The Log
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733 stories, newest first.
June 2026
- Jun 20The Crisis, By the Numbers
The Decline That Isn't Reaching Everyone
CDC provisional data released June 17, 2026 shows a 13.2% national decline in overdose deaths — but that number masks widening racial disparities and an Arizona counter-trend where deaths are up 20%.
- Jun 19Arizona Watch
Arizona's $34.8 Million: What the SOR IV Grant Can—and Can't—Fix
Arizona's SOR IV year-one grant is $34.8M. The state ranks 49th for behavioral health access and has fewer than 1 in 20 people with OUD receiving MAT. Kennedy's announcement doesn't solve the structural gaps.
- Jun 19Science & Medicine
A Cheap Antidepressant May Be the Meth Treatment That's Been Under Our Noses
Mirtazapine, a generic antidepressant costing ~$15/month that requires no special waiver, reduced methamphetamine use safely in a new peer-reviewed study. With zero FDA-approved medications for stimulant use disorder, the finding deserves attention.
- Jun 19Science & Medicine
Lancet Psychiatry: Commercial Cannabis Markets Drive Addiction. Decriminalization Doesn't.
A Lancet Psychiatry study finds decriminalization and tightly controlled legalization not associated with increased use—but commercial for-profit markets are, with higher addiction rates and more psychosis hospitalizations.
- Jun 19The Crisis, By the Numbers
The Shape-Shifter: How Nitazenes Became America's Next Synthetic Opioid Wave
Nitazene deaths rose from 27 in 2020 to 409 in 2024. Up to 40x stronger than fentanyl, the drug poses unique challenges: naloxone is less effective, and 'orphine' analogs now evade international scheduling.
- Jun 19Policy & Funding
The $700 Million That Wasn't: Inside Kennedy's Addiction Announcement
Kennedy's $700M behavioral health package is largely repackaged existing grants. The STREETS program explicitly bans harm reduction and Housing First—the two interventions with the most evidence behind them.
- Jun 18The Crisis, By the Numbers
The Drug That Kills Kids Without Warning, and Why Almost Nobody Covers It
4.8% of 8th graders used inhalants in the past year. Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome can occur on first use. Here's the science, the psychology, and why the treatment field keeps looking the other way.
- Jun 18Lived Experience & Community
500 Peer Specialist Jobs and the Psychology That Explains Why They Work
NYC's 500 new peer specialist positions and McLean County's integrated model reflect a growing evidence base. The mechanism behind why peer support works is worth understanding.
- Jun 18Science & Medicine
FDA Puts Psilocybin and an MDMA Analog on a Two-Month Clock
On April 24, the FDA fast-tracked psilocybin and methylone to a 1-2 month review window. Here's what it means for addiction medicine.
- Jun 18Harm Reduction
The Line Between Life and Death Cost a Dollar, and SAMHSA Just Cut It
SAMHSA banned federal funding for fentanyl test strips and sterile syringes on April 24. Six weeks later, Ohio is running out of supplies. Here's what the directive actually dismantled.
- Jun 18Treatment & Recovery
Your Pharmacist Can Now Prescribe Buprenorphine. That's a Bigger Deal Than It Sounds.
The SUPPORT Act of 2025 allows pharmacists to prescribe buprenorphine. Combined with permanent telehealth authorization and WHO updated guidelines, the access picture for OUD treatment has shifted.
- Jun 17Treatment & Recovery
One in Six. The Only Promising Meth Treatment Works — But Barely.
A May 2026 medRxiv preprint analyzing the ADAPT-2 trial finds that the bupropion-naltrexone combination for methamphetamine use disorder helps roughly 1 in 6 patients, with depression reduction as the key mediator. With no FDA-approved treatments for any stimulant use disorder, even modest efficacy matters.
- Jun 17Science & Medicine
RFK Jr. Put Psychedelics on a Federal Fast Lane. Here's Who Stands to Benefit.
A Trump executive order on April 18 fast-tracks psychedelic therapies through FDA review, and the FDA awarded National Priority Vouchers to Compass Pathways, Usona Institute, and Transcend Therapeutics. Compass is targeting a rolling NDA submission in Q4 2026.
- Jun 17Harm Reduction
SAMHSA Cut Fentanyl Test Strip Funding. The Timing Couldn't Be Worse.
SAMHSA's April 24, 2026 guidance explicitly prohibits using federal grant funds to purchase fentanyl test strips, xylazine test strips, syringes, and smoking kits. The Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition lost its $400,000 SAMHSA grant and faces approximately one month of operational reserves.
- Jun 17Science & Medicine
Three Days Away: The FDA Is About to Rule on the First New Quit-Smoking Drug in 20 Years
The FDA's PDUFA deadline for cytisinicline is June 20, 2026 — three days away. If approved, it would be the first new FDA-approved smoking cessation drug since varenicline in 2006, and the foundation for a coming vaping cessation program.
- Jun 17Policy & Funding
What Killed 27,000 Fewer Americans in 2024 — and Why Washington's Answer Matters Enormously
Drug overdose deaths fell 24% in 2024, the sharpest single-year decline in recorded history. A live scientific debate over whether harm reduction infrastructure or a fentanyl supply shift caused it just became a policy crisis: SAMHSA banned test strip funding in April.
- Jun 16Science & Medicine
The Ego Goes Quiet, and So Does the Pattern: What Psychedelics Actually Do to the Psychology of Addiction
Psilocybin suppresses the default mode network. MDMA reduces amygdala reactivity during trauma processing. Ibogaine resets mu-opioid signaling. Here’s what the science says about the psychology of psychedelic therapy for addiction.
- Jun 16Arizona Watch
Arizona Released Its Annual Substance Use Report. Meth Is Now the Primary Story.
AHCCCS’s SFY2025 Annual Substance Use Treatment Report documents a shift in Arizona: methamphetamine presentations are now outpacing opioid-primary cases in parts of Maricopa and Pima counties. The evidence-based treatment for meth still isn’t consistently covered.
- Jun 16Science & Medicine
France Just Approved IV Ketamine for Suicidal Crisis. The US Has an Excuse, Not an Answer.
France’s ANSM became the first national regulator anywhere to authorize IV racemic ketamine for adult acute suicidal crisis. The US approved esketamine in 2019 but won’t standardize IV ketamine—because it’s a generic with no commercial sponsor.
- Jun 16Science & Medicine
The FDA Just Cleared the First US Ibogaine Trial. It Took 30 Years.
DemeRx received FDA IND clearance for noribogaine—an ibogaine metabolite—for alcohol use disorder. Dr. Deborah Mash has been waiting three decades for this regulatory opening.
- Jun 16Harm Reduction
69,973 Deaths. The Number That Proves Harm Reduction Works—and the Policy Quietly Undoing It.
CDC provisional data projects 69,973 overdose deaths for 2025—a 13.9% decline. The same spring, SAMHSA ended federal funding for fentanyl test strips. The drug supply has never been more dangerous.
- Jun 15Science & Medicine
Psychedelic and Dissociative Drugs as Medicines
At ASAM 2026, ketamine showed promise as a dual treatment for comorbid depression and alcohol use disorder. A concurrent Frontiers paper asks the question the field keeps avoiding: what about ketamine's own addiction liability?
- Jun 15Science & Medicine
Naltrexone augmented with prazosin for alcohol use disorder: results from a randomized controlled proof-of-concept trial
A January 2026 study found blood-based biomarkers that predict whether a patient will respond better to naltrexone or nalmefene for alcohol use disorder. Precision prescribing for AUD may finally be within reach.
- Jun 15Technology & Innovation
Relationship between attentional bias and psychological craving in methamphetamine use disorder
There's no FDA-approved medication for methamphetamine addiction. A dual-target TMS trial enrolling in 2026 targets the MPFC and DPFC simultaneously — the two brain regions most compromised by chronic stimulant use. Here's the science behind the approach.