Section

Policy & Funding

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

The DEA Just Registered 900 Dispensaries. Nobody Registered a Plan for the Patient.

Seven states, one refusal in Minnesota, and a gap where the clinical care should be.

DOJ announced federal DEA registration for 900+ medical cannabis dispensaries in seven states, while refusing a Minnesota dual-licensed shop. What the implementation gates mean for providers.

Nov 12 minRead

More in Policy & Funding

156 total in this section

02Policy & FundingOct 29

Marijuana Arrests Rose for the First Time in a Decade, and Almost All of the Increase Was Black

FWD.us reports cannabis possession arrests rose in 2025 for the first time in at least a decade. What the 83% and 45% figures actually measure, and what case managers and treatment intake teams can do with a pending charge.

03Policy & FundingOct 25

The FDA Says Zyn Is Safer Than a Cigarette. It Left the Hard Part Off the Label.

The FDA's June 2026 modified-risk order lets 20 Zyn pouches claim lower disease risk than cigarettes. It says nothing about dependence, quitting, or the teenagers using the brand most.

04Policy & FundingOct 23

FDA Wants to Know How to Test Ibogaine on Humans. You Have Until Nov. 20 to Tell It.

FDA's Oct. 5 request for information on ibogaine trial design closes Nov. 20 (docket FDA-2026-N-10429). Here is what it asks and who should comment.

05Policy & Funding

Earlier in Policy & Funding

Every piece in this section, most recent first.

Policy & Funding

The DEA Just Registered 900 Dispensaries. Nobody Registered a Plan for the Patient.

More in Policy & Funding

Marijuana Arrests Rose for the First Time in a Decade, and Almost All of the Increase Was Black

The FDA Says Zyn Is Safer Than a Cigarette. It Left the Hard Part Off the Label.

FDA Wants to Know How to Test Ibogaine on Humans. You Have Until Nov. 20 to Tell It.

The Hemp Ban's Real Number Is 0.4 Milligrams Per Container, and Nobody Has Defined 'Container'

Schedule a Sedative by Name and the Supply Hires the Next One

The DEA Finally Drew a Line Between Kratom Leaf and 7-OH. The Gas-Station Shelf Is About to Feel It.

Earlier in Policy & Funding

HHS Found $96 Million for Eight Cities' Street Outreach While SAMHSA Stops Paying for Test Strips

CVS Pays $315 Million and Admits Nothing. The Pharmacist at the Counter Pays Too.

Before the Senate Votes on SAMHSA's Next Chief, Someone Should Ask About Test Strips

FDA Wants to Know How to Test Ibogaine Without Stopping Hearts, and It Is Asking You

Eight Communities Get $12 Million Each to Pair Street Outreach With Housing. Everyone Else Gets the Press Release.

SAMHSA's $248 Million Goes Mostly to Institutions. The Peer-Led Recovery Line Got $1.4 Million.

Eighteen Thousand People Registered to Watch the FDA Plan Psychedelic Medicine. Almost No University Teaches How to Give It.

SAMHSA Just Funded the Overdose Antidote. It's Still Not Funding an Answer for Meth.

HHS Just Sent $247.9 Million Toward Addiction Care. Watch Where the Smaller Numbers Land.

Purdue Pharma No Longer Exists. Proving It Wrecked Your Life Just Got Harder Anyway.

SAMHSA Sent $247.9 Million to Treatment Programs This Week. Watch the Money Washington Isn't Protecting.

The DEA Is Rescheduling Marijuana Through a Process Its Own Watchdog Says Doesn't Exist on Paper

Congress Bought Hemp THC One More Month. It Didn't Buy Anyone Safety.

Five Years Sober Isn't a Finish Line. Medicaid's New Work Rule Treats It Like One.

Washington Just Made Sobriety the Price of a Lease. The Evidence Points the Other Way.

DEA's 7-OH Ban Gets the Target Right. Kratom Users Are Still in the Blast Radius.

The DEA Asked for a Psilocybin Review Three Years Ago. It's Still Sitting There.

Washington Is Sprinting to Approve Psychedelics. It Left the VA at the Starting Line.

The Overdose Numbers Are Falling. Cocaine Is the Exception Nobody's Toasting.

SAMHSA Killed Funding for Fentanyl Test Strips. Then CDC Bragged About Falling Overdose Deaths.

DEA Drew a Real Line on Kratom. Whether It Holds Isn't Decided Yet.

The Government Stopped Checking Whether Insurers Follow the Parity Law. It Just Said, Carefully, That It's Watching Again.

The Federal Government Is Deciding Kratom's Fate Today. 32,000 People Already Told It What They Think.

The House Majority Leader Called Cannabis a 'Gateway Drug.' The Federal Data Out the Same Week Told a Different Story.

The Money Was Supposed to Bury Fewer People. A New Jersey Town Spent It on Cameras That Watch License Plates.

The FDA Just Cleared a New JUUL. That Makes 48 Approved Vapes — and Zero Approved Meth Medications.

The FDA's Next Psychedelic Hearing Skips the Question That Sank MDMA Therapy

The DEA Already Banned Kratom's Cousin Chemical. In Three Days, It Decides How Much of the Original Survives.

You Have Four Days to Tell the DEA the Difference Between Kratom and 7-OH

The Strategy Says Test Strips Save Lives. The Letter Underneath It Says Don't Pay For Them.

The FDA Keeps Approving Nicotine Pouches Faster Than It Can Explain Why Teenagers Are the Ones Getting Hooked

The DEA Isn't Banning Kratom. It's Going After the Products Designed to Act Like an Opioid.

SAMHSA's Recovery Month Grants Restock a Shelf the Cuts Emptied

The DEA Isn't Banning Kratom Again. It's Betting a Decimal Point Can Do What a Blanket Ban Couldn't.

Congress Just Bought Delta-8 Another 29 Days. Nobody Selling It Thinks That's Enough.

SAMHSA Announced $77 Million This Week. The Outlet That Gave Harm Reduction Its Voice Couldn't Survive on Less.

Congress Called Xylazine a Public Health Threat in March. It Hasn't Voted Since.

The FDA Rejected MDMA Therapy Because It Couldn't Trust the Data. The New Application Doesn't Have New Data.

The Government's Own Lawyers Just Said Cannabis Can't Stay in Schedule I. The Judge Still Hasn't Ruled.

Louisiana Gave Sheriffs 20 Cents of Every Opioid Settlement Dollar. Nobody Made Them Prove It Saved Anyone.

Insurers Got a Year and a Half of Breathing Room on the Law That's Supposed to Cover Your Treatment

Kratom's Civil War Just Reached a Cabinet Secretary's Investment Portfolio

The Global Stimulant Boom Is Hitting a Treatment System Built for Opioids

Morgan Godvin Found Her People in a Newsroom. Washington Turned Off the Money, and the Newsroom Died Too.

Cannabis Just Split Into Two Different Drugs — And the Label Doesn't Tell You Which One You're Buying

The FDA Isn't Just Approving Nicotine Pouch Flavors — It's Approving Big Tobacco's Next Business Model

Methadone Clinics Loosened the Rules and Retention Jumped 17%. HHS's New Toolkit Buries That.

The DEA Rescheduling Hearing Excluded the People It Was About — Don't Call the Outcome Legitimate Yet

Weed Is More Popular Than the Politicians Running From It

FDA Approved a True Claim About Zyn — Then Let the Industry Aim It at Kids Who Never Smoked

HHS Built Its Case Against Housing First on a Study Whose Authors Say the Opposite

Washington Fast-Tracked Psilocybin This Year — Your Local VA Still Can't Prescribe It

Colombia's New President Is Importing a Drug War That Already Killed 221 People and Didn't Work