The Log
Archive
876 stories, newest first.
June 2026
- Jun 1Science & Medicine
The Brain That Meth Built, and the Drug That’s Starting to Fix It
Methamphetamine has no FDA-approved medication treatment — but ADAPT-2 Phase 3 secondary analysis confirms naltrexone plus bupropion reduces cue-induced craving and withdrawal dysphoria. Here's the brain science, the treatment breakthrough, and what recovery actually looks like.
- Jun 1Policy & Funding
The 5 Percent They Want You to Focus On
The FY2026 SAMHSA budget proposal would consolidate three grant streams into a Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant, eliminating $813M in categorical programs. The 5% nominal cut is the wrong number. The categorical mandates that kept peer support, harm reduction, and workforce training funded are what disappear.
May 2026
- May 30Policy & Funding
The Work Requirement Exemption for SUD Treatment Exists on Paper. That's the Problem.
HR1's Medicaid work requirements technically exempt people in SUD treatment — but AHCCCS says 400K Arizonans are still at risk. The exemption exists on paper. The navigation system to claim it doesn't exist yet.
- May 30Lived Experience & Community
Ryan Hampton Made TIME's 100 Most Influential in Health. Ask Him Why Peer Support Works.
Ryan Hampton's TIME100 Health recognition is the moment to examine what peer support actually does neurologically — and why defunding 4,200 peer support positions since January isn't a budget line. It's a clinical cost.
- May 30Science & Medicine
The First Drug That Works for Cocaine Use Disorder Is a Psychedelic
A JAMA Network Open RCT published May 8 found psilocybin achieved 30% verified cocaine abstinence at six months versus 0% placebo. No FDA-approved medications exist for cocaine use disorder. Here's what the finding means and what it doesn't.
- May 30Science & Medicine
Medetomidine Is Not Xylazine. That's the Problem.
DEA flagged four new adulterants in the drug supply on May 12. Medetomidine — now appearing in every Massachusetts county — is 100-200x more potent than xylazine and not reversed by naloxone. Here's what changed and what harm reduction needs to do about it.
- May 30The Crisis, By the Numbers
The Rest of the Country Is Celebrating. In Maricopa County, People Are Still Dying.
While the U.S. celebrates its third straight year of declining overdose deaths, Arizona's toll rose 21 percent. The drug supply is more dangerous, the harm reduction tools were pulled, and the settlement billions haven't reached the people in active use. Here's why.
- May 29Science & Medicine
The Cheap High That's Killing Teenagers: Nitrous Oxide's 2026 Surge
Nitrous oxide deaths have risen more than 500% since 2010, with 12- and 13-year-olds now the highest-risk group. A University of Mississippi researcher explains what's driving the surge, what it does to the brain, and why our prevention architecture isn't built for it.
- May 29Lived Experience & Community
The Opposite of Addiction Is Community — And We Keep Defunding It
Peer recovery support is neurologically essential to recovery — not a soft add-on. The evidence says so. The federal cuts hitting peer programs say something else entirely.
- May 29The Crisis, By the Numbers
Cocaine Killed 29,449 People in 2023. There's Still No Medication For It.
Cocaine-involved overdose deaths hit 29,449 in 2023, up from 4,681 in 2011. There is no FDA-approved medication for stimulant use disorder. Here's where the field is, and what's in the way.
- May 29Arizona Watch
Maricopa's Bet: MOUD Behind Bars Is Working
Maricopa County is now treating 400+ incarcerated people with medications for opioid use disorder, funded by opioid settlement money. This is what the research says should happen — and it's working.
- May 29Harm Reduction
Federal Grantees Have Thirty Days
On April 24, 2026, SAMHSA banned federal grantees from publicly distributing fentanyl test strips. The Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition had 30 days of supply left. Here's what the policy does, who it hurts, and why it may be illegal.
- May 28Science & Medicine
Substance Spotlight: Nicotine & Tobacco — The Vaping Cessation Gap and the Drug That Could Fill It
Cytisinicline's FDA PDUFA date is June 20, 2026. It would be the first new smoking cessation medication in ~20 years and the first with vaping cessation data.
- May 28Harm Reduction
Xylazine's Treatment Gap: Why 'Tranq' Wounds and Withdrawal Still Lack a Clinical Playbook
Xylazine ('tranq') has no reversal agent and no FDA-approved treatment for withdrawal or wounds. Here's where treatment science stands in 2026.
- May 28Policy & Funding
SAMHSA's $2B Grant Cuts and Block Grant Consolidation: What It Means for Treatment Programs
FY2026 budget proposes consolidating SAMHSA's three major behavioral health grants into a single block grant at a 14% cut. Programs disrupted by January's $2B termination are bracing for more.
- May 28Science & Medicine
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to LSD for Generalized Anxiety — What It Means for Addiction Treatment
FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to MindMed's LSD formulation MM-120 for generalized anxiety disorder. 65% response rate, 48% remission at 12 weeks.
- May 28Science & Medicine
42 Experts Agree: Here's How to Start Opioid Medications in Fentanyl-Era Hospitals
JAMA Network Open published expert consensus on hospital MOUD initiation for fentanyl-era patients. High-dose buprenorphine and rapid methadone induction now backed by 42 addiction medicine specialists.
- May 27Science & Medicine
The Psychology Behind Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy for Addiction
As Compass Pathways targets a Q4 2026 NDA for COMP360 psilocybin and the FDA fast-tracks three psychedelic therapies, what do we actually know about why these compounds work — or fail — as addiction medicine?
- May 27Arizona Watch
Arizona Opioid Settlement Is Paying for Methadone in Maricopa Jails
Maricopa County is expanding medication for opioid use disorder inside county jails, funded by Arizona $1.215 billion opioid settlement — a direct, evidence-based use of settlement dollars that could significantly reduce post-release overdose risk.
- May 27Science & Medicine
FDA Clears First U.S. Ibogaine-Derivative Trial for Alcohol Use Disorder
The FDA has accepted DemeRx IND application for DMX-1001, an oral noribogaine treatment for alcohol use disorder — the first ibogaine-derived compound cleared for U.S. clinical study.
- May 27Harm Reduction
SAMHSA Bans Federal Funding for Fentanyl Test Strips and Clean Syringes
SAMHSA has formally banned use of federal grant dollars for fentanyl test strips, clean syringes, and xylazine test strips. An estimated $1.7 billion in harm reduction funding has been eliminated or frozen since January 2026.
- May 27Treatment & Recovery
Contingency Management Is Coming to Medicaid — and It Could Change Everything for Methamphetamine Recovery
Five states now offer Medicaid-covered contingency management for stimulant use disorder. With no FDA-approved medication for meth, this behavioral intervention is the most effective tool we have — and it is finally reaching people who could not afford it.
- May 26Treatment & Recovery
Ketamine's Regulatory Reckoning: Clinic Oversight, DEA Enforcement, and the Line Between Medicine and Misuse
2026 is a turning point for ketamine as a treatment: HHS/DEA issued new guidance in January, DEA enforcement shifted to clinic-level audits, and France became the first country to authorize IV ketamine for suicidal crisis.
- May 26Science & Medicine
Semaglutide Cuts Heavy Drinking by 41%: What The Lancet RCT Means for Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment
A Lancet RCT found once-weekly semaglutide reduced heavy drinking days by 41.1 percentage points versus 26.4 for placebo in adults with AUD and comorbid obesity. NNT 4.3 vs 7+ for currently approved AUD medications.