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A new study released on October 16 in the American Journal of Public Health finds that young men in New York City who report they’ve been stopped and questioned by police are also reporting higher levels of trauma and stress associated with those experiences, particularly when they report that the encounters were intrusive. The study finds that men who experienced the most intrusive encounters — those interactions that were aggressive, deemed unfair, or involved racially-charged language — also experienced the most significant symptoms, but the researchers also report stress, trauma and anxiety in men who had experienced even minimal interactions with the police. The study also finds disparities across race: black respondents experienced trauma symptoms at a higher frequency than other races.

A new map by the Public Health Law Research Program charts the changes in the federal and state minimum wage laws dating back to 1980.

Since establishing a standard minimum wage rate for qualified employees in 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times – from 25 cents per hour to the current rate of $7.25, which was established in July 2009. The current rate equates to roughly $15,000 per year for a 40-hour work week.

In a policy environment where there are currently no modern examples of marijuana regulation, policy-makers can rely on lessons learned from alcohol and tobacco regulation, according to a paper published today in the American Journal of Public Health.

The authors of the paper, who are noted alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana researchers, recommend that if states decide to experiment with marijuana policy, they should prevent retail price drops, limit marketing, and work hard to measure and prevent impaired driving. They also note the importance of adopting a state monopoly, restricting and monitoring licenses for use and distribution, restricting public consumption, and limiting the types of products sold.