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  • 🩵 ~18M Americans may need help quitting weed

🩵 ~18M Americans may need help quitting weed

Plus, behavioral health is investors' #2 priority for 2025

Welcome to The Census, your biweekly roundup of what matters in behavioral health care.

Today, we’re breaking down:

  • A rise in cannabis (mis)use and treatment need

  • Your latest news headlines in under two minutes

Let’s dive in.

- Shân

P.S. This mail is scannable, so you can jump quickly to the headlines and studies that interest you most. Skim read away!

On our radar

What we’re watching this week 

🌿 America’s weed conundrum

About 18M people — nearly a third of all US users ages 18 and up — have reported symptoms of cannabis use disorder. And they’re searching for ways to quit.

US data, six-month rolling average. Source: Google Trends

Marijuana use has been slowly but steadily growing in America for years. 

This is partly because younger generations are turning to cannabis over alcohol, and also because people don’t really think they can become addicted to weed. 

But they’re wrong. About a third of all adult users in the States have symptoms of cannabis use disorder (CUD). And among 18- to 25-year-olds, the number who meet the criteria for CUD rises to 80%+.

This is especially concerning given THC has been linked to psychosis and schizophrenia in users under 25 years old.

Yet less than one in six people with CUD get treatment. And the availability of specialty treatment has shockingly decreased in states with cannabis dispensary provisions — where the need is greatest.

We note the urgency for targeting efforts in support of people with cannabis use disorder, particularly in states with cannabis dispensaries.”

Mauro et. al., 2024

If you’re a treatment provider, this subreddit is a goldmine. You can see what 370k+ people who want to quit pot are searching for, what kind of support they need, and why so many have been burned by current treatment programs.

Let’s get your news headlines. 

Catch up quick

This week’s top stories

Latest news

💸 Behavioral health is the #2 investment priority for 2025, according to US-based healthcare executives surveyed by Berkeley Research Group.

🎮 A new one-minute video game can accurately and efficiently identify children with autism from those who have ADHD or are neurotypical.

📲 The global mental health apps market is projected to reach $17B+ by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 19%+.

🧑‍💼 Recovery Solutions has broken away from Wellpath to become a standalone business after completing a court-approved separation.

👀 The last co-founder still with Embark Behavioral Health will now leave, as the firm continues to restructure and ‘flatten management hierarchies.’

😞 Sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic use disorders ballooned in American teens and young adults from 2001 to 2019.

💔 Sham treatment programs in Phoenix have caused the death of 40+ residents in a Medicaid fraud scheme.

💡California passed AB 3129, marking another step closer to private equity deals requiring state approval by law.

✍️ Massachusetts is also expanding oversight of PE investment in healthcare, as Governor Healey signed a new bill into law.

👃 The FDA has approved Spravato, a nasal spray derived from the anesthetic ketamine, for use as a standalone depression treatment.

💰 A new $7.5B opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family has been announced.

🧑‍⚖️ Landmark Recovery is facing yet another lawsuit, this time from BrightSpring’s Pharmerica for a breach of payment obligation.

🏥 A new 77-bed children’s behavioral health hospital received final approval in Webster Groves.

Expansions, launches, & partnerships

US data, six-month rolling average. Source: Google Trends

🍔 Alsana launched a new virtual eating disorder treatment program for adolescents in California.

🧠 Arizona ADHD Center opened a new clinic in Scottsdale.

🗺️ Rula Health expanded psychiatric services and medication management nationwide. 

🕯️ Lighthouse Autism Center announced a new ABA center for Nebraska.

🏛️ Bayada Home Health Care opened a new ABA campus in New Jersey.

🤝 Lantern partnered with digital SUD platform Pelago to provide Lantern's clients with access to personalized virtual treatment. 

🫶 Family Care Centre opened its eighth location in Tennessee, an outpatient clinic offering TMS for depression and OCD.

💻 Iris Telehealth acquired telepsychiatry provider innovaTel to expand access to virtual behavioral health care in Texas.

🏥 STR Behavioral Health opened a new addiction and mental health outpatient clinic in Pennsylvania.

Funding rounds & investor moves

🤖 Eleos Health Inc. closed a $60M Series C round to ‘empower behavioral health clinicians’ through AI assistants, and expand into SUD treatment.

🤑 PAX Health acquired Harris Psychiatry Services, a specialized outpatient practice for patients recovering from workplace injuries and vehicle accidents.

🤝 Already Autism Health partnered with PE firm Triton Pacific to expand their footprint…

… 💥 Which is off to a bang with their acquisition of Commonwealth ABA. 

💵 Recovery Dynamics landed undisclosed private equity cash from OIG to scale their SUD treatment services.

💰 Prosper Health raised $16M+ for its virtual mental health platform focused on caring for autistic and neurodivergent adults.

💸 PE-backed BrightSpring sold its behavioral service arm, ResCare Community Living, to Sevita for $835M.

Studies & opinion pieces

BPA is linked to many health concerns including hormone disruption. US data, six-month rolling average. Source: Google Trends

🥤 The common plastic additive BPA may be an environmental risk factor for autism, especially in male fetuses (study).

🗣️ A new open-source AI can analyze and measure autistic kids’ social communication challenges using speech recordings (study).

📲 Telehealth and advanced technologies are emerging as vital tools in meeting the growing demand for autism treatment (opinion). 

🧠 Changes in the functioning of opioid neurotransmitters in the brain may underlie anorexia (study).

🥬 Flexibility around vegan and vegetarian diets may boost both eating disorder treatment outcomes and patient experience (study).

💡 Microdosing buprenorphine for people trying to overcome fentanyl addiction is not as effective as hoped (study).

💔 The national decline in overdose deaths is leaving Black communities behind (opinion).

That’s it for this week! See you next time,

- Shân

P.S. You can email me here if you want to share any feedback, or let me know about a business I should be featuring.

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