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For pharmaceutical companies, universities, and research organizations to cooperate efficiently, they need to agree on definitions. And right now, there are no clear FDA guidelines on the difference between “drug repositioning” and “drug repurposing.” As a consequence, researchers struggle to find willing partners, and opportunities for collaboration proceed more slowly than necessary, if they happen at all. (Annette Bakker, 6/27)

On May 17, 2021, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in the state of Alabama. That’s more than two years ago, just so we’re clear. A little more than one week ago, the Alabama Cannabis Commission – the government entity created by the legislature to enforce regulations and issue licenses to companies that can deliver medical marijuana to the people of Alabama – had to put a stay on the first licenses the Commission ever approved. On Friday, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge issued his own stay on those licenses, ensuring that the process will be tied up in litigation and paperwork for months to come. And somewhere in this state, there’s a sick kid or a pain-riddled grandma who could be aided by medical marijuana but who will instead suffer on. (Josh Moon, 6/26)

Some in the LGBTQ community have asserted that the term cisgender is disrespectful because it doesn’t represent the complicated relationships with gender that many in the community experience. It is valid that many of us in the LGBTQ community operate outside the boundaries of expected gender identity and expression associated with sex assigned at birth and are not cisgender. Having a gender identity assigned to you is never appropriate, but using a term inappropriately, while hurtful, has nothing to do with the validity of the underlying construct. (Dana Defosse, 6/26)

For years, Lizzo has faced backlash from people made uncomfortable by her unabashed acceptance of herself — who would rather see her concealed in oversize cardigans and potato sacks. “What about her weight?” people say. “She’s promoting obesity!” No, she isn’t. There’s a difference between endorsing obesity and practicing self-love. (Danielle Pinnock, 6/26)

That sound you may have detected rising from the ether of social media this weekend was the gnashing of teeth by COVID conspiracy-mongers, outraged by a U.S. government report debunking their most cherished claims. The long-awaited report released Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, put the lie to the theory that the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID, leaked from a virology lab in Wuhan, China, where the disease was first detected in humans. The lab-leak conspiracists were certain that the report would validate their contentions, for which there has never been any valid scientific evidence. Instead it did just the opposite. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/26)