Latest reporting
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.
Xylazine Was the Adulterant Everyone Learned to Test For. Medetomidine Is 300 Times Stronger, and the Government Just Defunded the Strips That Catch It
Medetomidine, a veterinary sedative up to 300 times more potent than xylazine, is displacing tranq in the fentanyl supply. Here's the science, the scheduling fight, and why test strips matter more than ever.
The Drug That's Replacing Xylazine Is Already Winning, and Your Test Strip Can't See It
Medetomidine, a veterinary sedative far more potent than xylazine, has displaced xylazine in Philadelphia's drug supply in under two years — and standard test strips don't detect it.
Through eight lenses
Science
Alpha-2 agonists (xylazine, medetomidine — veterinary sedatives), nitazenes as μ-opioid agonists (synthesized in 1950s, never approved, re-emerging), kratom mitragynine partial μ-agonist + alpha-2, tianeptine atypical antidepressant with opioid activity at high doses.
Biology
Xylazine causes necrotic skin ulcers characteristic + prolonged sedation not reversed by naloxone; nitazenes act like high-potency fentanyl analogs (naloxone-reversible, higher dosing may be needed); kratom has its own withdrawal syndrome; tianeptine "gas station heroin" causing emergency-dept surges.
Psychology
Dependence patterns mirror the parent class but often with gaps in clinical recognition.
Policy
DEA scheduling scramble — xylazine FDA-declared emerging threat, nitazene analogs being scheduled piecemeal, kratom DEA deferred twice, tianeptine state-by-state patchwork.
DEA Wants to Schedule Concentrated 7-OH Kratom Like Heroin. The Comment Window Closes Today.
Jul 31Xylazine Was the Adulterant Everyone Learned to Test For. Medetomidine Is 300 Times Stronger, and the Government Just Defunded the Strips That Catch It
Jul 29The DEA Is Conflating a Real Drug-Safety Problem With a Ban on People's Last Off-Ramp
Jul 27
Trends
Xylazine now in 48 states' supply; medetomidine identified in Chicago-area 2024; kratom retail boom.
The Drug That's Replacing Xylazine Is Already Winning, and Your Test Strip Can't See It
Jul 28The DEA Is Conflating a Real Drug-Safety Problem With a Ban on People's Last Off-Ramp
Jul 27The DEA Started a 30-Day Clock on Banning Concentrated Kratom Extracts. Whole-Leaf Kratom Isn't What's on Trial.
Jul 24
Treatment
Xylazine wound care + opioid co-treatment; nitazene overdose reversal with naloxone; kratom dependence — buprenorphine effective; tianeptine dependence — like opioids.
The DEA Just Moved to Schedule the Gas-Station Kratom Shot, Not the Leaf. The Difference Is the Whole Story.
Jul 22The Jails Were Finally Learning to Treat Opioid Withdrawal. Then Medetomidine Showed Up.
Jun 28The DEA Spent a Decade Trying to Schedule Kratom. NIH Just Gave It a Clinical Trial for OUD.
Jun 27
Harm Reduction
Test strips for xylazine + nitazenes (where available), stay with person during prolonged sedation, don't use alone, high-dose naloxone availability.
DEA Wants to Schedule Concentrated 7-OH Kratom Like Heroin. The Comment Window Closes Today.
Jul 31Xylazine Was the Adulterant Everyone Learned to Test For. Medetomidine Is 300 Times Stronger, and the Government Just Defunded the Strips That Catch It
Jul 29The Drug That's Replacing Xylazine Is Already Winning, and Your Test Strip Can't See It
Jul 28