International Drug Policy, Diabetes Prevention, Poverty and Death

Guest: Joanne Csete, PhD, Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of Public Health  A special session of the United Nations General Assembly is about to get underway in New York focused on the “world drug problem.” The last time UN nations met on this topic was 1998 and the theme of the gathering was, “A drug free world – we can do it!” Well, nearly 20 years later, we haven’t done it. Rather, a panel of public health and policy experts from around the world say efforts to eliminate drugs from the world have led to greater violence, overcrowded jails, disease outbreaks and the current opioid overdose epidemic plaguing the United States.  Drug policies meant to protect public health have actually harmed public health, they say.

Guest: David Marrero, PhD, Professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine  More than a quarter of adults in the US have pre-diabetes, which means they’re on the cusp of developing full-blown Type 2 diabetes and all the costly complications that come with it. But research has shown weight loss and moderate exercise can keep the disease at bay for many of those Americans. Unfortunately, Medicare only pays for medicine to treat diabetes, not the kind of coaching on diet and exercise that could actually prevent the disease among people at risk. The Department of Health and Human Services now says that’s going to change.

Guest: Benjamin Scuderi, Research Assistant with the Health Inequality Project at the Harvard University Economics Department  The Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program will be particularly important to poor Americans who can’t easily afford gym memberships and personal trainers. Being wealthy in America generally means being healthier and living longer, too. That’s even more true today. A new study of millions of US tax records shows the gap in life expectancy between the rich and poor has expanded in the last decade. But here’s the really interesting part: if you’re poor, you can improve your chances of living longer just by moving to certain cities like New York or San Francisco.