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876 stories, newest first.
September 2026
- Sep 11Harm Reduction
Luzerne County Just Said Out Loud What the National Data Has Shown for Years: Cocaine Is an Opioid Problem Now
Twelve of Luzerne County, PA's overdose deaths in 2026 involved cocaine contaminated with fentanyl — echoing national data showing nearly four in five cocaine deaths now involve an opioid.
- Sep 11Science & Medicine
The Overdose Charts Miss This: A Decade of Data Says a Third of Alcohol-Induced Crises Come With Depression Attached
A decade of federal treatment data finds alcohol- and substance-induced psychiatric disorders are rare in raw numbers but frequently paired with depression — a screening gap most facilities aren't built to catch.
- Sep 11Science & Medicine
Every Two Years, the Fake Xanax Gets a New Name. The Real Trend Is the Naming Pattern Itself.
Bromazolam is the fourth designer benzodiazepine sold as counterfeit Xanax since 2020. The DEA keeps scheduling the newest one — the trend data says that's not where the problem lives.
- Sep 11Arizona Watch
Arizona Knew About the Sober-Home Fraud in 2019. Its Fix Arrives Tomorrow — $2.8 Billion Late.
Arizona's SB1814 creates a statewide oversight committee for sober living homes starting September 12, 2026 — four years after a $2.8 billion Medicaid fraud scheme killed at least 40 Native Americans in unlicensed 'treatment' homes.
- Sep 10Policy & Funding
The Federal Government Is Deciding Kratom's Fate Today. 32,000 People Already Told It What They Think.
The federal comment period on scheduling concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), the potent kratom derivative, closes today with over 32,000 comments filed — as Pennsylvania and North Dakota fight the same battle at the state level.
- Sep 10The Crisis, By the Numbers
Twelve People Bought Cocaine in Luzerne County This Summer. It Was Fentanyl.
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania issued a public warning after 12 overdose deaths in three months tied to cocaine contaminated with fentanyl — and officials say most victims had no idea an opioid was in the bag.
- Sep 10Policy & Funding
The House Majority Leader Called Cannabis a 'Gateway Drug.' The Federal Data Out the Same Week Told a Different Story.
A new GAO report on cannabis banking landed the same week House Majority Leader Steve Scalise called marijuana a 'gateway drug' — while a NORML read of FBI data shows it's still driving over half of drug arrests in some states.
- Sep 10Lived Experience & Community
Why Confrontation Fails and Connection Works: What the Science of Craving Actually Says About Relapse
A Yale study on how craving rewires decision-making, and Natasha Lyonne's public relapse disclosure, point at the same finding: connection predicts recovery better than confrontation does.
- Sep 10Science & Medicine
Your First Ambien Prescription Predicts Whether You're Still Taking It in Seven Years
A JAMA Network Open study of 129,287 patients found that the length of a person's first Z-drug prescription — not their diagnosis, not their age — is the strongest predictor of whether they're still refilling it seven years later.
- Sep 10Harm Reduction
The Hospital Treats the Emergency. Then You're Discharged Alone With the Disease That Caused It.
A systematic review of 17 studies and 12,400 hospitalized alcohol use disorder patients found weak evidence for nearly every intervention meant to connect them to outpatient care — while fewer than half ever get that follow-up at all.
- Sep 10Policy & Funding
The Money Was Supposed to Bury Fewer People. A New Jersey Town Spent It on Cameras That Watch License Plates.
Washington Township, New Jersey spent nearly $60,000 in opioid settlement money on license-plate-reader cameras — one of at least 19 police agencies nationwide doing the same. The pattern echoes the 1998 tobacco settlement almost exactly.
- Sep 9Lived Experience & Community
Your Benzo Taper Isn't Too Slow. The Guidelines Finally Caught Up to What Patients Were Already Saying.
A recent addiction-medicine guideline now recommends hyperbolic, symptom-guided tapering for benzodiazepines instead of fixed linear cuts — validating what patient communities have argued for years.
- Sep 9Policy & Funding
The FDA Just Cleared a New JUUL. That Makes 48 Approved Vapes — and Zero Approved Meth Medications.
The FDA authorized JUUL2's tobacco- and menthol-flavored pods this week, bringing the total to 48 authorized e-cigarette products. Public health groups are asking the same question they asked in 2019.
- Sep 9Science & Medicine
There's No Suboxone for Meth. The Reason Is in the Chemistry, Not the Funding.
There is still no FDA-approved medication for methamphetamine use disorder. The reason is biological, not political — and the drug's chemistry has changed in ways that make recovery harder.
- Sep 9Technology & Innovation
The Government Calls Telehealth Prescribing Permanent. The Rule Expires in 113 Days.
HHS says telehealth prescribing for addiction medication is here to stay. The DEA's own extension expires December 31, 2026 — and the gap between the press release and the rule is where patients fall through.
- Sep 8Technology & Innovation
Arizona's New AI Treatment Locator Can Answer 'Where.' It Still Can't Answer 'Is There a Bed.'
AHCCCS launched a Gemini-powered chatbot to help Arizonans find opioid treatment. It arrives alongside $1.215B in settlement funds and 13,198 donated naloxone doses — but the tool still can't tell anyone if a bed is actually open.
- Sep 8Policy & Funding
The FDA's Next Psychedelic Hearing Skips the Question That Sank MDMA Therapy
FDA's September 14 hearing covers training and access, not trials — even after new rules for the blinding problem that sank Lykos's 2024 MDMA application.
- Sep 8Lived Experience & Community
Being Someone Else's Proof Recovery Works Can Quietly Undo Your Own
A 2026 qualitative study of peer recovery supporters who relapsed identifies the real triggers — disconnection from mutual aid, early relationships, and a savior-rescuer dynamic where helping others quietly starves your own recovery.
- Sep 8Treatment & Recovery
Methadone's Rules Got Looser. Too Many Clinics Haven't Let Go.
Federal rules loosened methadone take-home and counseling requirements in 2024. STAT News reporting shows many clinics and states are still applying the old, rigid practices.
- Sep 8The Crisis, By the Numbers
Overdose Deaths Are Falling Fast, and It Wasn't the Crackdown That Did It
U.S. overdose deaths just posted their sharpest sustained drop in decades. Here's the real cause list — naloxone, addiction medication, prison treatment — and the Arizona surge and federal funding cuts that could reverse it.
- Sep 7Treatment & Recovery
The Thing That Gets People Into Treatment Was Never the Syringe. It Was the Person Handing It Over.
Syringe service program participants are roughly five times more likely to enter treatment. The psychology behind that number is about trust, not paraphernalia — and it's what federal cuts actually put at risk.
- Sep 7Arizona Watch
Arizona's $1.2 Billion Opioid Settlement Finally Turns Into Naloxone This Month
Arizona is due $1.215 billion over 18 years from opioid settlements. This September, that translates into two concrete naloxone donations reaching the state through AHCCCS's distribution initiative.
- Sep 7The Crisis, By the Numbers
Overdose Deaths Fell 12.3%. The Government Is Cutting the Thing That Probably Did It.
CDC's new Overdose Prevention Data Channel shows 67,798 predicted overdose deaths in the year ending March 2026 — down 12.3%. The decline coincides with, not despite, harm reduction expansion.
- Sep 7Policy & Funding
The DEA Already Banned Kratom's Cousin Chemical. In Three Days, It Decides How Much of the Original Survives.
The DEA scheduled kratom-derived MPGI as Schedule I on August 26, 2026. A separate HHS proposal would cap legal 7-OH concentration at 0.05% — with public comment closing September 10. Here's what's actually being decided, and what isn't.