeated recommendations arising from investigations, reviews, inspection and monitoring boards. We don’t need more reviews – the evidence is all there. It just needs government to take decisive action.”

Her reaction was supported by the shadow justice secretary, Richard Burgon, who said during a Commons debate that evidence from monitoring boards and inquest juries suggested too many people with mental health problems were in prison. “What needs to happen is that the ministry must ensure the recommendations of such bodies are acted upon,” he said.

Truss told MPs that immediate action was being taken to improve security and stability across the prison system, including the recruitment of 2,500 extra prison officers. She is shortly to introduce a new prison and courts reform bill to transform prisons, reduce reoffending and get prisoners into employment.

MoJ launches inquiry after record number of prison suicides in 2016

2016 was the worst year in NHS history – we must fight for its survival

The last 12 months have been the worst in the history of the NHS. Our health system is under pressure like never before. The moment of crisis many warned of has arrived, and it is not clear that the NHS can be retrieved from this state of affairs.

We used to say that flailing A&Es represented an early warning sign that the health service was under pressure. And so that has proven to be. England’s major A&Es are under record strain with black alerts being regularly sounded, and in some instances wards turning patients away. Last year the A&E crisis spread to other sectors.

Ambulance response times have reached critically low levels, with one third of ambulances failing to meet their targets for life threatening callouts. The acute care sector is bulging with unnecessary admissions particularly from over-75s who are presenting themselves at A&Es when they should be cared for by the social care sector that has suffered £5bn of cuts.

In the community, general practice is on life support; as more is demanded of it, the proportion of the NHS budget that goes to primary care has effectively shrunk. Primary care provides 90% of the consultations in the NHS yet only gets 8% of the budget. GPs are leaving, and new entrants are declining to enter general practice.

We once bickered with the Treasury for clawing back millions in Department of Health underspend under Labour. Under the Tories, that is a distant memory as NHS trusts recorded a deficit in excess of £2bn last year.

A government elected to fix near-bankrupted banks has replaced that by bankrupting our hospitals. Idiotic spending decisions in the NHS have been rife.

The most worrying aspect of the government delivering the lowest additional funding increase to the NHS in its history has been the knock-on effect on patients, in terms of treatment and facilities available. More than 13,000 beds have been closed, cutting the capacity of the NHS by 5 million a year.

So bad was 2016, that nine former health secretaries condemned the government for failing to live up to its promises on mental health.

Commissioners and providers alike have had to resort to rationing care to try to balance their books. Unfortunately, this is not always to the benefit of customers or patients.

As the health service’s budget faces greater pressure than before, it is difficult to ignore the toll the intrusion of the free market has taken. Last year, £13bn of healthcare was purchased from non NHS providers (pdf), a 76% increase since 2010. Given that the private sector has a stated goal to make 8%-14% profits from the NHS, can taxpayers really afford this choice?

While the NHS has increased the cash it takes from the private sector by 30% to £558m last year (pdf), waiting lists have soared to an eight-year high. Now, 4 million patients are on waiting lists. This in effect means NHS patients are being delayed in their treatment to make way for wealthy private patients who can afford to skip the queue.

The pressure on our staff has also reached unprecedented levels. Nurses have seen real-term pay cuts since 2010 of over £2,000. Moreover, aspiring nurses will also be denied a bursary to train and this at a time when unfilled nursing vacancies have climbed 600% since 2010. It will not surprise you to learn that applicants for trainee nursing courses have fallen 20% this year.

Likewise, the pressure on junior doctors remains intense. They too have seen real-term pay cuts, as well as an enforced contract.

It remains impossible to meet the demands of the ill-described seven-day NHS until serious funding issues have been resolved, otherwise we are asking our doctors to shoulder the blame for unsafe care.

The continuing media war Jeremy Hunt has waged against doctors has so depleted workforce morale that there are more doctors wanting to leave the NHS than are in training.

It will take a political will only witnessed twice in the last 70 years, 1948 and 1997, to alter the current trajectory on which the NHS is set. The £22bn of efficiencies (a euphemism for cuts), dressed up as sustainability and transformation plans smacks of what was tried with the Nicholson challenge. The National Audit Office has warned that these efficiencies are not possible without causing lasting damage to the NHS’s ability to provide safe care.

We are at a cliff edge. Do we carry on into the unknown with broken funding promises and more cuts or do we cry foul now, and demand a rethink before it is too late?

Let’s pledge in 2017 to fight for its survival. The NHS belongs to us, not the politicians and not the privateers. We cannot trust the government to be its safe custodian. It’s up to each and every one of us to fight for the NHS, otherwise it won’t be there to look after us, never mind the next generation.

Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to read more about issues like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.

2016 was the worst year in NHS history – we must fight for its survival

Eight charts that show 2016 wasn"t as bad as you think

2016 is likely to be remembered as an annus horribilis for so many reasons that it’s tempting to think everything is doomed.

But things are not always as they seem. There are silver linings. You just have to look hard to find them.

Death in conflict

Overall, 2016 looks set to have slightly fewer deaths through armed conflict than 2015, when 167,000 people died. Hardly numbers to celebrate.

But narrow the focus and pockets of progress can be found. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the death toll from the war with Boko Haram in Nigeria has fallen sharply, as Nigerian government troops retake territory.

Boko Haram. Photograph: AP

“The group’s operational capacity within Nigeria was weakened,” notes Anastasia Voronkova, IISS research fellow for armed conflict. “At least 4,500 civilians held captive by the group were rescued in 2015 alone; another around 5,000 people were freed by June 2016. 2016 fatalities are expected to be noticeably lower than the 11,000 recorded in 2015.”

Nigeria death toll

Death tolls are also expected to be lower from internal conflicts in the Philippines, Myanmar and India, according to the IISS. Mark Rice-Oxley

Emissions

Carbon is flatlining, and our planet has breathing space. After more than a century and a half of nearly unbroken growth, the quantity of greenhouse gases we pour into the atmosphere each year has stalled for the third year running. Burning fossil fuels and chopping down forests released about 40 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide last year, roughly the same amount as in the previous two years.

What is more, this plateau in emissions is taking place against a background of quickening economic growth, showing that increasing prosperity and lifting people out of poverty need not come at the expense of the climate.

A disused mine in Pumarabule, Spain, where the struggling coal mining industry is on its way out. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

These are big reasons to be cheerful, and we need them. We are coming to the end of the hottest year ever recorded. The Arctic ice cap is 20C above its normal winter temperatures, a heating that scientists are calling “literally off the charts”, and may soon result in more rapid melting than anything yet seen. Donald Trump is hellbent on destroying the Paris agreement, boosting the coal industry and defunding Nasa’s ground-breaking climate research in favour of sending people into space. But at least our global warming emissions are abating. It has only taken 25 years to achieve.

Carbon emissions

Stalling emissions should also spell better health, because coal burning in particular pollutes the air with lung-shredding particles and choking chemicals. Finished celebrating? Good. There’s work to do. Flatlining emissions are not enough. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are still at the highest levels since humans first walked the earth. That invisible stock of carbon in the air is what causes warming, so even if we stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow the climate would continue to change because of the greenhouse gases already there.

We are not going to stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, and emissions need to come down by as much as 80% to have a chance of keeping warming under control. That will take decades. Every molecule of carbon dioxide we release stays in the air for up to 100 years, all the while trapping heat on the planet’s surface. Every tonne of carbon emitted puts the goal of halting climate change just a bit further out of reach. We are not out of the rapidly dwindling woods yet.

For now, we still have a chance of saving the planet from runaway warming, if we act fast to save energy and invest in clean sources. So cheer the carbon slowdown and put up more windmills. Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent

Crime

While violent crime ticked up in the UK in 2016, the overall level of offences continued its long-term decline to the lowest level since 1981. The Office for National Statistics said there were an estimated 6.5m incidents in the year to June 2016.

crime

Various reasons are given for the long-term decline: better security against car and home theft, the drop in the jobless claimant count and a broader sociological shift towards greater civility in richer countries.

Cybercrime. Photograph: Cultura/Rex/Shutterstock

But police also report a rise in the number of reported rapes, while hate crime increased after the Brexit referendum in June and cybercrime poses an ever greater threat.

Connectivity

Connectivity is taken for granted in the western world, where smartphone and internet use rise inexorably year on year.

Now there are strong signs that this take-up is at last being mirrored in poorer parts of the world, with positive outcomes for growth, health and democratic participation.

Africa in particular is experiencing the sharpest growth anywhere of smartphone proliferation: by 2020 there will be more than 700m smartphone connections in Africa – more than twice the projected number in North America, according to GSMA, an association of phone operators. In Nigeria alone in 2016, an estimated 16 smartphones are sold every minute.

smartphones

The mobile industry will account for 8% of GDP by 2020 – double what it will be in the rest of the world. And internet penetration is rising faster than anywhere else as costs of data and devices fall.

Population

Could 2016 go down as the year that the great global population surge finally showed signs of slowing?

The number of people around the world increases by about 80 million every year, and forecasts predict that the global population will continue to mount through this century, to hit about 11 billion people by 2100.

But much depends on behaviour and attitudes in parts of the world that have yet to experience the sudden drop in birthrates that swept across rich countries in the three decades after the second world war.

In January, the latest figures published by the UN showed more women than ever are now using some form of contraception. Some 64% of women aged between 15 and 49 who are married or living with a partner are now using traditional or modern forms of family planning, up from 36% in 1970.

Contraception

Poorer regions of the world – particularly Asia and Africa, where access to contraception has been a barrier to development – have witnessed the fastest pace of growth. The UN predicts that Africa, a continent with the largest demand for contraceptives but the worst access to services, will record the highest rates of growth over the next 15 years.

In November, the Family Planning 2020 initiative reported that the number of women using contraceptives in its 69 target countries had leapt by 30 million in the past four years alone.

A reproductive health volunteer gives a condom demonstration to a young family in Kasese, Uganda. Photograph: Jake Lyell/Alamy

This is not only good news for women and their families: the increase in family planning could cut projections of population growth by as much as 1 billion over the coming years. Jagdish Upadhyay, of the UN population fund, said if by 2030 the average family size was down by the equivalent of one child, then by 2030 the world population would be approximately 8 billion rather than 9 billion. Liz Ford

Homicide

Murder rates have been in decline in western democracies for years, but had persisted at stubbornly high levels in parts of central America. However, 2016 could go down as a good year in El Salvador, for years one of the most murderous places in the world.

The July-September period produced a year-on-year drop in homicides of almost 50%, according to data gathered for the Guardian by the IISS.

Death toll

“This decline can be attributed to the government’s tightened security policies at prisons, the creation of a new paramilitary force comprising 600 members of the military and 400 police officers, as well as a negotiated truce between the leaders of the three main gangs,” said Anastasia Voronkova at the IISS.

Gang members are escorted after their arrival at the maximum security prison in Zacatecoluca El Salvador. Photograph: Marvin Recinos/AFP/Getty Images

“The timing of the announcement by the gangs seemed to match the downward homicide trend: homicides fell by 42% in April 2016 in comparison with March [from 611 to 353], and have remained stable since then.”

Disease

The standout news in 2016 was that Sri Lanka had become the latest country to be declared malaria free. More than 30 countries that are collectively home to some 2 billion people are hopeful that they might follow suit in the next four years.

Malaria

The task of reducing the toll of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 90% of cases and 92% of deaths, is hard and needs more resources. But 2016 brought good news from other quarters: the World Health Organisation declared that measles had been eradicated from the Americas; death rates fell in the developed world from some forms of cancer, and the number of people getting Aids treatments continued to rise, from negligible levels in 2000 towards a target of 30m by 2020.

The global assault on infectious diseases has led to ever longer lifespans: life expectancy is on average 10 years longer in 2016 than it was in 1980.

Poverty

The number of people living in extreme poverty has yet to be estimated for 2016, but the long-term trend is a happy one, describing steep decline.

Numbers have more than halved since 1993, despite a growth in the world population of almost 1.9 billion.

Poverty

Statistically, as economies grow and middle classes expand, almost 50 million people escape poverty every year in net terms — a population equivalent to Colombia or Korea. Put even more simply, every single day over the past 25 years, the number of people living in extreme poverty has declined by 137,000.

According to the newest figures, the east Asia and Pacific region accounted for the greatest reduction in extreme poverty over the 23-year measuring period, based on a $ 1.90-per-day poverty line.

In just one year alone – 2012 to 2013 – the number of poor in east Asia and the Pacific declined by 71 million, while in south Asia the number of poor dropped by 37 million.

Declining poverty in extreme terms has shown significant regional fluctuations, however. In 2013, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for nearly 51% of the global poor (389m people), but in 1990, it was east Asia and the Pacific that accounted for half of the global poor.

While the UN aims to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, the World Bank report warns that economic growth has to be more equally distributed – in other words, the rich can’t keep getting richer – and says that extreme poverty trends depend on the economic success of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Eight charts that show 2016 wasn"t as bad as you think

Guardian Public Service Awards 2016 health and wellbeing winner: Deventio Housing Trust

“Quite often people are in hospital and they’ve got nothing: no food, no clothes, no toiletries,” says Kate Gillespie, Derventio Housing Trust’s strategic lead for its Healthy Futures initiative. “We get all that sorted out, so people at least have a bit of dignity when they are discharged.”

That’s just the start of the scheme’s work with homeless people due to leave hospital. Many have multiple, complex needs, such as mental health problems and addictions, and are trapped in a vicious cycle of ongoing health issues and repeat admissions.

Over a 12-week period, staff work intensively to find housing for patients, settle them into their new homes and help them live independently – while making better use of primary care, rather than relying disproportionately on acute services.

“Sometimes it’s because they don’t manage their health, so they actually get ill enough to need to go in [to hospital] all of those times,” Gillespie says. “We’ve also got people who are going in because it’s their social contact. They’re so isolated that the only kind of love and nurture they get is a trip to A&E, where they get a sandwich and a cup of tea and a ‘there, there’ from the nurses. When someone has nothing else they’re going to keep coming back for it.

“It’s like they’ve got a dependency on acute care. We transfer that dependency to us, and then take the time to wean them off it. If we get someone who’s in A&E three times a week, the next step down from that is a walk-in centre. Then their GP, then the pharmacy.”

Healthy Futures, which also offers brief interventions to help with the timely discharge of inpatients with less complex housing and support needs, has worked with more than 330 patients since it began in October 2013. Some 170 patients have received ongoing community-based support.

In the six months before becoming Healthy Futures clients, those patients had been admitted to acute beds on 487 occasions, had gone to A&E 616 times, and had called 999 and been taken there by an ambulance 364 times.

The project has led to an 88% fall in avoidable admissions of clients, a 90% drop in clients’ visits to A&E, and 84% fewer 999 ambulance transfers. Hospital stays have also been cut by an average of 16 days. Two thirds of patients felt their physical health had improved, and the same proportion reported better mental health.

Healthy Futures’ achievements come despite working in a climate of cuts to adult social care, at a time when finding housing is harder than ever. Key to getting funding has been its use of robust data proving its impact and efficiency. Patients give consent for their health records to be accessed, so their use of acute care before working with the project can be tracked – and commissioners can clearly see the positive effect.

Great staff are also vital, Gillespie says. “They’re just amazingly capable and patient and resourceful. I’m immensely proud of them.”

Guardian Public Service Awards 2016 health and wellbeing winner: Deventio Housing Trust

London and the chancellor"s 2016 autumn statement

Look at it this way: UK economic growth is slowing, public borrowing will be higher than expected and the government no longer thinks it can balance the budget by 2020. Much of this is down to Brexit. Good old Boris. We’ve got our country back. Now we are free to scavenge for consolations from an autumn statement that seeks to limit the damage done by the referendum outcome, including in resilient London, the Remain City on which Leave Nation may depend more heavily than ever in the worrying years to come.

Chancellor Philip Hammond remarked that “for too long, economic growth in our country has been too concentrated in London and the south-east”. True, but that is also what you would say to a British euroscepticism that often goes hand-in-hand with hostility towards the capital. And though Hammond gave London’s mayor, its boroughs and its politicians of almost every type nothing like the transformative devolution package they desire, he did do some things to suggest that the government grasps that it cannot afford to ignore the capital’s pleas for more autonomy. He also observed that it is “one of the highest productivity cities in the world”, with Britain’s other big urban centres lagging far behind.

Sadiq Khan has been fairly positive about what Hammond announced, no doubt partly sincerely but also very mindful that his City Hall looks like having to keep on doing business with Conservative governments for at least as long as Jeremy Corbyn leads the Labour Party. He offered the glass-half-full view that the chancellor’s measures are “the first steps towards a major devolution deal for the capital”. In her own words, so did London Councils chair Claire Kober. We’ll see.

Top of the mayor’s thank you list for now is the £3.15bn the Greater London Authority will receive to help start the building of over 90,000 “affordable” homes by financial year 2020-21. As a single sum, this is the largest yet devolved to a London mayor, though the headline figure is slightly misleading in that it partly confirms funds already agreed as well as including an additional settlement for the future, covering the rest of Khan’s mayoral term.

Essentially, City Hall’s share of national spending on housing has been renegotiated and, in all, the capital has now got over £2bn more heading its way than it had before. It’s what the mayor was hoping for, and gives Khan and his team not only more cash but also – thanks to their new best friend, housing and London minister Gavin Barwell – greater flexibility to fund a range of what the mayor describes as “new homes for low cost rent, London Living Rent and shared ownership”. But hear the silence where even Boris Johnson once called for councils to be given more leeway to borrow to build for social rent. A lost cause, for now, it seems.

Hammond has also said he will devolve the adult education budget to London government from 2019-20, something else London politicians of more than one party have been in favour of for some time. The same goes for the transfer of the budget for the work and health programme – forthcoming successor to the plain old work programme – to London subject to “meeting certain conditions” (the same arrangement has been made for Greater Manchester, by the way). This should enable London’s boroughs to better help the 19,000 hard-up households to be pinched by the benefit cap. Whitehall, though, is holding on to the money for 16-18 year old skills training. London would like that too.

Khan has also welcomed further investment – to the tune of £492m to London and the south-east combined – in the London local enterprise panel, through which the mayor, businesses, the boroughs and Transport for London (TfL) collaborate on facilitating employment and growth and he expressed approval for a £1bn nationwide fund for digital infrastructure. Like Shelter’s Kate Webb, he was pleased by the abolition of letting agency fees (and I gather that City Hall is considering what that means for the mayor’s own, planned not-for-profit lettings agency). But he’s expressed disappointment that nothing was done to make childcare in London more affordable and that control over south London suburban rail is not to be handed down to TfL, though in the latter case he might not be much surprised.

Crossrail 2? Nothing doing. Hammond put Birmingham and the “Northern Powerhouse” first, but at least invited capital to produce its business case, which the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry says it is pleased about. Nothing much for London’s GPs and patients either, according to Michelle Drage of their representative body, which says that 35 practices have closed in the capital in the past 12 months and 45 since the last general election. Add to that the complete absence of help across the UK for NHS and social care services as a whole and the outlook for London as it wrestles with the latest reform programme has not been brightened. Meanwhile, local government in general continues to be savaged by cuts. Devolution is good. Pity it sometimes looks like the only way London can make the best of a bad national job.

London and the chancellor"s 2016 autumn statement

2016 Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen- Most & Least Pesticide Contaminated Fruits & Vegetables

If you’re looking fresh fruit and vegetables for this season, it would be better to look at this year’s 2016 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen – a list of Environmental Working Group (EWG’s). If you’re eating any fruit and vegetables, you may be ingesting 146 pesticides, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group.

 2016 Dirty Dozen

Strawberries
Apples
Nectarines
Peaches
Celery
Grapes
Cherries
Spinach
Tomatoes
Sweet bell peppers
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumbers

2016 Dirty Dozen Key Findings-:

-More than 98% of strawberry, peaches, nectarines, and apples tested positive for at least one pesticide residue.
-The average potato had more pesticides by weight than any other produce.
-Single grape and a sweet bell pepper sample contained with 15 pesticides.
-Strawberries showed upto 17 different pesticides.

Health Risks of Pesticides

Pesticides are toxic and different pesticides have been linked to a variety disease, including hormone disruption, cancer and brain toxicity, respiratory problems, memory disorders, skin conditions, depression, birth defects and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

EWG’s Clean Fifteen list of produce least likely to hold pesticide residues.

2016 Clean Fifteen:

Avocados
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Cabbage
Sweet peas
Onions
Asparagus
Mangoes
Papayas
Kiwi
Eggplant
Honeydew Melon
Grapefruit
Cantaloupe
Cauliflower

Clean Fifteen Key findings-:

-Avocados were the only 1% of avocado samples showed any pesticides.
-89% of pineapples, 81% of papayas, 78% of mangoes, 73% of kiwi and 62% of cantaloupes had no pesticides.
-No fruit from the Clean Fifteen tested positive for more than 4 types of pesticides.
-Multiple pesticide residues are extremely rare on Clean Fifteen.

Can Pesticides Be Washed Away?

No, not entirely. According to the National Pesticide Information Center, washing fruit and vegetables doesn’t completely remove pesticide. Also, although some pesticides are found on the surface of foods, other taken up through the roots and into the plant and cannot be removed. If pesticides are present on the surfaces of your fruits and vegetables, you can remove a substantial amount of those surface pesticides.

Sources:

–https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php

–https://draxe.com/2016-dirty-dozen/

–http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-13571/12-fruits-veggies-with-the-most-pesticides-2014-dirty-dozen.html

Read More Articles:

2016 Dirty Dozen & Clean Fifteen- Most & Least Pesticide Contaminated Fruits & Vegetables

Canada reaffirms their efforts to legalize marijuana in 2016!

A recent Gallup poll suggests that 58 % of American’s feel that marijuana use ought to be created legal in the United States. (one)  For U.S. citizens the battle continues although Canada is creating headlines in their hard work to legalize marijuana.

Fifty-eight percent of U.S. citizen’s think marijuana must be created legal!

New Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has affirmed that the administration continues to make movement to legalize marijuana given that the parliament resumed.  In a speech offered on December 4th , Governor Basic, David Johnston, mentioned that the new liberal government would make recreational use of marijuana legal but it would also regulate and restrict accessibility.  (2)
Johnston reported that getting rid of the “criminal element” of marijuana would assist repair a broken method.  (two)

Canada could turn out to be very first nation in G7 group to legalize marijuana!

Due to these efforts, Canada could turn into the very first country in the G7 group to legalize marijuana.  The Prime Minister manufactured globe information due to his place on marijuana and has not wavered from this place given that turning into the leader of the Liberal celebration.  Trudeau’s position on marijuana is influenced by the fate of his late brother, who was charged with drug possession for getting “a tiny amount” of marijuana.  His brother died in 1998 due to an avalanche. (3)

Trudeau’s stance on marijuna is influenced by his late brother who was charged with drug possession for having a “tiny amount” of marijuana on his man or woman

Currently healthcare marijuana is legal to use in Canada in dried and edible varieties as long as it is not smoked.  Growing cannabis at property is also legal.  (three)
The government is also planning to reduce taxes for citizens with middle earnings and supply higher child positive aspects to those in need.  They also prepare to reduce military paying and restrict the spending budget deficit to ten billion Canadian dollars per 12 months and decrease greenhouse fuel emissions.  (three)

Sources integrated:

(one) http://www.gallup.com/poll/186260/back-legal-marijuana.aspx

(two)http://time.com/4137644/canadian-prime-minister-reaffirms-prepare-to-legalize-marijuana/

(three) https://www.rt.com/news/324870-canada-government-legalize-marijuana/

Canada reaffirms their efforts to legalize marijuana in 2016!

2016 Honda Pilot: Prime Safety Engineering Earns Pilot a Top Security Rating

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VideoWhile Honda has constantly had a robust dedication to engineering and creating secure autos, it wasn&rsquot right up until a current journey to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) facility in Virginia that we saw why Honda is so passionate about car safety. This trip permitted journalists to observe, live and [...]

2016 Honda Pilot: Prime Safety Engineering Earns Pilot a Top Security Rating

US bakery giant Panera to swear off artificial substances by 2016

Panera says it will get rid of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives from its foods by 2016, a reflection of the developing distaste people are exhibiting for this kind of elements.

The chain of bakery cafes, which has about 1,800 US areas, is producing the pledge as element of a “Foods Policy” it is unveiling Tuesday that outlines its dedication to “clean” and “simple” substances.

The announcement comes at a time when Panera Bread Co is facing slowing sales growth and functioning to jumpstart its organization through a selection of indicates, this kind of as revamping the occasionally complicated way folks order and get foods and switching baking hours to the daytime to develop a homier truly feel in cafes.

The unveiling of Panera’s sweeping “Meals Policy” also underscores how positioning food items as natural has turn out to be a advertising benefit, irrespective of regardless of whether it brings any dietary positive aspects. Element of the attraction for consumers is that they come to feel far better about what they’re consuming, often because they don’t truly feel as guilty about how several calories they are consuming.

Chipotle, for instance, has acquired in reputation in portion by portraying itself as a a lot more wholesome different to classic rapidly-food chains like McDonald’s. Even Subway not too long ago said it would quit making use of azodicarbonamide in its breads. The ingredient was dubbed the “yoga mat” chemical right after a petition by Vani Hari, who runs FoodBabe.com, noted it was utilized to make yoga mats.

Still, declaring food items as getting organic or free of charge of artificial substances has the potential to invite criticism and even legal troubles. A lawsuit filed in November, for instance, alleges that Entire Meals Marketplace employs a “spectacular array” of artificial substances in some of its shop-brand goods, despite the grocer’s promise that the items have “nothing at all artificial.”

Panera also is not swearing off genetically modified components, yet another problem that is gaining consideration in certain circles. As opposed to Chipotle, which says its menu will quickly be free of charge of GMOs, Panera makes use of as well numerous various elements to be ready to make that declare. And neither chain has any ideas to end promoting fountain sodas from Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, even even though the drinks are sweetened with substantial fructose corn syrup.

As for the rest of its menu, Panera says it is about halfway by means of the removal of artificial elements. It’s nevertheless looking for techniques to removes the artificial colors used in its bakery icings, for instance, and is testing a smoked ham in select markets that isn’t going to use artificial preservatives.

“We made a decision it was time to put all this into a clear and concise policy,” Ron Shaich, Panera’s founder and CEO, explained in an interview.

Ten years in the past, for instance, Panera announced that it would use chicken raised without having antibiotics, a move Shaich said assisted drastically drive product sales.

Panera’s new policy also states the chain’s commitment to “transparency,” that means it will make it straightforward for individuals to see the components and nutritional content material of its meals. It also says it will work to have a “good affect” on the meals method, this kind of as by supporting North American suppliers every time feasible.

Regardless of whether the new policy assists entice much more clients is yet to be seen.

Last yr, Panera’s sales rose 2.six% at firm-owned locations open at least a yr. That was down from 6.5% in 2012 and four.9 % in 2011.

This yr, the St Louis-primarily based firm is forecasting product sales development of two to 3.five%.

US bakery giant Panera to swear off artificial substances by 2016

Did 2016 GOP Contender Indiana Governor Mike Pence Just Embrace ObamaCare"s Medicaid Growth?

Co-authored by Jonathan Ingram and Christie Herrera

Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) announced his prepare to apply ObamaCare’s Medicaid growth. (Waiver request) Fearing push-back from merely expanding a broken system, begun by Mitch Daniels, labeling his expansion strategy “Healthy Indiana Strategy two..” Time will inform if he has a particular connection with the Centers for Medicare &amp Medicaid Providers (CMS) to get his HIP two. approved in full, but current historical past would recommend otherwise. Even though the rhetoric of state-certain “flexibility” for Medicaid expansions has been heavy in Arkansas and Iowa , the fine print has unveiled a extremely diverse story. What people states have been left with after negotiating with CMS was an ObamaCare Medicaid growth with some free-market window dressing. Gov. Pence and Indiana legislators must not make this very same blunder.

Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) (Photograph credit: Jesse Wilson, TheStatehouseFile.com)

HIP two. Is Medicaid Growth

Now in its seventh yr of operation, the Healthy Indiana Prepare presently extends wellness coverage to all Hoosiers earning up to a hundred% of the federal poverty degree (FPL). In contrast to traditional entitlement packages, enrollment in the Healthy Indiana Strategy is capped, primarily based on offered funding. HIP two. will take away people provisions and raise eligibility up to 138 percent FPL.

The plan also includes Individual Wellness and Accountability (Power) accounts, which operates similarly to a Well being Savings Account (HSA).

Promotional supplies try to evaluate HIP 2. with Indiana’s substantial achievement with state-employee Health Cost savings Accounts (HSAs). But there is a stark difference between a genuine HSA, which requires premiums to be paid and underneath which Indiana state staff fund 55-73 % of their HSAs, and HIP 2.0’s Energy Accounts, in which taxpayers foot the bill for 88-a hundred% of account contributions.

When it comes to correct customer-driven health ideas, Milton Friedman’s adage comes to thoughts: “Nobody spends someone else’s funds as meticulously as he spends his personal.”

Health policy observers on the right have prolonged debated the merits of the authentic Healthy Indiana Plan. For conservative supporters of Healthy Indiana, one particular glaring point remains. Any CMS-accepted Medicaid growth proposal will likely gut the essential components of the original Healthier Indiana Plan—relegating Gov. Pence’s HIP two. to Medicaid expansion by yet another identify.

Consider the following:

Governor Pence’s Proposal Generates A New Entitlement For Ready-Bodied Adults Without having Youngsters.

Though a little variety of childless adults previously experienced for the Healthful Indiana Prepare, their enrollment was often subject to offered money from other Medicaid financial savings initiatives. The plan capped the amount of childless grownups who could enroll at 36,500. Gov. Pence’s new prepare turns that tiny, limited system into a substantial new entitlement for childless adults.

Under HIP 2., more than 284,000 in a position-bodied childless adults (and 91,000 mother and father) will grow to be eligible for Medicaid expansion, an boost of practically 700 %. And unlike the Healthy Indiana Program, there is no cap on enrollment, obligating the state to offer rewards to these men and women regardless of the availability of money.

Governor Pence’s Proposal Increases Medicaid Eligibility Under ObamaCare.

Presently, the Healthier Indiana Program only serves individuals earning under the federal poverty level, even though it when served men and women with greater incomes. HIP 2. not only lifts the enrollment cap, it also increases the Indiana Medicaid eligibility from a hundred % to 138 percent FPL. Additionally, folks earning far more than one hundred % FPL are at the moment eligible for subsidies through the ObamaCare exchange. They would be forced out of the exchange and into Medicaid underneath Gov. Pence’s proposal.

Governor Pence’s Proposal Lowers Skin-In-The-Game And Incentivizes Costly ER-Use.

The Wholesome Indiana Strategy needs contributions ranging from 2% to five% of income, with a minimum contribution of $ 160 per year. The prepare also attempts to incentivize childless adult sufferers to avoid employing ERs for non-urgent demands by imposing a $ 25 copayment. These contribution and incentive provisions have extended been celebrated by Wholesome Indiana Strategy advocates.

HIP two., however, tremendously minimizes the necessary contributions, giving enrollees much less skin-in-the-game. In truth, these regular monthly contributions are totally eradicated for 3-quarters of the expansion population if they select the “Basic” program alternative and are as low as $ 3 per month for “Plus” plans that consist of all Medicaid positive aspects, plus added benefits like dental and vision coverage.

HIP 2. also reduces some copayments for needless ER use to just $ eight, however it attempts to preserve the $ 25 copay in some situations. But CMS recently rejected Iowa’s proposal to enhance its ER copay to $ 10, so the last deal will probably scuttle the $ 25 copayment altogether, imposing only the nominal $ 8 copayment currently allowed by Medicaid principles. Minimizing this copayment to nominal quantities will absolutely incentivize enrollees to make pointless ER visits more than they would below the Healthful Indiana Plan’s initial layout.

Governor Pence’s Proposal Crowds Out Personal Insurance.

Underneath the authentic style of the Wholesome Indiana Strategy, individuals could only turn out to be eligible if they had been uninsured for at least six months and with no access to employer-sponsored insurance. These needs are nowhere to be identified in HIP two., ensuring that taxpayers will be forced to select up the cost of individuals who drop personal insurance to enroll in taxpayer-paid Medicaid, as has took place in other states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility. Gov. Pence’s proposal also shifts individuals who qualify for subsidies in the ObamaCare exchange into Indiana’s Medicaid program, rising crowd-out even further.

Did 2016 GOP Contender Indiana Governor Mike Pence Just Embrace ObamaCare"s Medicaid Growth?

Did 2016 GOP Contender Indiana Governor Mike Pence Just Embrace ObamaCare"s Medicaid Growth?

Co-authored by Jonathan Ingram and Christie Herrera

Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) announced his prepare to apply ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion. (Waiver request) Fearing push-back from simply expanding a broken plan, Gov. Pence has tried to cover his ObamaCare expansion prepare with the veneer of the Healthful Indiana Program stewarded by Mitch Daniels, labeling his expansion prepare “Healthy Indiana Strategy 2..” Governor Pence has been a sturdy advocate towards ObamaCare and its a single-dimension-fits-none approach for expanding coverage. Time will tell if he has a specific connection with CMS to get his HIP 2. accepted in complete, but latest background would suggest otherwise. Although the rhetoric of state-specific “flexibility” for Medicaid expansions has been heavy in Arkansas and Iowa , the fine print has uncovered a really diverse story. What these states have been left with after negotiating with CMS was an ObamaCare Medicaid growth with some free of charge-industry window dressing. Gov. Pence and Indiana legislators need to not make this same error. The greatest program of action is to walk away from any Medicaid growth proposal as the Obama administration has shown itself unwilling to grant accurate state versatility.

Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) (Photo credit: Jesse Wilson, TheStatehouseFile.com)

HIP two. Is Medicaid Expansion

Well being policy observers on the right have long debated the merits of the authentic Healthier Indiana Plan. Now in its seventh yr of operation, the Healthier Indiana Prepare currently extends health coverage to all Hoosiers earning up to 100% of the federal poverty degree (FPL). Unlike standard entitlement packages, enrollment in the Healthy Indiana Strategy is capped, based on available funding. HIP two. will get rid of these provisions and raise eligibility up to 138 % FPL.

It should be mentioned, Indiana has had significant success with consumer driven wellness reform for state-employee with state money, which calls for premiums to be paid and beneath which personnel contribute 55-73 percent of their HSAs.

Nevertheless, These programs ought to not be conflated with HIP 2. as they consist of crucial differences. One glaring stage stays. Any CMS-accredited Medicaid growth strategy will most likely gut the vital components of the original Healthy Indiana Plan—relegating Gov. Pence’s proposal to Medicaid expansion by yet another name.

Contemplate the following:

Proposal Generates A New Entitlement For Ready-Bodied Adults With out Children.

Despite the fact that a small number of childless grownups previously competent for the Wholesome Indiana Plan, their enrollment was always subject to accessible money from other Medicaid cost savings initiatives. The plan capped the quantity of childless adults who could enroll at 36,500. Gov. Pence’s new strategy turns that small, restricted system into a enormous new entitlement for childless adults. A lot more than 284,000 capable-bodied childless grownups (and 91,000 dad and mom) will become eligible for Medicaid expansion, an improve of virtually 700%. And not like the Healthful Indiana Strategy, there is no cap on enrollment, obligating the state to offer positive aspects to individuals individuals regardless of the availability of funds.

Proposal Increases Medicaid Eligibility Below ObamaCare.

Currently, the Healthful Indiana Strategy only serves folks earning under the federal poverty degree, however it once served folks with greater incomes. Gov. Pence’s ObamaCare expansion proposal not only lifted the enrollment cap, it also increased the eligibility threshold from a hundred% to 138% FPL. Folks earning much more than one hundred% FPL are presently eligible for subsidies via the ObamaCare exchange. They would be forced out of the exchange and into Medicaid beneath Gov. Pence’s proposal.

Proposal Reduces Skin-In-The-Game And Incentivizes Costly ER-Use.

The Healthy Indiana Prepare requires contributions ranging from 2% to 5% of earnings, with a minimal contribution of $ 160 per year. The prepare also attempts to incentivize childless grownup patients to steer clear of making use of ERs for non-urgent requirements by imposing a $ 25 copayment. These contribution and incentive provisions have lengthy been celebrated by Wholesome Indiana Program advocates. Gov. Pence’s prepare, nevertheless, tremendously lowers the required contributions, giving enrollees less skin-in-the-game. In truth, these regular monthly contributions are completely eliminated for 3-quarters of the expansion population if they pick the “Basic” strategy option and are as reduced as $ three per month for strategies that consist of further positive aspects like dental and vision coverage. Pence’s plan also reduces some copayments for pointless ER use to just $ 8, although it attempts to preserve the $ 25 copay in some conditions. Based mostly on what CMS has denied in the previous, the last deal will very likely substitute the $ 25 copayment altogether, imposing only the nominal $ 8 copayment currently allowed by Medicaid principles. Right after all, if CMS rejected Iowa’s proposal to enhance this copayment to $ 10, it is unlikely Pence’s program would be able to hold the $ 25 copayment whatsoever. Decreasing this copayment to nominal quantities will certainly incentivize enrollees to make pointless ER visits more than they would underneath the Healthy Indiana Plan’s original style.

Proposal Crowds Out Personal Insurance coverage.

Under the original design of the Healthy Indiana Strategy, folks could only become eligible if they had been uninsured for at least six months and with out access to employer-sponsored insurance. These needs are nowhere to be located in Gov. Pence’s proposal, ensuring that taxpayers will be forced to choose up the price of individuals who drop private insurance coverage to enroll in taxpayer-paid Medicaid, as has took place in other states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility. Gov. Pence’s proposal also shifts men and women who qualify for subsidies in the ObamaCare exchange into Indiana’s Medicaid system, growing crowd-out even additional.

Did 2016 GOP Contender Indiana Governor Mike Pence Just Embrace ObamaCare"s Medicaid Growth?