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State Rep. Thomas Pressly (R-LA) Discusses Louisiana Gov To Sign Bill Making Abortion Pills Controlled Substances; Judge Makes Key Rulings Ahead Of Hunter Biden's Trial On Gun Charges; Daily Marijuana Use Tops Booze In US. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired May 24, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: At any moment, Louisiana could become the first state to label abortion pills as dangerous, a move that has been widely criticized by health care professionals.
A first-of-its-kind bill is waiting to be signed by the governor right now after being passed by the Senate yesterday.
This legislation is intended to do three things. First, it will make it a crime to give abortion medication to someone without their consent.
Second, it will reclassify Mifepristone and Misoprostol as class-4 controlled substances. This is a designation that would require physicians to have a special license to prescribe the pills. And every time they do prescribe them, the state would track the doctor, the pharmacy, and the patient involved.
And third, it will make it a crime to possess abortion pills without a prescription.
To give some context, since 2022, abortion has been banned in Louisiana with no exceptions for rape or incest.
And Mifepristone and Misoprostol are commonly used for conditions other than medicated abortions. Doctors say they routinely used Misoprostol to treat miscarriages, stop obstetric hemorrhaging after birth, ripen the cervix to induce labor, and prepare the cervix for surgical procedures, IUD insertion or uterine biopsy among them.
With me now, is the Louisiana State Senator who sponsored this bill, Thomas Pressly.
Sir, thank you for taking the time to be with us.
And first off, I am so sorry for what happened to your sister. I know you've widely discussed this. Her then-husband was sentenced to prison time this year for spiking her drinks back in 2022 with abortion pill medication to try to terminate her pregnancy.
It's horrific. I think anyone familiar with the details of it knows that. I do, though, want to talk to you about what's in this bill that you did not initially include in it for the purpose of prosecuting -- for the purpose of prosecuting situations like the one that your sister was in.
That is going to make Mifepristone and Misoprostol Schedule IV drugs, which was ultimately tacked on. Why vote for that additional piece?
STATE REP. THOMAS PRESSLY (R-LA): Yes. Thank you so much for having me on.
As you mentioned, my sister was the victim of a horrible domestic violence attack where her then-husband tried to grind up Misoprostol seven different times and put it into her drinks trying to kill my now-22-month-old niece and significantly harm my sister and her health.
Look, this bill is intended to ensure that doctors, nurse practitioners and physician's assistants have the opportunity to write these medications. And they will be dispensed at pharmacies throughout the state of Louisiana. That's going to continue when it's for a legitimate health care reason.
As you mentioned, Louisiana has already outlawed abortion. So we're just trying to put some guardrails in place so that bad actors do not get these medications and use them in harmful ways like that, that my brother-in-law tried to do with my sister.
KEILAR: So why add on, though, that Schedule IV designation, which you did not initially have in the bill?
PRESSLY: That's right. It was a work in progress through -- through the legislative process. We added that in a House committee. And we did so because, you know, with the crime side, there's a backend and a punishment side.
And I felt like, by adding the schedule -- these two drugs to Schedule IV list, that we would have an additional deterrent and less availability for these to be in the hands of bad actors while still allowing our medical providers to provide the medicine to patients that are in need of the medications.
It's a very common occurrence for scheduled drugs to be prescribed by doctors, by nurse practitioners, by physician's assistants and dispensed at pharmacies throughout Louisiana. And that happens daily.
KEILAR: So as I mentioned, there are additional hurdles, making it a Schedule IV drug. And the medications in particular that we're talking about here, they aren't used just for abortion. These we're number of other purposes when it comes to the health of women.
So I want to run through some common medical scenarios with you that I'm sure female patients may have some concerns about.
Can you unequivocally say that Misoprostol will be readily available and as quickly as before when a woman needs it to soften her cervix for the very painful process of IUD insertion?
PRESSLY: I can absolutely tell you that in talking to ob-gyns and talking to emergency room physicians and talking to other doctors and other health care providers, they will continue to be able to prescribe the medications just as they can other scheduled drugs.
You know, the --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: But that's not my question. My question is, is they'll -- so there'll be able to prescribe it. Will -- this will add other potential hurdles. There's some storage issues, obviously, when you're talking about a Schedule IV drug.
Will there be any slowing of the process to get these drugs to where they need to be at the time they need to be there?
[13:35:03]
PRESSLY: Based on my conversations with doctors and the hospitals as well as our pharmacies, I feel very confident that this will continue to be able to be prescribed timely and as necessary by physicians and other health care providers that have prescribing abilities and as -- as they can with other medications that are in our scheduled list.
KEILAR: Have you taken into consideration that the law could actually have the effect of doctors, instead, using no cervical ripening medication in the process of inserting an IUD, which is incredibly painful. Have you protected against that?
PRESSLY: Absolutely. Doctors are going to continue to be able to prescribe this medication. We have laws in Louisiana that state specific and explicitly that doctors are allowed to prescribe these medications for legitimate health care purposes outside of elective abortion, which is already illegal in Louisiana.
This doesn't change that. We're simply putting the medications into the schedule, which will continue to be able to be allowed to be prescribed.
We're really going after the criminal aspect of this. And folks that do not have a doctor-patient relationship, do not have a nurse practitioner or physician assistant.
But rather we have the bad actors that are going out and trying to criminalize these drugs and use them for the weaponization of terminating babies.
And of trying to harm women like my sister was harmed and my niece was attempted to be killed by -- by my ex-brother-in-law without my sister's knowledge.
KEILAR: Can I ask you, Schedule IV means that these drugs would be classified as dangerous, right? That's a key part of what the labeling here means. PRESSLY: They -- they're --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Sorry.
PRESSLY: -- not about as control. It's -- it's a controlled substance, so it's a controlled drug just like Ambien, just like Tramadol, just like many of our HAD -- ADD and HDAD or H -- ADD medications as well.
KEILAR: Yes. ADHD, I think is what you're looking for.
PRESSLY: Yes.
KEILAR: But this part of it is that this is a drug that could be dangerous or misused, obviously, is the point of it being a Schedule IV.
You also have other drugs, for instance, penicillin, that is four times the risk of death, for instance, four times higher than Mifepristone. Viagra, which I think you could argue there may be some kind of side market for, 10 times higher. Should they be Scheduled IV?
PRESSLY: Respectfully, I think that my sister's situation shows that these drugs, in particular, are used against women against their will.
And I'm very concerned about ensuring that, again, we are maintaining the doctor-patient relationship while continuing to ensure that they are able to get the drugs for legitimate health care purposes.
And that's exactly what we're --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: But I mean --
PRESSLY: -- by --by prescribing these drugs into the schedule.
KEILAR: It also seems like there's an effort to look at and try to prevent there being some kind of black market for this or I would also posit an example of someone bringing this in, could even be an acquaintance or a friend or a family member of someone who is seeking an abortion in Louisiana, which obviously is illegal.
But someone like that bringing some -- something in for someone to do something that is illegal -- and the pregnant woman would not be prosecuted, but anyone bringing it in would also be.
I mean, this isn't just about prosecuting people like your former brother-in-law, who did a horrible unimaginable thing. It also could be used in those instances, I just described, right?
PRESSLY: Look, respectfully, abortion, again, is legal already in Louisiana. We're trying to make sure that folks are not --
(CROSSTALK) KEILAR: Yes, and why make it --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: So why make it a Schedule IV then.
PRESSLY: -- what -- because we want to make sure that -- that physicians and nurse practitioners and nurse -- and physician's assistants have the opportunity to prescribe the medication. We need to make sure that these medications are used, and there's no doubt.
But even in states where abortion is not illegal, you have a 10-week period where it's not supposed to be written without seeing a doctor for it at all after 10 weeks of gestation.
And we've got to make sure that women are being cared for, being -- and checked for atopic pregnancies --
KEILAR: Well --
PRESSLY: -- and they are being used as well.
And I think that's important that we, again, make sure that we're maintaining the doctor-patient relationship, rather than having a friend or someone bring medication into a state.
That's -- that is concerning in and of itself and quite honestly --
(CROSSTALK)
PRESSLY: -- to this legislation passing and hopefully being signed into law shortly.
KEILAR: Yes.
PRESSLY: Prescription medication requires a prescription by a doctor or a nurse practitioner or physician assistant.
[13:40:00]
KEILAR: Yes, all things, all laws that we're already in place, right, in the Schedule IV --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: -- initially had in there.
But let me ask you this. You talk about the importance of caring for women. Your state is 46th out of 50 for maternal expectancy. So when you're talking about there being better care for women, why aren't you tackling that instead?
PRESSLY: We -- we are continuing to do as much as we can on pushing maternal health care and to the forefront and make sure that we're doing everything possible to, within our budgetary means, to ensure babies are being born. But let's be -- let's be clear --
KEILAR: I'm talking about mothers, sir.
PRESSLY: And mothers as well. And let's be clear here. My sister was a victim of a domestic violence that left her bleeding without any knowledge of why she was bleeding, other than she had had a drink.
That's scary and certainly doesn't lead to a high maternal outcome either. And I want to make sure that we are -- we are protecting these drugs. Again, not getting in the way of the physician-patient relationship but ensure that these are not being sold on the black market. And that bad actors and criminals are being held accountable.
KEILAR: Senator Pressly, thank you so much. Obviously, a lot of people watching what's happening in Louisiana. And we thank you for talking with us about it.
PRESSLY: Thanks so much for having me on.
KEILAR: And coming up, Hunter Biden is in court today, just days before the start of his federal trial on firearms charges. We're going to explain why.
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[13:45:55]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Right now, Hunter Biden is in a federal courtroom attending a key hearing ahead of his upcoming trial on felony gun charges.
Prosecutors are indicating that his infamous laptop is expected to serve as a key piece of evidence at his June trial.
KEILAR: New court filings show that Special Counsel David Weiss plans to use the laptop to back up his narrow claim that Hunter Biden was addicted to illegal drugs when he bought a gun back in 2018, which was a violation of federal law. The president's son has pleaded not guilty.
CNN's Marshall Cohen was inside the courtroom. He is with us now to talk about it.
What more are you learning from the hearing, Marshall?
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Brianna. Yes, that hearing is still underway here in Wilmington, Delaware. And the judge in this case just issued a series of rulings that will really shape the contours of how this trial is going to shake out and what can and can't be presented as evidenced.
You mentioned the infamous Hunter Biden laptop. That's coming in. Prosecutors made it very clear that they want to introduce parts of the messages from that laptop as evidence against Hunter Biden. But they said today clearly that they don't want to introduce everything, just a couple of specific messages. And the judge agreed to allow Hunter's attorneys to challenge the authenticity of some of those messages.
The prosecutors wanted the judge to just instruct the jury that it was all authentic, but she didn't want to go that far. She'll let Hunter's team question the authenticity and legitimacy of specific messages. So that was good for the president's son.
But Special Counsel David Weiss and his prosecutors also got some wins in these pretrial rulings. Specifically, Boris and Brianna, they got a broad interpretation of the gun law that is at the heart of this trial.
They will need to prove, to win a conviction, that Hunter Biden was using drugs around the time when he bought this gun in 2018. They won't have to specifically prove that he used drugs on the exact day. So that ruling from the judge might make it easier for them to win a conviction.
Guys, the hearing is still underway. Hunter Biden is in there. The special counsel is in there as well. And as you mentioned, this trial is just 10 days away.
KEILAR: Yes. Coming up very soon. All right, we'll let you get back in there.
Marshall, thank you so much for that report, live for us from Wilmington, Delaware.
And ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, a major shift in how Americans view marijuana. More people than ever choosing pot as their favorite way to wind down daily, more so than alcohol. We're going to look at what's behind the numbers, next.
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[13:53:07]
KEILAR: New today, a marijuana milestone. The number of Americans who say they use marijuana daily or near daily has surpassed the number of daily drinkers, according to a new study.
SANCHEZ: Now let's bring it in CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard.
So, Jacqueline, tell us more about what the study found.
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, Boris and Brianna, this study really gives us a look at how many people are using alcohol every day versus marijuana every day. And when you look at daily use, that's where we're seeing marijuana really outpaced alcohol.
Because if you look at this graph here, in the 1990s, fewer than a million people reported using marijuana every day versus fewer than nine million people reporting using alcohol every day. But over time, by the time we get to the are 2020, as you see on this
graph, marijuana, in green, the use of it everyday continues to go up, but the use of alcohol every day starts to decline.
And so now in 20 -- or when you look back at 2020, the number of people who reported using cannabis every day was fewer than 18 million people versus the number of people who reported using alcohol everyday was fewer than 15 million. So you see this shift here when you get to the years 2020 and 2022.
So I will say, Boris and Brianna, people just in general, whether it's daily, weekly, monthly, we do tend to see more people drinking alcohol casually versus using marijuana.
But when you look at what the researchers are calling high frequency use, so using alcohol or marijuana every day, that's where you see this shift. Because the study also says, in the year 2022, the median drinker reported drinking alcohol on an average of about four to five days within a month.
But when it comes to using marijuana, the median person said they use it 15 to 16 days in a month, so that's the difference that we're seeing here in real time, Boris in Brianna, this shift in using marijuana more frequently.
[13:55:02]
KEILAR: Well, I mean, that's a difference in the number of days there.
So what's the shift here, Jacqueline?
HOWARD: You know, it really parallels just societal views and attitudes around marijuana versus alcohol. As a society, we're seeing behaviors really reflect attitudes, views, and even policies that are out there, Boris and Brianna. So we're seeing this cultural change happening before our eyes right now.
SANCHEZ: Yes, it's a paradigm shift. It's also possible that a lot of those people were using it before. They just weren't as comfortable perhaps --
HOWARD: Exactly.
SANCHEZ: -- reporting it.
HOWARD: Thanks for pointing that out.
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: I think so.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, thanks so much for breaking that down for us. So Israel's National Security Council is vowing that it will not carry out military activity in Rafah that could lead to the destruction of the Palestinian population.
This comes after a decision by the U.N.'S top court calling for Israel to halt its offensive in the Gazan city immediately. The latest on this after a quick break.
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