Research Library

Over half of all Americans live in a state where cannabis is legalized. And yet, the federal government has not reclassified marijuana since 1970. According to the Controlled Substances Act, it is considered a “Schedule 1” substance — the same classification as heroin and crack cocaine with no accepted medical use.

In the United States, drug overdose deaths are on the rise. In 2022, CDC researchers reported that 110,236 people died from an overdose in a single 12-month period, setting a new record. Synthetic opioid overdose deaths, primarily due to fentanyl, increased nearly 7.5-fold from 2015 to 2021. In Texas, the number of fentanyl-related deaths rose dramatically — from 883 deaths in 2020 to 1,672 deaths in 2021. While Republican lawmakers in Texas have previously opposed harm reduction policies, many have signaled a desire to take policy action to combat the crisis in the 2023 legislative session.

Hospital consolidation and acquisition of physician practices theoretically make sense by creating economies of scale and complementarities in patient services. But there is also evidence that such mergers do little to restrain prices or improve patient care. Click here for a Baker Institute podcast featuring Marah Short, associate director of the Baker Institute Center for Health and Biosciences (CHB), who recently published a paper, co-authored by CHB director Vivian Ho, on the issue.