• District of Columbia: DOJ last week submitted a rulemaking notice to change marijuana's legal status from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. Although reclassifying marijuana would not decriminalize the drug, it will be considered a lower-risk drug than before. This decision would also allow federal scientists to research and study marijuana's potential medical benefits for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was implemented in 1971. Pharmaceutical companies would also be able to sell and distribute medical marijuana in states where it's legal. In a video posted online, President Joe Biden said the decision to reclassify marijuana was "monumental" and that it was "an important move towards reversing long-standing inequities." Currently, there is a 60-day public comment period on the decision. Once the comment period is over, DOJ and the Drug Enforcement Agency will make a final decision on whether to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug. (Kary, Bloomberg/Modern Healthcare, 5/16; Tsirkin/Alba, NBC News, 5/16)
• Georgia: CDC last week warned of a deadlier version of the mpox virus spreading through the Democratic Republic of Congo and urged at-risk individuals to be vaccinated as soon as possible. Although no cases of the new mpox subtype have been identified outside of Africa so far, health experts say that the growing epidemic in Congo poses a global threat, much like the epidemic in Nigeria that led to a worldwide outbreak in 2022. "This is a very important example of how an infection anywhere is potentially an infection everywhere, and why we need to continue to improve disease surveillance globally," said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. CDC is focused on encouraging individuals with the highest risk to get vaccinated before mpox resurges in the United States. The agency is currently engaging with advocacy groups and social media influencers who have broad appeal among LGBTQ+ individuals. CDC has also urged clinicians to be alert for possible mpox cases among people who traveled from Congo. (Mandavilli, New York Times, 5/16)
• Maryland: FDA granted accelerated approval to Amgen's tarlatamab, or Imdelltra, as a second- or later-line treatment for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Around 35,000 Americans are diagnosed with SCLC each year, and most patients live only eight to 13 months after being diagnosed, even with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Tarlatamab is intended for use in patients with SCLC who have exhausted all other treatment options and have a life expectancy of four to five months. In a trial of the drug, tarlatamab tripled patients' life expectancy, resulting in a median survival time of 14 months. Forty percent of patients who received the drug responded. Common symptoms of the drug included cytokine release syndrome, fatigue, pyrexia, and dysgeusia. According to Anish Thomas, a lung cancer specialist at the National Cancer Institute, tarlatamab offers patients with SCLC hope after decades without much advancement in the treatments for the condition. "I feel it's a light after a long time," Thomas said. (Kolata, New York Times, 5/16; Bassett, MedPage Today, 5/17)

Despite the legal and clinical ambiguity surrounding marijuana policy and use, health systems should devise a strategy for managing marijuana in their facilities. Explore Advisory Board's resources to inform and develop your system's strategy.