Stimulants
Cocaine, methamphetamine, prescription amphetamines, MDMA, and cathinones — substances that elevate dopamine and norepinephrine.
Latest reporting
Arizona Is Winning the Opioid Fight It Built and Losing the Meth-and-Heat Crisis It Didn't
Arizona's opioid overdoses are plunging in its biggest counties, but statewide deaths hit a record high — because methamphetamine, not fentanyl alone, is now driving the crisis, and Arizona's summer heat is making it deadlier.
Colombia's New President Is Importing a Drug War That Already Killed 221 People and Didn't Work
Colombia's new president asked Trump to bring the deadly boat-strike campaign onshore. Cocaine production has hit a record high anyway — a case study in what a billion dollars doesn't fix.
Arizona's Heat Deaths Aren't a Weather Story. They're a Meth Story With the AC Turned Off.
Arizona's overdose death rate has overtaken West Virginia's as national deaths fall. Methamphetamine — which disables the body's ability to sense its own overheating — drives most of the state's heat deaths, right as federal addiction funding gets pulled.
Through eight lenses
Science
Monoamine release/reuptake (DA, NE, serotonin) — cocaine blocks; meth releases.
Biology
Hyperthermia, cardiac strain, neurotoxicity (dopamine terminals with chronic high-dose meth), dental effects ("meth mouth" from dry-mouth + acidic diet, not the drug directly).
One in Four Bags of Cocaine Now Carries Fentanyl. There's Still No Medicine for What's Underneath It.
Aug 1One Dose of Cocaine Rewrites How a Brain Cell's DNA Is Folded. That Word 'Recreational' Just Got Harder to Use.
Jul 24Arizona's Meth Deaths Spike Every July. The State Still Hasn't Applied for the Treatment That Works.
Jul 21
Psychology
The "euphoria gap" after the acute phase, stimulant psychosis in heavy meth use, ADHD/stimulant diagnosis intersection.
Policy
Schedule II (meth, cocaine, Rx stimulants); DEA production quotas; Adderall shortage backstory.
Trends
Stimulant-involved deaths hit 57,500 in 2022, ~70% co-involving fentanyl — the fourth wave.
Arizona Is Winning the Opioid Fight It Built and Losing the Meth-and-Heat Crisis It Didn't
Aug 17Colombia's New President Is Importing a Drug War That Already Killed 221 People and Didn't Work
Aug 15A Cocaine Batch Laced With Fentanyl Just Killed Someone on the Wisconsin-Michigan Border. It Won't Stay There.
Jul 29
Treatment
NO FDA-approved medication for stimulant UD; contingency management has the strongest evidence (RCTs 2–4× retention); CBT, community reinforcement, matrix model.
Harm Reduction
Sleep, hydration, avoiding mixing with depressants, safer-use supplies, drug checking.