Judith Lewis Mernit’s reporting on harm reduction in rural California was supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2018 Impact Fund.
Healthcare Regulation and Reform
As more states consider legalizing marijuana, California's First 5 agencies are on the forefront of educating the public about the impacts during pregnancy and in homes with young children.
Harm reduction seeks not to shame people who use drugs into giving them up, but simply to provide them with the tools and support to improve their health.
She is ‘still defending that vote’ to repeal the health law, says her Democratic rival for Congress.
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"What I heard, over and over again, were stories of physical violence in juvenile residential programs."
The Central Valley's Kern County reported a 30 percent rise in overdose deaths from 2016 to 2017, bucking the statewide decline in fatal overdoses.
While California has readily embraced the Affordable Care Act, thousands of uninsured or underinsured still turn out for a mega free clinic in Los Angeles every year. Here are a few of their stories.
As revenue declines from one 'sin tax,' California considers tapping another for children's programs
Taxes on recreational marijuana "won't be a panacea," one First 5 official said, but advocates still hope they'll be directed toward early intervention and education.
Molly is one of the recipients of the 2018 Impact Fund, a program of USC Annenberg's Center for Health Journalism.
Joe Rubin is a Sacramento-based investigative reporter and a fellow with USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism. His reporting on workplace exposures to lead in California has appeared in Capital & Main.