Section

Policy & Funding

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

DEA Erases Gas-Station Opioids in Four Days — and Erases an Off-Ramp Some People Were Actually Using

The scheduling of concentrated 7-OH is the right call. It will also force withdrawal on people the healthcare system already failed once.

DEA's Schedule I action on concentrated 7-OH takes effect within days. It targets real gas-station opioids — and strands people who were using them to avoid withdrawal.

Aug 12 minRead

More in Policy & Funding

84 total in this section

02Policy & FundingJul 31

The Medicaid Work-Requirement Rule Takes Effect Today. Its Recovery Exemption Has an Expiration Date Built In.

CMS's new Medicaid work-requirement rule is effective today. People in active SUD treatment are exempt — but the exemption disappears after five years in recovery, right when documentation habits have gone slack.

03Policy & FundingJul 31

DEA Wants to Schedule Concentrated 7-OH Kratom Like Heroin. The Comment Window Closes Today.

HHS's public comment period on DEA's plan to temporarily Schedule I concentrated 7-OH kratom compounds closes today. The rule is narrower than the headlines — here's exactly what it does and doesn't touch.

04Policy & FundingJul 28

The Cannabis Rescheduling Hearing Ended. Only One Side Got to Argue.

DEA's rescheduling hearing on moving marijuana to Schedule III concluded July 15, 2026 without a promised livestream; only formal opponents were credentialed as hearing parties. Post-hearing briefs are due August 17.

05Policy & Funding

Earlier in Policy & Funding

Every piece in this section, most recent first.

Policy & Funding

DEA Erases Gas-Station Opioids in Four Days — and Erases an Off-Ramp Some People Were Actually Using

More in Policy & Funding

The Medicaid Work-Requirement Rule Takes Effect Today. Its Recovery Exemption Has an Expiration Date Built In.

DEA Wants to Schedule Concentrated 7-OH Kratom Like Heroin. The Comment Window Closes Today.

The Cannabis Rescheduling Hearing Ended. Only One Side Got to Argue.

Washington Told Treatment Programs What They Can't Say to Get Federal Money. The Deadline Was Yesterday.

The DEA Is Conflating a Real Drug-Safety Problem With a Ban on People's Last Off-Ramp

Washington Will Pay to Reverse Your Overdose. It Won't Pay to Help You Avoid One.

Earlier in Policy & Funding

The DEA Gave Kratom Sellers 5 Weeks. Your Corner Store Kratom Isn't What They're Talking About.

Washington Will Still Pay for the Antidote. It Won't Pay for the Warning.

The DEA Started a 30-Day Clock on Banning Concentrated Kratom Extracts. Whole-Leaf Kratom Isn't What's on Trial.

SAMHSA Just Put $281 Million on the Table. Read the Fine Print Before You Celebrate.

The Alcohol Lobby Worked the Dietary Guidelines for Years. In January, the Warning Label Disappeared.

The DEA Banned Ibogaine in 1970. This Week, Three Federal Agencies Bet on It Anyway.

A Pharmacist Could Now Legally Save Your Life. Arizona Hasn't Said Yes.

The FDA Killed Flavored Vapes and Approved Flavored Nicotine Pouches in the Same Six Weeks. Nicotine Didn't Get Safer. The Delivery Device Did.

SAMHSA Just Opened $281 Million in Grants. It Also Just Narrowed What Counts as Harm Reduction.

The FDA Told Vape Makers It Won't Enforce Its Own Rule. Now It's Being Sued For That.

Medicaid Just Decided How Long You Have to Stay Sober Before It Trusts You

The DEA Drew a Line Around Kratom. Tennessee Erased It.

MAHA Went After Seed Oils, Sugar, and Vaccines. Alcohol Got a Pass.

SAMHSA Put $281 Million Back on the Table. Look at Which Line Items Are Smallest.

Oregon Just Priced Out the Psychedelic Program It Built for Everyone Else

DEA Wants 'Gas Station Heroin' Banned. History Says the Shelf Won't Stay Empty.

Arizona's Anti-Weed Ballot Campaign Just Gave Up. The DEA's Rescheduling Hearing Is Still Arguing Over the Wrong Question.

The FDA Just Told Smokers a Nicotine Pouch Is Safer. Nobody Told the 13-Year-Old Buying the Same Can.

The DEA Reconvenes a Hearing on a Decision Already Made

CMS Rewrote Who Counts as Medically Frail. Getting Better Now Counts Against You.

The DEA Is About to Schedule 'Gas Station Heroin.' Kratom Itself Gets to Stay Legal.

The DEA Built a Cannabis Rescheduling Hearing Where Only One Side Gets to Talk

The Government Is Fighting a Drug-Testing Company in Court Over Whether Weed Is Still a Schedule I Drug

The FDA Just Let ZYN Say It's the Safer Choice. Teenagers Already Decided That.

The DEA Just Drew a Line Through Kratom. The Gas-Station Side Lost.

The FDA Told You ZYN Is Safer Than Cigarettes. It Used to Say That About 'Light' Ones, Too.

DEA Hears Cannabis Withdrawal Is a 'Dying Ember' While States Bet the Opposite Way

RFK Jr. Announced $700 Million for Behavioral Health. Experts Say Most of It Already Existed.

SAMHSA Announced $40 Million in New Grants. Most of It Is Money That Already Existed, Renamed.

The Pharmacy Is 1.4 Miles Away. The Methadone Clinic Is 12. Congress Just Asked Why.

The Pharmacy Down the Block Could Save Your Life. Congress Has Been Keeping It Out of Reach.

Compass Pathways COMP360 FDA Priority Review

SAMHSA Announces $40 Million in Funding Opportunities

Designer Xanax Goes Schedule I: The DEA Made History. Whether It Made Anyone Safer Is a Different Question.

The Treatment That Halved Overdose Deaths Is Under Attack From the People Supposed to Protect It

The Five-Year Cutoff: CMS Told People in Long-Term Recovery They May Be Too Recovered to Stay Covered

The Big Beautiful Bill Passed. Here's What Happens to 11 Million People in the Behavioral Health System.

The $700 Million That Wasn't: Inside Kennedy's Addiction Announcement

What Killed 27,000 Fewer Americans in 2024 — and Why Washington's Answer Matters Enormously

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

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.

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