The Log
Archive
873 stories, newest first.
October 2026
- Oct 8Harm Reduction
Someone in Tasmania Died After Using Drugs That May Have Held an Opioid They Didn't Know About
Tasmania's health department reports a death possibly involving a rare synthetic opioid from the 'U-class', the first known detection in the state. Why the warning applies to anyone who uses anything.
- Oct 8Policy & Funding
Eight Communities Get $12 Million Each to Pair Street Outreach With Housing. Everyone Else Gets the Press Release.
HHS picked eight communities for the $96 million STREETS program. Huntington's mayor says its $12 million will fund outreach, housing and a shared system, if the council signs and the partners sign on.
- Oct 8Lived Experience & Community
She Was Twenty and Stable on Buprenorphine. A Meeting Told Her She Wasn't Really Sober.
A published case series follows a 20-year-old stable on buprenorphine who stopped after a 12-step meeting told her she was not truly sober. Why that message lands so hard, what it costs, and what to do with it.
- Oct 8Treatment & Recovery
Half of Young People Start Opioid Treatment. One in 32 Is Still on Medication Six Months Later.
A JAMA Network Open study of 229,847 Medicaid enrollees ages 13 to 25 finds half start opioid treatment but only 3.1% are still on medication at 180 days. What that means, and what a clinic can do this week.
- Oct 7Harm Reduction
No One Has Died of a Cannabis Overdose. That Doesn't Mean It Hasn't Cost People Their Lives.
A DEA report says no marijuana overdose deaths have been reported. That's true, and it misses the people who struggle to stop.
- Oct 7The Crisis, By the Numbers
Massachusetts Opioid Deaths Fell Below 1,000. The People Doing the Work Say the Win Has a Hole in It.
Massachusetts reported 978 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2025, the first count under 1,000 since 2013. Recovery workers say methamphetamine and a kratom ban are the next problem.
- Oct 7Harm Reduction
Tasmania's First U-Class Opioid Death Is a Warning About a Supply Nobody Can See
A Tasmanian overdose death involving a U-class synthetic opioid, and what Australian research says about why these compounds slip past the people who take them.
- Oct 7Lived Experience & Community
Nobody Had a Name for What Dominic Cipriano's Body Was Doing. Doctors Took Nine Months to Write One Down.
Medetomidine in the fentanyl supply has produced a withdrawal that can put people in the ICU. What Dominic Cipriano's story, a CDC health alert, and Philadelphia's hospitals say about what to do this week.
- Oct 6Policy & Funding
SAMHSA's $248 Million Goes Mostly to Institutions. The Peer-Led Recovery Line Got $1.4 Million.
SAMHSA announced $247.9 million in awards on September 25. The Recovery Community Services Program, the line built for people with lived experience, received $1.4 million, about 0.6% of the total.
- Oct 6Harm Reduction
Massachusetts Banned Kratom Overnight. The People Using It to Stay Off Opioids Got a Withdrawal and No Plan.
Massachusetts classified kratom as a Schedule I drug by emergency order in August. Recovery workers say there is no immediate treatment for the people who now face withdrawal, and they fear a return to opioids.
- Oct 6Treatment & Recovery
Half of Young People With Opioid Addiction Make It Through the Door. One in 32 Is Still on Medication Six Months Later.
A JAMA Network Open study of 229,847 Medicaid-enrolled young people with opioid use disorder found only 3.1% stayed on medication for 180 days. What the funnel looks like, what the study can't say, and one thing clinics can do this week.
- Oct 5Harm Reduction
Naloxone Won't Touch Medetomidine. The Withdrawal That Follows Can Land Someone in the ICU for Weeks.
Medetomidine reports rose from 247 to 8,233 in two years and the withdrawal can be severe. What the CDC says clinicians and outreach workers should know.
- Oct 5Science & Medicine
Three Hundred and Seventy-One Trials Later, There Is Still No Approved Drug for Meth or Cocaine. The Best Treatment We Have Is a Gift Card.
An umbrella review of 371 trials found no approved medication for stimulant use disorder. What that means for people using meth or cocaine, and for the programs that serve them.
- Oct 5Lived Experience & Community
The FDA Keeps Clearing Nicotine Pouches. The Writer Who Quit One Cold Turkey Saw Searchlights.
FDA has authorized 30 nicotine pouches. A first-person account of quitting one 15-pouch-a-day habit shows what the dependence actually feels like, and what providers can do about it this week.
- Oct 5Treatment & Recovery
Only 1 in 32 Young People With Opioid Addiction Is Still on Medication Six Months Later. The Treatment Didn't Fail Them.
A national Medicaid study found 3.1% of young people with opioid use disorder stayed on medication for 180 days. Where the drop-offs happen, who they hit hardest, and what a program can change this week.
- Oct 4Treatment & Recovery
Minnesota Sues the Founder of a Peer Recovery Nonprofit It Calls a Sham. Hundreds of Peers Lost Their Jobs First.
Minnesota's attorney general sued the founder of Refocus Recovery on October 1, alleging a nonprofit shell fed a for-profit billing operation funded by Medicaid peer-recovery payments.
- Oct 4Harm Reduction
The DEA Wants 7-OH in Schedule I. Nobody Has Said What Happens to the People Taking It Today.
The DEA's proposed temporary Schedule I listing for concentrated 7-OH drew nearly 36,000 comments. Critics told STAT the missing piece is a plan for people already dependent.
- Oct 4Policy & Funding
Eighteen Thousand People Registered to Watch the FDA Plan Psychedelic Medicine. Almost No University Teaches How to Give It.
At the FDA's September 14 psychedelics hearing, a nurse practitioner and a psychiatrist argued over who should supervise sessions. A survey says 92% of academic programs lack the faculty to teach it. Comments close October 5.
- Oct 3Science & Medicine
One Dose Quieted Her Head for Two Hours. Within Weeks She Was Buying More.
A 2026 BJPsych Open case report describes a 25-year-old woman who developed ketamine addiction after one clinical dose. What it shows about relief, dependence and what clinics and clients should ask.
- Oct 3Science & Medicine
Forty-One Approved Addiction Drugs, and Not One for Meth or Cannabis: What the Biggest Medication Review Yet Actually Found
A 2026 CNS Drugs umbrella review of 16 systematic reviews and 371 trials finds strong evidence for tobacco and opioid medications, modest benefits for alcohol, and no approved drug for stimulant or cannabis use disorder.
- Oct 3Lived Experience & Community
Crystal Quigley Was Two Years Sober Before Fentanyl Got Her Back. Treatment Has to Plan for That.
Crystal Quigley told CNN she relapsed on illicit fentanyl after two years sober. What relapse after sustained recovery means for how programs plan, and what still-funded help exists.
- Oct 3Arizona Watch
Overdose Deaths Fell Nationwide in 2025. Arizona Went the Other Way.
Overdose deaths fell about 14% nationally in 2025 but rose roughly 18% in Arizona, with fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine all up. What that means for naloxone, intake and settlement spending.
- Oct 1Harm Reduction
Fewer Xanax Scripts for Twentysomethings Is Not the Same as Fewer Xanax
Benzodiazepine prescriptions fell 26.7% in a decade, fastest among young adults, while counterfeit Xanax made with designer benzos fills the gap.
- Oct 1Lived Experience & Community
Her Doctor Told Her to Take More. It Took 38 Months to Get Off Them.
A published patient account of a 38-month benzodiazepine taper, a new 11-year prescribing study, and what both mean for anyone on, coming off, or buying sedatives.