Latest news with #Zorn
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Teens press NC lawmakers to raise the age for tobacco, vape products to 21
Among middle school and high school students who currently use e-cigarettes, 1 in 4 use the devices daily according to the CDC. (Photo: iStock) Thursday, June 5th would be Solomon Wynn's 17th birthday. But instead of planning Solly's birthday party, his stepmother Charlene Zorn was back at the legislature this week pleading with lawmakers to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco and vaping products in North Carolina from 18 to 21. Solly was just 15-year-old when he died from vaping in 2021. Zorn said her stepson went from being a healthy, athletic teen who was training for high school football, to one who suffered kidney failure and eventually had to be placed on a ventilator. 'When we lost Solomon, I vowed to make a difference in the lives of teenagers so no family would have to go through what my family's experienced,' Zorn told reporters at a Tuesday press conference. 'Over these last two years, I have realized that in addition to speaking with youth, the best way to honor Solomon's memory is to advocate for change in North Carolina and to make this about every child in our state, not just Solomon.' House Bill 430 and Senate Bill 318 — the 'Protect Youth From Harms of Vaping & Nicotine Act' — would raise the legal age of sale for tobacco and vape products to 21 and require sellers to have a tobacco retail sales permit. While the two bills have bipartisan sponsors, neither has moved since they were introduced in March. Sine both missed the legislature's self-imposed 'crossover deadline,' it will be a heavy lift to resurrect the legislation at this point in the session. But Zorn came prepared Tuesday. Joined by the bills' sponsors, more than a dozen teenagers from Alamance, Duplin and Wake counties came ready to walk the halls of the North Carolina General Assembly and urge their representatives to protect youth from the addictive and dangerous health effects of vaping and nicotine use. Macey Morris, a senior at Eastern Alamance High School, said lawmakers need to understand how many young people are becoming addicted because of the lack of state regulation. 'Vaping has completely changed our schools today. It's not only in the bathrooms, but also in classrooms where you find distracted kids who are hiding vapes in their clothing and their backpacks,' said Morris. 'It affects learning, it affects focus, and it deteriorates health.' Morris said the practice may seem harmless at first, but she's watched student athletes lose stamina and struggle to compete in their chosen sports because their lungs were damaged by a product many were told was safer than cigarettes. Advocates say permitting or licensing the sale of vape and tobacco products would allow the state to know where tobacco products are being sold and improve merchant education efforts, while also allowing the state to inspect for responsible retail practices. Some members of the National Federation of Independent Business owners raised concerns about a permit fee in the proposed legislation, but Rep. Donnie Loftis said that should not keep the bills bottled up in the Rules Committee. 'There was some concerns that $400 may be so detrimental to a business. I'm thinking if $400 is the difference between you staying open or closed, a child's life is well worth more than $400 for your business,' said the Gaston County Republican. Loftis said the bill would also set the age for legal purchase for vaping and nicotine products at 21, the same age for alcohol sales. North Carolina is currently one of just seven states that have not raised the federal minimum legal sales age of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21. Senator Gale Adcock (D-Wake) said after three decades as a family nurse practitioner, she's convinced her bill will provide teenagers with the structural supports needed to prevent nicotine abuse. 'To help them make better short-term choices until their own decision-making capacity can catch-up with their physical growth,' reasoned Adcock. 'That is what this bill does. It gives our youth a fighting chance.' Ninety-five percent of vaping and tobacco use begins before age 21, according to advocates. North Carolina currently ranks 6th in the nation for youth vaping.
Politico
28-05-2025
- Health
- Politico
A psychedelics hire at HHS
WASHINGTON WATCH A well-known drug-policy lawyer is joining the Department of Health and Human Services to work on psychedelics policy, according to two sources with knowledge of the move who requested anonymity because it hasn't been announced yet, POLITICO's Natalie Fertig reports. Matt Zorn, most recently a partner at Yetter Coleman, is listed in the HHS employee directory as deputy general counsel. Zorn has been involved in numerous cannabis and psychedelics cases over the years, including representing one of the parties selected to participate in the DEA's administrative law hearings regarding the ongoing effort to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. Psychedelics momentum: Zorn's hiring is the latest in a string of encouraging signs for the psychedelic medicine advocates watching to see whether the Trump administration will support their agenda. Supporters were initially heartened when Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead HHS, since he previously expressed support for psychedelics. They were further encouraged when Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins referenced psychedelics on a podcast appearance, on the social media platform X and at a cabinet meeting when Trump pressed him on what he's doing to drive down the high suicide rate among veterans. While the FDA rejected drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics' plan last summer to offer the lab-made MDMA — also known as ecstasy — alongside therapy as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said that getting answers to patients about psychedelic medicine is a top FDA priority during a News Nation interview earlier this month. 'When it comes to some of these psychedelics and other plant-based therapies, I don't think we're listening to patients,' Makary said. He further promised 'an expeditious and rapid review' of data from forthcoming psychedelics clinical trials. 'I don't think it's a silver bullet, but we owe it to people who are suffering to do everything we can as a government to get a decision on the results as soon as they are available.' WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. There's a limit to how much California Gov. Gavin Newsom is willing to restrict artificial intelligence, an industry on whose tax revenues the state's coffers are increasingly reliant, our California colleagues report. Asked by Sutter Health CEO Warner Thomas on Tuesday how the state should regulate AI, Newsom cautioned against overregulation. 'We have to be very careful in that respect,' Newsom said. 'No one is calling for an EU-style regulation,' he added. 'Some of you might be. We're certainly not.' Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Danny Nguyen at dnguyen@ Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: Dannyn516.70, CarmenP.82, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. WORLD VIEW France is a step closer to legalizing assisted dying, our POLITICO colleagues in Europe report. On Tuesday, the French National Assembly voted 305-199 to pass a bill granting the 'right to assistance in dying for adult patients afflicted with a serious illness who have requested it.' Big picture: France joins a growing list of Western European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, which are moving toward enabling people to end their lives under strict conditions. In the U.K., British members of Parliament voted in favor of legalization in November. The legislation is nearing its final phase. Putting safeguards in place: Those who oppose assisted dying warn such laws can endanger vulnerable people, especially young people and those with mental health conditions. The French bill includes several safeguards against those risks: — Patients must be over 18 and either French nationals or permanent residents. — They must have a 'serious and incurable' illness that's both life-threatening and has reached an advanced or life-limiting stage. — Their suffering, whether physical or psychological, must be considered 'unbearable' or 'resistant to treatment.' — Patients must be capable of giving informed consent and must self-administer the lethal medication, unless unable to do so. — A patient's doctor will make the final call. The legislation requires that doctors consult with at least one other medical professional who specializes in a patient's pathology, as well as with a health care worker who was involved in the person's care. What's next: The French bill will be debated in the Senate, which is controlled by a conservative majority that could seek to amend or remove several provisions. If the parliamentary process fails to produce an agreement between the two chambers, President Emmanuel Macron — who promised the legislation during his 2022 campaign — has suggested the issue could be put to the public via a referendum, although constitutional experts have questioned the legality of such a move. French lawmakers also unanimously green-lighted a separate bill to improve palliative care in France.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
North Carolina mother fighting against teen vaping with new bill
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WNCN) — Charlene Zorn describes her stepson Solomon 'Solly' Wynn as a happy kid. Growing up in Wilmington, he was always active. 'He loved to play sports, go to the gym with his dad, ride his bike, eat pizza and hamburgers. He was on his freshman football team. He had all the normal ambitions that a kid had,' said Zorn. But in 2023, Zorn's life changed. 'He got sick. We thought it was a cold or respiratory infection,' said Zorn. 'About six weeks later, they sent him to the Nunnelee Pediatric Clinic, and he immediately diagnosed him with popcorn lungs.' She said the doctor told her it was due to vaping. On June 13, Zorn said Solly had just gotten off the phone with his dad, Al. 'Al got home from work 20 minutes later and found Solomon unconscious on the floor, non-responsive, had to call 911,' said Zorn. 'By the time we got to the hospital there was no signs of any brain activity. He was on a ventilator. His heart was beating—but only because the ventilator was doing it for him.' Not long after, Solly passed away. 'I don't want anyone to feel like my family felt,' Zorn said. 'Al, Solomon's biological mother and I had to stand there and listen to doctors tell us that our child was dead, that a machine was keeping him alive. We had to stand there and with some of our other children as we took him off life support.' Solly was 15 years old. Federal law, which retailers in North Carolina must follow, sets the minimum age to purchase tobacco products at 21, but state law still lists 18. That's why Charlene and others are advocating Solly's Law, a bill currently working its way through the state set to do two things, require a tobacco retail sales permit for businesses and align with federal law about the age to purchase. 'We know that children, virtually everyone who starts using a vapor product or an ignited cigarette, starts before the age of 21 and we realize we've got an epidemic in North Carolina,' said Peg O'Connell with the North Carolina Alliance for Health. She points to a 2022 survey from the organization. It notes one in eight high school students in North Carolina currently use a tobacco about three students in every classroom. Jake Petersen, a school resource officer at Eastern Alamance High School, told CBS 17 he often sees vapes on his campus. 'Kids congregating in the bathrooms, they're passing around the vapes right there in the open and they're smoking between classes and taking a break during classes to go smoke,' said Petersen. Some Wake County students say they see vaping too. Amruta Issac and Uma Kuncha work with the Poe Center for Health Education to teach their peers about the effects of vaping. 'We don't really see it very often in our school, but when I do go out in public spaces like malls or concerts with my friends, I do see it quite often,' said Issac. Kuncha says, unlike Issac, she often sees vapes at her school. 'We see vaping, and vapes, a pretty decent amount whether it's in the hands of my classmates and people's personal belongings or even in the halls, but overall, I do notice not as much out in the open. I would say most students disregard the vape free policy,' said Kuncha. As for Solly's Law, Zorn is said she hopes to see more support for the bill. 'I don't want anyone to go through what we went through. It's completely preventable,' she said. 'It shouldn't be happening, and we need every lawmaker in the state to get behind the bill. It needs to not be a political issue. It needs to be about saving our children's lives.' There has been no movement of Solly's Law in the state legislature since March. Chances that lawmakers will take action on it in this session are slim, but there is still a chance it could be added to the state budget as it does include an appropriation. Solly's stepmother says she and other advocates of the bill will keep fighting until more is done to prevent teenagers from vaping. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
