Association Between Pharmacy Proximity With Cardiovascular Medication Use and Risk Factor Control in the United States.

Background: Poor neighborhood-level access to health care, including community pharmacies, contributes to cardiovascular disparities in the United States. The authors quantified the association between pharmacy proximity, antihypertensive and statin use, and blood pressure (BP) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) among a large, diverse US cohort.

Methods And Results: A cross-sectional analysis of Black and White participants in the REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study during 2013 to 2016 was conducted.

Access to community pharmacies based on drive time and by rurality across the contiguous United States.

Background: Considering that mail-order pharmacy use remains low in the United States, geographic accessibility of community pharmacies (pharmacy access) can have an outsized impact on a community's access to services and care, especially among rural residents. However, previous measurements of pharmacy access rely on methods that do not capture all aspects of geographic access.

Objectives: This study aimed to measure pharmacy access across the contiguous United States and by rural, suburban, and urban areas using drive-time analysis and an improved methodological approach.

Proximity to Cannabis Retailers and Recent Cannabis Use among a Diverse Sample of California Adolescents.

As of May 2023, 23 states and Washington, DC have legalized the sale of cannabis for adults aged 21+, and 38 states, three territories, and D.C. have legalized medical cannabis.

Associations between Local Jurisdiction Ordinances and Current Use of Cannabis Products in California Adolescents.

Purpose: Cannabis use among adolescents may have detrimental effects and use among this age group is increasing. It is important to understand how expansion of laws permitting cannabis sales may impact adolescent use. Much of the current research has explored how state-level policy decisions may impact adolescents' use behaviors; however, there is a gap in the understanding of how differences in local jurisdictional policies may also influence underage cannabis use.

Impact of California's tobacco and cannabis policies on the retail availability of little cigars/cigarillos and blunt wraps.

Background: Recent changes in California's tobacco and cannabis policies could impact the retail availability of little cigars/cigarillos (LCCs) and blunt wraps that are used for blunt smoking. This study was intended to test whether tobacco flavor bans and minimum pack sizes of LCCs have reduced tobacco availability in California jurisdictions, whereas, permissive policies on sales and marketing of cannabis increased availability.

Methods: Measures of retail availability of LCCs and blunt wraps were obtained from the 2016-2019 longitudinal sample of licensed tobacco retailers (LTRs, n = 4062) from California's Healthy Stores for Healthy Communities campaign.

Locations of licensed and unlicensed cannabis retailers in California: A threat to health equity?

This study examined whether unlicensed and licensed cannabis retailers in California are disproportionately located in neighborhoods with minority populations or populations living below the Federal Poverty Level. We mapped the locations of licensed and unlicensed cannabis retailers in California in October 2018, combining advertisements from cannabis websites with licensing data. Demographic characteristics of neighborhoods with and without licensed and/or unlicensed cannabis retailers were compared.