The Log
Archive
733 stories, newest first.
June 2026
- Jun 29Science & Medicine
The Supply Changed Again. The Rules You Built to Stay Alive Don't Work the Same Way Anymore.
Medetomidine — a veterinary sedative up to 300x more potent than xylazine — has surged in the U.S. drug supply (8,233 NFLIS reports in 2025, up from 247 in 2023). The communities navigating its presence in real time are doing so without federal help and with harm reduction rules that no longer apply.
- Jun 29Harm Reduction
SAMHSA Just Made It Cheaper to Die Than to Know What You're Dying From
SAMHSA's April 2026 ban on federal funding for fentanyl test strips ends programs that distributed tens of thousands of strips per quarter to people who use drugs. The science on test strips is clear. The policy is not about evidence.
- Jun 29Lived Experience & Community
Marcus Has Been Sober Eight Months. Nothing Feels Good Yet. His Brain Is Doing Exactly What It Should.
Anhedonia in early methamphetamine recovery — the grey, flat, empty period — is not depression. It is the predictable neurological result of how meth rewires the brain's reward system, and the research shows it takes 12–24 months to resolve. Here's what that means if you're living it.
- Jun 28Science & Medicine
Kids Huff Dust-Off From the Hardware Store. The Federal Government Is Only Now Getting Around to a Ban.
Inhalants kill hundreds annually and are the most accessible intoxicant for teenagers, with almost no federal regulatory framework. The CPSC proposed ban covers two chemicals. Here is what it misses and what providers need to do.
- Jun 28Technology & Innovation
Psilocybin Is Closer to FDA Approval Than Most People in Treatment Know. Here's the Timeline.
FDA issued priority review vouchers to Compass Pathways, Usona Institute, and Transcend Therapeutics in June 2026. Compass targets an NDA filing Q4 2026. Here is what the timeline means for addiction treatment providers.
- Jun 28Policy & Funding
SAMHSA Announced $40 Million in New Grants. Most of It Is Money That Already Existed, Renamed.
SAMHSA announced $40M across eight grant programs under the Great American Recovery Initiative. Here is what is genuinely new, what is renamed existing funding, and what providers need to know.
- Jun 28The Crisis, By the Numbers
America Is Celebrating a 13% Drop in Overdoses. The UN Just Counted 331 Million People Using Drugs Worldwide.
The UNODC World Drug Report 2026, released June 26, documents 331 million global drug users — up 34% over ten years — and cocaine production surging 370% since 2014.
- Jun 28Science & Medicine
The Lancet's Semaglutide Trial Is the Best Alcohol News in a Decade — And Medicine Doesn't Know What to Do With It Yet
A Lancet RCT published May 2, 2026 found semaglutide reduces heavy drinking days by 41.1% in people with obesity and alcohol use disorder — the first genuinely new AUD pharmacological mechanism in decades.
- Jun 28Harm Reduction
The Jails Were Finally Learning to Treat Opioid Withdrawal. Then Medetomidine Showed Up.
STAT News reported June 26 that medetomidine, a powerful veterinary alpha-2 agonist, is appearing in the illicit opioid supply. It creates withdrawal presentations that naloxone cannot reverse — and jail protocols have no playbook for it.
- Jun 27Science & Medicine
Nicotine Rewired Your Brain First. Every Other Drug Just Followed the Same Path.
New research on nicotine's effects on brain circuits, plus the FDA's June 26 foreign manufacturer rule and the cytisinicline setback, make this the week to understand why 80% of people in SUD treatment still smoke — and why most programs don't address it.
- Jun 27Science & Medicine
The Combination Drug for Methamphetamine Outperformed Placebo Again. The FDA Still Has Nothing Approved.
Secondary analyses of the ADAPT-2 RCT published in June 2026 confirm that extended-release injectable naltrexone plus oral bupropion produces sustained reductions in methamphetamine use through 12 weeks. Still no FDA-approved medication for meth use disorder. Here's what the trial actually found.
- Jun 27Science & Medicine
The DEA Spent a Decade Trying to Schedule Kratom. NIH Just Gave It a Clinical Trial for OUD.
NIH's IND application for mitragynine (the primary alkaloid in kratom) cleared FDA review on June 1, 2026, opening the path for a Phase 1 human safety trial. Here's what this actually means for kratom policy and OUD treatment.
- Jun 27The Crisis, By the Numbers
38% Fewer Overdose Deaths Than the Peak. The System That Caused Them Hasn't Changed.
CDC provisional data shows 69,147 overdose deaths for the 12 months ending January 2026 — a 13.2% decline year-over-year and 38% below the 2023 peak. Here's what's driving it, and why the wrong read on this number could cost lives.
- Jun 27Policy & Funding
The Pharmacy Is 1.4 Miles Away. The Methadone Clinic Is 12. Congress Just Asked Why.
Senators Markey and Paul reintroduced the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act 2.0 on June 25, 2026 — a bill that would end the 50-year clinic-only restriction on methadone and let pharmacies fill prescriptions. Here's what's at stake for the 5 million Americans with opioid use disorder who can't get to a clinic.
- Jun 26Science & Medicine
Semaglutide Cut Heavy Drinking by Half in a Randomized Trial. The Lancet Published the Proof.
A Lancet randomized controlled trial found once-weekly semaglutide significantly reduced heavy drinking in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid obesity. Here's what clinicians need to know.
- Jun 26Arizona Watch
Arizona Sends $10 Million to Sheriff's Offices for Reentry. The Test Is What Happens After the Cell Door Opens.
AZ AG Kris Mayes announced $10 million in opioid settlement funds to county sheriffs for reentry programs. Maricopa is already using settlement money to start MAT in jails. Here's what that actually means for someone walking out of a cell.
- Jun 26The Crisis, By the Numbers
The Overdose Numbers Fell 13%. Don't Mistake the Decline for Victory.
CDC provisional data shows 69,147 overdose deaths for the 12 months ending January 2026 — a 13.2% decline. Experts say the cause is not what you think, and that should worry you.
- Jun 26Science & Medicine
Psilocybin Is on a 60-Day Approval Clock. Here's Who Probably Won't Be in the Room.
FDA fast-tracked three psychedelic-adjacent therapies in April 2026. The science is promising. But who gets access — and at what cost — is a question the industry is avoiding.
- Jun 26Science & Medicine
No Prescription Exists for Methamphetamine Addiction. The FDA Just Took the First Step to Write One.
The FDA published the first-ever draft guidance for stimulant use disorder clinical trials. Here's what it means for the 35,000 people who died from methamphetamine last year — and the millions who are trying to quit.
- Jun 25Science & Medicine
The Clinic on Every Corner: Ketamine Is Treating Depression and Creating New Addictions Simultaneously
Ketamine clinics have grown from under 100 to more than 1,500 nationwide since 2015. Spravato now clears $2.3B annually. Meanwhile, ketamine use disorder is rising and the regulatory framework governing who can give it and to whom remains a patchwork. A look at the biology, the boom, and the blind spots.
- Jun 25Science & Medicine
Ozempic Across the Board: New Data Shows GLP-1 Drugs Cut SUD Risk Across Five Substance Classes
A major study published in June 2026 found GLP-1 receptor agonists associated with substantial reductions in SUD risk across alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, cocaine, and opioids — including a 40% reduction in overdose events and 50% drop in drug-related deaths at three years.
- Jun 25Treatment & Recovery
Florida Paramedics Are Handing Out Buprenorphine at the Scene. It's Working.
Florida counties are training paramedics to distribute buprenorphine at the scene of overdoses and wellness checks. The results challenge long-held assumptions about when — and where — addiction treatment can begin.
- Jun 25Lived Experience & Community
Insurance Changed Its Mind. Her Recovery Didn't Get the Memo.
A STAT News investigation documents how insurance plan changes, premium increases, and formulary restrictions directly cause people in stable recovery to relapse and overdose. The mechanism is simple. The death toll is not.
- Jun 25The Crisis, By the Numbers
Carfentanil Is Back in the Drug Supply. More Than 1 in 10 Fentanyl Samples Now Test Positive.
Labcorp's June 2026 drug trends report shows carfentanil — roughly 10,000 times stronger than morphine — now appears in more than 10% of fentanyl-positive samples. Here's what harm reduction providers and people who use drugs need to know.