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May 2026
- May 21Policy & Funding
The Cannabis Schedule III Comment Window Closes May 20. Here's What Actually Just Happened.
The DOJ partially rescheduled cannabis to Schedule III on April 23. The broader hearing is June 29. Notices of intent to participate are due May 20 (mail) or May 24 (email).
- May 21Treatment & Recovery
Dissociatives in 2026: Texas Is About to Reshape Ketamine Care — and Other States Are Watching
Texas's proposed ban on in-home ketamine, slated for a June vote, would require a physician physically present at every treatment. Here is the state of dissociative therapy in 2026 — what's regulated, what's not, and where the field is headed.
- May 21Arizona Watch
Arizona Is Going the Wrong Way: Why Our State's Overdose Deaths Climbed 17% While the Rest of America's Fell
CDC's May 13 provisional data shows overdose deaths down 13.9% nationally — but Arizona is up 17.31%, New Mexico 21.30%, and Colorado 10%+. Here is what we know about why, and what it means for people seeking treatment.
- May 21Science & Medicine
Depressants in 2026: The Drug Class Without a Modern Playbook
Depressants — benzodiazepines, Z-drugs, kratom alkaloids — are aging into a treatment system designed for opioids. Here's what the 2025–2026 clinical guidelines actually say.
- May 21Treatment & Recovery
Contingency Management Is the Only Treatment for Stimulants That Actually Works. Only Five States Cover It.
Contingency management is the most evidence-based intervention for stimulant use disorder. Only 5 states have CMS-approved Medicaid CM programs. Here's where Arizona stands.
- May 21Harm Reduction
Galaxy Gas Litigation Is Maturing. The Inhalant Regulatory Vacuum Isn't Closing.
The FDA's nitrous oxide warning expanded last June. Class action and wrongful death lawsuits are maturing. The federal regulatory gap on recreational inhalants remains wide.
- May 21Policy & Funding
Ketamine's Regulatory Vacuum Is Now an Enforcement Story
Federal regulation covers Spravato. Off-label ketamine is increasingly shaped by state medical boards and enforcement actions rather than rules — and the DEA's telemedicine flex sunsets December 2026.
- May 21Arizona Watch
Arizona's Missing Beds: What the AHCCCS Secure Behavioral Health RFP Means for Recovery Navigation
AHCCCS released a Request for Proposals on May 12 to develop Secure Behavioral Health Residential Facilities. Open until January 2027. Here's what it means for Arizonans navigating treatment — and the operators who will run them.
- May 21Science & Medicine
Cannabinoids in 2026: Policy Is Sprinting. The Evidence Is Walking.
In 2026, federal cannabis policy moved faster than cannabis science. A Schedule III rescheduling order, a 57-trial network meta-analysis of CUD treatments, and zero FDA-approved CUD medications describe the actual state of play.
- May 21Policy & Funding
Psychedelics' Political Tailwind, Translated
Trump's psychedelic executive order, Compass Pathways' planned summer NDA submission, and Lykos' 75% workforce reduction together describe a field reorganizing around what the FDA is actually willing to approve in 2026.
- May 21Harm Reduction
DEA Says the Drug Supply Has Outpaced Naloxone Again — This Time It's Cychlorphine
On May 12, 2026, the DEA's Detroit Field Division issued a public safety advisory naming xylazine, medetomidine, nitazenes, and cychlorphine as the four substances now routinely cut into the illicit drug supply — and warned that traditional overdose reversal may not be enough.
- May 21Science & Medicine
The First New Smoking Cessation Drug in 20 Years Reaches Its FDA Decision Date in Five Weeks
Achieve Life Sciences' cytisinicline reaches its June 20, 2026 PDUFA target action date — the first new smoking cessation medicine in 20 years. A separate FDA Commissioner's Priority Voucher targets the same molecule at vaping cessation.
- May 21The Crisis, By the Numbers
The Day America Got Better and Arizona Got Worse: Reading the 2025 Overdose Data
On May 13, 2026, the CDC reported the third consecutive year of overdose declines — 69,973 deaths, down 14%. Arizona moved the opposite direction. The same day, a state audit raised questions about how $50.9M of settlement money was spent.
- May 21Treatment & Recovery
Spotlight: Cannabis Use Disorder Treatment in 2026 — What the Evidence Actually Says
Cannabis Use Disorder affects ~1 in 3 regular adult users. No FDA pharmacotherapy exists. The 2026 evidence for MET-CBT, contingency management, and DBT/ACT — and where the field disagrees.
- May 21Harm Reduction
DEA Advisory: Fentanyl Mixtures Are Outpacing Naloxone
The DEA's May 12 public safety advisory warns that synthetic adulterants are limiting naloxone's effectiveness. What it means for harm reduction in 2026.
- May 21Science & Medicine
Lancet: Weekly Semaglutide Cuts Heavy Drinking Days 41% in AUD Trial
A May 2 Lancet RCT (n=108) shows once-weekly semaglutide plus CBT reduced heavy drinking days by 41.1% in adults with AUD and obesity — NNT 4.3.
- May 21Policy & Funding
Federal Cannabis Rescheduling: What the June 29 DEA Hearing Means
DEA rescheduling proceedings for cannabis advance with a June 29, 2026 hearing. What the order does — and what it doesn't change for adult-use marijuana.
- May 21The Crisis, By the Numbers
America's Overdose Decline Is Real. Arizona Is the Exception.
CDC's May 13 NVSS data shows U.S. drug overdose deaths fell 13.9% in 2025 — the third straight annual decline. Arizona rose 17.3%. What that gap means for treatment access.
- May 21Science & Medicine
Inhalants Spotlight: The B12 Story Behind the Spinal Cord Damage — and Why Catching It Early Matters
Nitrous oxide depletes B12 and can cause spinal cord damage — a 2026 Irish imaging study and Yale clinical work agree the effects are reversible only if caught early.
- May 21Science & Medicine
A Johns Hopkins Study Sharpens the Link Between Youth Cannabis Use Disorder and Psychiatric Diagnoses
A new Johns Hopkins study links youth cannabis use disorder to later psychiatric diagnoses, and a 45-year evidence review finds cannabis ineffective for anxiety, depression, or PTSD.
- May 21Policy & Funding
FDA Authorizes Mango and Blueberry Vapes for the First Time
On May 7 the FDA authorized Glas Inc. mango and blueberry vape pods — the first fruit-flavored ENDS authorizations in agency history. The decision relies on access-restriction technology, not flavor itself.
- May 21The Crisis, By the Numbers
Medetomidine Is Now in More Than a Third of Philadelphia's Opioid Samples
Medetomidine appeared in 37% of Philadelphia opioid samples by October 2025 — up from 4% the prior May. A 17% overdose decline now sits on top of a supply that's getting harder, not easier, to detect.
- May 21Policy & Funding
When Federal Funds Walk Away from Test Strips: What the SAMHSA Harm Reduction Reset Means for People Trying to Stay Alive
SAMHSA's April 2026 guidance narrowed what federal funds can support — pulling test strips, sterile syringes, and pipes off the eligible list. We unpack what changed, what didn't, and what it means for Arizonans living with substance use.
- May 21Science & Medicine
Substance Spotlight: Nicotine Pouches — The Paradox of an FDA-Authorized Product Whose Youth Use Is Still Climbing
FDA authorized 20 ZYN nicotine pouches and granted a first-of-its-kind Modified Risk Tobacco Product claim, while NIDA reports a 35% year-over-year increase in high-school use and FDA opened a formal investigation of Zyn marketing. The policy paradox of harm reduction at population scale.