With this my final opportunity to address the membership as your president, I find myself thinking of renew, reinvent and rejoice. Renew and recycle refer to the cycle of MPS leadership. As many of you who actually read this newsletter know, leadership in an elected position at the MPS is a series of terms that span several years. The tradition is that one moves from treasurer to president-elect to president and then to council chair. The democratic foundation of the MPS would accommodate an opposed election for any one of these positions, should there be a revolution; h

Its legislative season again. Every year hundreds of suits travel to Annapolis to engage and influence Maryland’s future. Some travel to defend or advocate for an issue of professional passion; others go to Annapolis to influence issues of community and self interest. They come to talk about family farm preservation, k-12 education, prisons, taxes, snow removal budgets and the Chesapeake Bay. They also come to influence healthcare, and they come to advocate for mental healthcare. 

The MPS has now established a position statement on the use of herbal or smoked Marijuana as a treatment for certain medical conditions. At the time of this writing in late January, at least 14 states in the US have legalized access to Marijuana so long as a physician either prescribes it or affirms that a patient has a condition that could be remedied by smoking Marijuana.

National parity passed as the Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act in October of 2008. Regulations were proffered for public comment in early 2009 and after broad public comment, went into effect in October 2009. Parity for mental health and substance abuse treatment is a foundation within the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (PPACA or ACA), which is also known as health care reform and informally dubbed “Obama-care”. ACA was passed in March of 2010.          

In the July MPS News, we introduced the idea that a subcommittee will be working over the next several months to develop ideas and a plan for the future of the MPS. Our immediate focus will be thinking about the fiscal sustainability of the MPS over the next several years. The MPS’ future is intrinsically interdependent on the future of our profession.

One of the great things about Google is the capacity it provides to quickly research virtually any topic. Of course the down side is the potential inaccuracy of content, depending on the source. In our wireless enabled house, laptops and smart phones enable instant knowledge acquisition on anything.   Although we have a rule that restricts electronic consultation at the dinner table, in all truth my family and I have been able to settle many disputes with these devices. Sometimes determining the answer is a conversation

Social capital is a term used by sociologists to describe the interconnectedness of individuals with one another in a population or community. Social Capital theory posits that social networks have value. Populations and communities with high social capital are more productive and successful.

Social engagement for each of us is an important component in professional satisfaction, lifelong happiness and in fact life expectancy. MPS is a wonderful venue through which psychiatrists in Maryland can become engaged with each other and with all our stakeholders. In short, we need you, and in fact, you need us!