The ability to provide or receive the life-saving drug naloxone in Colorado still depends on geography.

The odds of surviving stage four lung cancer are disheartening. Nationwide, fewer than three percent of those diagnosed will live five years. But the numbers don’t tell the full story.

Undocumented immigrants in Colorado have it tough when it comes to accessing low-cost specialty medical care. Obtaining health insurance is difficult, and a tangle of state and federal laws and hospital policies can conspire to deny charity care.

Eduardo Franco Ramirez was left with a large piece of his skull missing when doctors removed it to save his life. His condition spoke to the complicated circumstances faced by undocumented immigrants needing specialized medical care.

Although the federal government has called on colleges to do more to help victims of sexual assault, one of the most important tools in fighting rape – the sexual assault forensic exam, often referred to as SANE exam or rape kit – isn’t widely available on college campuses.

Gov. Hickenlooper has signed legislation upping the requirements for state colleges in dealing with sex assaults. The new law follows an I-News investigation last fall that showed an important medical test for victims wasn’t widely available.

A report by Rolling Stone magazine about a gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house went viral this week, forcing the school’s president to confront allegations of a sexual assault epidemic on campus. Questions about justice loomed large.

Boulder’s Foothills Hospital opened its 24-7 sexual assault nurse examiner program on March 14. One aspect of the exam, which didn’t exist previously in Boulder County, is the collection of legal evidence that can put rapists behind bars.

The sexual assault forensic exam is a key tool leading to the conviction of rapists, and in ensuring the physical well-being of survivors. But the so-called SANE exam, or rape kit, isn’t offered at CU, or anywhere in Boulder County, Rocky Mountain PBS I-News has found. The same is true of CSU and Fort Collins.

Colorado colleges and universities must designate a nearby medical facility where their students can receive Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exams, under proposed legislation passed by a Senate committee Monday.

Jack Westfall, a family physician and researcher at the University of Colorado works with a network of rural clinics and hospitals in the state and says doctors on the plains are feeling frantic.

Now legal in eight states, there are unanswered questions about the impact of recreational marijuana on public health. To maximize potency, pot can be purified for maximum THC, its psychoactive ingredient. But a lack of research and restrictions on these very high concentrations is raising concerns.

Dabbing gives the rush of an instant high. And in Colorado, where recreational marijuana is legal, there are no limits on THC concentration.

Recycling food waste back into the system and keeping it out of landfills could address more than one issue in sustainability.