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June 2026
- Jun 15Arizona Watch
Arizona Addiction Treatment Funding 2026: New Resources
Arizona's AHCCCS loses its hospital assessment authority for behavioral health on July 1 — two weeks away. The state has $1.2 billion in opioid settlement funds. The two systems aren't designed to fill each other's gaps.
- Jun 15Science & Medicine
The association between cannabis and depression: an updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
A Kaiser Permanente analysis finds teens who used cannabis at 13-17 were more likely to receive diagnoses of psychosis, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety in young adulthood. The science is clear. The cultural frame hasn't caught up.
- Jun 15Harm Reduction
Responding to the Emerging Threat of Xylazine
On April 24, SAMHSA banned federal funding for fentanyl, xylazine, and medetomidine test strips for public distribution — precisely as the June 2026 Labcorp report shows medetomidine in 91% of Philadelphia's fentanyl supply. The policy contradiction that kills people who use drugs.
- Jun 14Arizona Watch
Arizona Has $1.2 Billion to Fix Its Addiction Crisis. Here Is What Is Happening to the Money.
Arizona has $1.215 billion in opioid settlement funds over 15+ years. How those dollars get allocated — and what the SAMHSA block grant consolidation threatens — matters for every person seeking treatment in the state.
- Jun 14Science & Medicine
Two Kinds of Wanting: How Methamphetamine Craving Actually Works in the Brain
A new study distinguishes withdrawal craving from cue-induced craving in methamphetamine use disorder, finding different relationships to attentional bias and different treatment implications.
- Jun 14Science & Medicine
Semaglutide Just Outperformed Every Approved Alcohol Treatment on the Market
A randomized clinical trial of once-weekly semaglutide for alcohol use disorder produced a 41.1% reduction in heavy drinking days with an NNT of 4.3 — outperforming every currently FDA-approved treatment for AUD.
- Jun 14Science & Medicine
What Weed Cannot Fix: The Lancet Review on Cannabinoids and Mental Health
The Lancet Psychiatry 2026 meta-analysis of 54 RCTs and 2,477 participants is the most comprehensive review yet of cannabinoids for mental health and substance use disorders. Here is what it actually found.
- Jun 14The Crisis, By the Numbers
The Fourth Wave Breaks — and Tells Us Exactly Who Was Left Behind
A new peer-reviewed study in Addiction maps the 24.4% decline in U.S. overdose deaths in 2024 by race, ethnicity, and substance — revealing a historic drop driven by falling fentanyl deaths, persistent racial gaps, and a new crisis forming around stimulants and xylazine.
- Jun 13Treatment & Recovery
Prescribed Into a Corner: The Benzodiazepine Dependence Millions Don't Know They Have
Chronic benzodiazepine dependence affects millions prescribed the drugs appropriately. New February 2026 guidelines recommend 5-10% tapers every 2-4 weeks — far slower than typical clinical practice. But the people most affected are already years into protracted withdrawal syndrome, disbelieved by their doctors, managing their own detox with community guidance.
- Jun 13Arizona Watch
Arizona Spent $582M on Addiction Treatment Last Year. It Also Lost $2.8B to Fraud and Turned Away 140,000 Patients.
AHCCCS spent $582M on SUD treatment in SFY2025, but $2.8B in Medicaid billing fraud occurred and 140,000 patients were disenrolled. Sen. Werner's reform bills are moving through committee. American Indian Health Program patients are still being turned away.
- Jun 13Policy & Funding
The Block Grant Consolidation's Hidden Cut Is in the Mandates, Not the Number
The Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant consolidates three SAMHSA programs at $4.126B vs $4.6B+ previously. The dollar gap understates the policy shift: categorical mandates that pushed money toward syringe programs, workforce, and harm reduction are what actually get eliminated.
- Jun 13Science & Medicine
A 24% Drop in Overdose Deaths Is Real. So Is the Racial Gap That Didn't Shrink.
The age-adjusted overdose death rate fell 24.4% from 2023 to 2024 — the largest single-year drop on record. But stimulant-only deaths rose, and American Indian/Alaska Native people face a rate 2x the national average.
- Jun 13Harm Reduction
The Drug Inside the Drug: How Medetomidine Is Breaking Every Overdose Response Playbook
Medetomidine, a veterinary sedative 200 times more potent than xylazine, has displaced xylazine in Philadelphia's fentanyl supply and is confirmed in nine states. It produces sedation that naloxone cannot reverse, withdrawal that requires ICU-level care in 91% of hospitalized patients, and clinical presentations that emergency departments are consistently misidentifying.
- Jun 12Research Roundup
The Largest Study on Cannabis and Mental Health Found No Evidence It Works for Depression, Anxiety, or PTSD
The medical cannabis industry has built much of its consumer-facing argument on three claims: that cannabis products treat anxiety, that they relieve depression, and that they help with PTSD. These cl
- Jun 12Science & Medicine
What Alcohol Does to the Brain, and What the Brain Has to Do to Come Back
Somewhere around day three of not drinking, the craving arrives in a way that feels less like wanting and more like need. It's not a preference. It doesn't feel like preference. It arrives with a phys
- Jun 12Daily Pulse
The Best Treatment for Meth Is $225 a Month in Gift Cards. The Federal Limit Is $75.
There are no FDA-approved medications for methamphetamine use disorder. There are none for cocaine use disorder. Almost 40 years of pharmaceutical research has not produced a pill or injection that re
- Jun 12Daily Pulse
Trump's Psychedelic Fast-Track Is Real. What It Does — and Doesn't — Mean for Patients.
On April 18, the Trump administration issued an executive order directing the FDA to accelerate its review of Schedule I psychedelics for mental health applications. The order incl
- Jun 12Daily Pulse
The FDA Let Flavored Vapes Back In. Its Own Enforcement Staff Didn't See It Coming.
On May 22, the FDA authorized four flavored e-cigarettes for sale in the United States and issued guidance allowing flavored nicotine pouches to remain on store shelves while under
- Jun 11Treatment & Recovery
Gift Cards, Urinalysis, and the Only Proven Tool for Meth: Why Contingency Management Is Finally Getting Its Due
Contingency management for stimulant use disorder is gaining clinical momentum but facing political headwinds. California's program must prove its value by year-end. Here's what the evidence actually shows.
- Jun 11Policy & Funding
The Medicaid Work Requirements Start in 2028. For People in Active Treatment, the Clock Is Already Running.
Medicaid work requirements in the One Big Beautiful Bill take effect October 2028. For people in active SUD treatment, the documentation burden may end coverage before they finish.
- Jun 11Arizona Watch
Arizona's New SUD Data: 37,000 on Medication, 73% of Overdoses Reversed — and Still 49th in Access
Arizona's AHCCCS SFY2025 SUD report: 37,685 MAT users, 73% overdose reversal rate, peer housing homes doubled — but the state still ranks 49th for behavioral health access.
- Jun 11Science & Medicine
The Drug Killing More Americans Every Year Has No Approved Medication. The One Thing That Works Is Funded in Five States.
Stimulant use disorder has no FDA-approved medication. Contingency management is the only proven behavioral treatment. Only 5 states cover it under Medicaid. This is the treatment crisis nobody is talking about.
- Jun 11Research Roundup
No Safe Level: What the Suppressed Federal Alcohol Study Actually Found
The government-commissioned alcohol study, published June 9 in JSAD, found no safe level of drinking. Here is what it actually showed — and what the methodology means for clinical practice.
- Jun 11Policy & Funding
Washington Buried the Science on Alcohol. Now Congress Is Making It Permanent.
A government-commissioned study found no safe level of alcohol. Washington suppressed it. This week, Congress voted to ban the research program that produced it — permanently.