Section

Policy & Funding

SAMHSA, HHS, DEA, CMS, state AGs, opioid settlement, Medicaid.

The Block Grant Consolidation's Hidden Cut Is in the Mandates, Not the Number

The proposed Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant looks like a 5% reduction. It functions like a structural dismantling of what categorical funding was designed to protect.

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 132 minRead

More in Policy & Funding

38 total in this section

02Policy & FundingJun 11

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.

03Policy & FundingJun 11

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.

04Policy & FundingJun 8

The FDA Just Authorized Mango and Blueberry Vapes. Sen. Durbin Called It a Gift to Big Tobacco.

The FDA authorized fruit-flavored e-cigarettes in May 2026 while withdrawing a menthol ban proposal. The policy tension: adult smoking cessation tool vs. adolescent nicotine recruitment vector.

05Policy & Funding

The Exemption That Isn't

Jun 58 min

06Policy & Funding

The Rule That Looks Like a Win Has a Trap in It

Jun 48 min

07Policy & Funding

Eighty Hours a Month. Prove It or Lose Medicaid. For People With Addiction, the Exemption That Looks Like a Solution Isn't.

Jun 38 min

The Log

Earlier in Policy & Funding

Every piece in this section, most recent first.

Policy & Funding

The Block Grant Consolidation's Hidden Cut Is in the Mandates, Not the Number

More in Policy & Funding

The Medicaid Work Requirements Start in 2028. For People in Active Treatment, the Clock Is Already Running.

Washington Buried the Science on Alcohol. Now Congress Is Making It Permanent.

The FDA Just Authorized Mango and Blueberry Vapes. Sen. Durbin Called It a Gift to Big Tobacco.

The Exemption That Isn't

The Rule That Looks Like a Win Has a Trap in It

Eighty Hours a Month. Prove It or Lose Medicaid. For People With Addiction, the Exemption That Looks Like a Solution Isn't.

Earlier in Policy & Funding

The Line Items They'd Kill Are the Ones Funding the Human Work

The 5 Percent They Want You to Focus On

The Work Requirement Exemption for SUD Treatment Exists on Paper. That's the Problem.

SAMHSA's $2B Grant Cuts and Block Grant Consolidation: What It Means for Treatment Programs

FDA's Surprise Vaping Pivot: Unauthorized Flavored Products Can Now Stay on Shelves

FDA Fast-Tracks Psilocybin and Methylone With Priority Review Vouchers

Two Policies, One Moment: The White House Says Test Strips Work — Then Blocks the Money to Buy Them

FDA Moves to Schedule Kratom's Most Potent Compound as Opioid Risk Concerns Grow

The First Cannabis-Rescheduling Comment Deadline Is Tomorrow. The Decision That Matters Lands June 29.

SAMHSA Just Opened Its $1.5B State Opioid Response Round. The Real Question Is What Arizona Asks For.

Two Cannabis Comment Deadlines Land This Week. Here's What They Actually Decide.

The Flavored-Vape Authorization Is the Wrong Test of the FDA's New Tobacco Posture. The Right Test Is the Next Two Months.

Cannabis Schedule III: The Public-Participation Window for the June 29 DEA Hearing Closes This Week

The Cannabis Schedule III Comment Window Closes May 20. Here's What Actually Just Happened.

Ketamine's Regulatory Vacuum Is Now an Enforcement Story

Psychedelics' Political Tailwind, Translated

Federal Cannabis Rescheduling: What the June 29 DEA Hearing Means

FDA Authorizes Mango and Blueberry Vapes for the First Time

When Federal Funds Walk Away from Test Strips: What the SAMHSA Harm Reduction Reset Means for People Trying to Stay Alive

ACF will match 50% on MOUD for parents at risk of losing their kids — and the family-preservation framing is what makes it new

The 2026 National Drug Control Strategy is out — and the contradictions are the story

Inhalants finally have a regulatory moment — and the recovery field isn't ready

Two states just banned retail whippets — and inhalants are quietly becoming the next state-policy battleground

School Access to Naloxone Act gets a bipartisan reintroduction — and a real path

The federal hemp redefinition is six months from changing the cannabinoid market — and the recovery conversation

April is the deadline. May could be the rollback. SAMHSA's OTP rule and the H.R. 5629 fight, explained.

The illegal disposable vape market is 70% of U.S. sales — and a new GAO report says enforcement isn't close to keeping up

SAMHSA puts $45M+ into young-adult recovery housing — what it could mean for Arizona

Telehealth for addiction medicine, extended again: what the DEA's fourth one-year extension means in 2026

DEA Extends Telemedicine Buprenorphine Rules Through 2026

The 2026 U.S. Addiction Policy Landscape