The 'Threat' That Supposedly Justified Killing 2 Boat Attack Survivors Was Entirely Speculative
The commander who ordered a second missile strike worried that the helpless men he killed might be able to salvage cocaine from the smoldering wreck.
Drug Policy
Boat Attack Commander Says He Had To Kill 2 Survivors Because They Were Still Trying To Smuggle Cocaine
Adm. Frank M. Murphy reportedly told lawmakers a controversial second strike was necessary because drugs on the burning vessel remained a threat.
Rand Paul Bashes Pete Hegseth Over Boat Bombings: 'He Was Lying…or He's Incompetent'
Paul says Hegseth misled Congress about deadly strikes on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean.
Hegseth's 'Fog of War' Is No Excuse for Summarily Executing Suspected Drug Smugglers
Regardless of what the defense secretary knew or said about the September 2 boat attack, the forces he commands are routinely committing murder in the guise of self-defense.
The Law of War Was Not Designed for Trump's Bogus 'Armed Conflict' With Drug Smugglers
Instead of asking whether a particular boat attack went too far, Congress should ask how the summary execution of criminal suspects became the new normal.
Hegseth's Alleged Order To 'Kill Everybody' Complicates Trump's Defense of His Murderous Anti-Drug Campaign
Even if you accept the president's assertion of an "armed conflict" with drug smugglers, blowing apart survivors of a boat strike would be a war crime.
Psychoactive Hemp Products Will Be Federally Prohibited in a Year Unless Congress Intervenes
A spending bill approved as part of the package that ended the federal shutdown aims to close a loophole that gave birth to $28 billion industry.
Trump Says Legislators Committed Treason by Noting That Soldiers Are Not Obligated To Obey Unlawful Orders
The president's authoritarian response to a video posted by six members of Congress, who he says "should be arrested and put on trial," validates their concerns.
This Gun Case Harks Back to Constitutional Concerns About the Limits of Federal Power That Now Seem Quaint
Congress justified that National Firearms Act of 1934 as a revenue measure—a rationale undermined by the repeal of taxes on suppressors and short-barreled rifles.
A Senate-Approved Bill Would Ban the Hemp-Derived THC Products That Congress Legalized in 2018
The appropriations bill, which the House is considering, would wipe out an industry that offers alternatives to cannabis consumers in states that still prohibit recreational marijuana use.
The Perils of Viewing Psilocybin Strictly As a Psychiatric Medication
The most common uses of "magic mushrooms" will never gain FDA approval.
What Does Fentanyl Have to Do With Alleged Drug Boats 2,600 Miles Away? Absolutely Nothing.
President Trump’s pretextual claim that fentanyl carrying drug boats in the Caribbean are an existential threat to Americans doesn’t pass muster.
Trump Says His 'Armed Conflict' With Drug Traffickers Does Not Involve 'Hostilities'
The government is tying itself in knots to cast murder as self-defense and avoid legal limits on the president's use of the military.
According to Trump, He Has Already Saved 350,000 Lives by Murdering Suspected Drug Smugglers
There are several problems with the president's math, which suggests he has accomplished an impossible feat.
Trump, an Avowed Second Amendment Champion, Defends a Gun Ban With 'No Historical Justification'
His administration is urging the Supreme Court to uphold a prosecution for violating a federal law that bars illegal drug users from owning firearms.
Is Oregon Proof That Drug Decriminalization Will Fail?
The Drug Policy Institute's Kevin Sabet debates Reason's Zach Weissmueller.
Trump Allegedly Misidentified a Colombian Fisherman as a Venezuelan 'Narcoterrorist'
The potential for deadly error underlines the lawlessness of the president’s bloodthirsty anti-drug strategy.
Singapore Keeps Hanging Low-Level Drug Couriers, But It Can't Execute Its Way to a Drug-Free Society
The Singaporean government hanged Pannir Selvam this month, the 10th convict to be executed in 2025 for nonviolent narcotics violations.
SCOTUS Will Consider the Constitutionality of the Federal Ban on Gun Possession by Illegal Drug Users
The law applies to millions of Americans who pose no plausible threat to public safety, including cannabis consumers in states that have legalized marijuana.
Trump Erroneously Thinks Killing Suspected Smugglers Is the Key to Winning the Drug War
Until now, the president concedes, interdiction has been "totally ineffective." Blowing up drug boats won't change that reality.
Defending the Summary Execution of Suspected Drug Smugglers, Trump Declares an 'Armed Conflict'
The president thinks he can transform murder into self-defense by executive fiat.
How Oregon's Drug Experiment Backfired
The lesson isn’t that decriminalization can’t work. It’s that Portland-style governance is broken.
Cannabis Isn't the Cure for Chronic Pain
Flawed research methods are misleading patients and might embolden prohibitionists. Marijuana has promise in treating certain sorts of discomfort, but some conditions still require powerful narcotics.
Psychedelics Are Not Just for Hippies and Tech Bros
Author Joe Dolce explains how psychedelics are moving from counterculture to mainstream, with new science, shifting laws, and surprising therapies that promise to change how we treat addiction, anxiety, and self-discovery.
Another Military Strike on a Speedboat Confirms Trump's Policy of Murdering Suspected Drug Smugglers
The president's new approach to drug law enforcement represents a stark departure from military norms and criminal justice principles.
Trump Calls His Drone Strike on an Alleged Drug Boat 'Self-Defense.' It Looks More Like Murder.
Equating drug trafficking with armed aggression, the president asserts the authority to kill anyone he perceives as a threat to "our most vital national interests."
Advocates of MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy Complain that 'the FDA Moved the Goalposts'
The agency's puzzling concerns about the Lykos Therapeutics drug application
'Botched' Drug Raids Show How Prohibition Invites Senseless Violence
The war on drugs authorizes police conduct that otherwise would be readily recognized as criminal.
The 10th Circuit Agrees That Prosecuting Cannabis Consumers for Gun Possession May Be Unconstitutional
The appeals court rejected most of the arguments in favor of that policy, saying "the government must show non-intoxicated marijuana users pose a risk of future danger."
The 11th Circuit Revives a Constitutional Challenge to the Federal Law That Disarms Medical Marijuana Patients
The appeals court concluded that the government had failed to show that policy is consistent with "this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
Hiking Tariffs on Canada, Trump Demands 'Adequate Steps' To Achieve an Impossible Drug War Goal
Canada accounts for a tiny percentage of fentanyl smuggling, which cannot be stopped by trying harder.
Hunter Biden Walks Free While This Iowa Man Serves 4 Years for the Same 'Crime'
The contrast between the two cases illustrates the haphazard impact of an arbitrary, constitutionally dubious gun law.
Although Meth Is Irresistible, The New York Times Says, Addicts Often Prefer Small Cash Rewards
The success of "contingency management" belies the notion that addiction is an uncontrollable disease caused by a drug's impact on dopamine levels.
Everything Got Worse During COVID
By almost every measure, America during the pandemic was a more dangerous, deadly, and dysfunctional place.
How Charlie Rangel Changed His Mind About the War on Drugs
The former congressman, who died this week, transformed from a zealous prohibitionist into a drug policy reformer.
Texas Bans Delta-8 THC, Which Is Only Popular Because of Prohibition
Six years after legalizing hemp and its by-products, the state is revising its drug policies and criminalizing products sold by thousands of Texas businesses.
By Trump's Logic, Biden Deserves Credit for a Dramatic Drop in Overdose Deaths
That logic implausibly assumes presidents have the power to curtail substance abuse by attacking the drug supply.
What Did We Learn From DOGE?
Plus: A listener asks which domestic policy changes could realistically boost U.S. manufacturing without raising costs for consumers.
A New Survey Suggests Illicit Opioid Use Is Much More Common Than the Government's Numbers Indicate
The survey estimates that 7.5 percent of America adults use illegally produced fentanyl each year, 25 times the rate indicated by a government-sponsored survey.
The Bad Data Backing Josh Hawley's Attack on Abortion Pills
A new study being used to call for mifepristone restrictions relies on vague and dubious definitions of drug-related complications.
Pam Bondi's Absurd Claim About Fentanyl Overdoses Epitomizes the Illogic of the War on Drugs
Even when they are less patently ridiculous, the metrics of success favored by government officials make little sense.
Pam Bondi Says Trump's Fentanyl Seizures Have Saved Over 250 Million Lives
Bondi said the president's drug policy prevented the deaths of 75 percent of Americans, in just his first 100 days.
How Far Will the Trump Administration Go Against Mexican Drug Cartels?
Using the military to wage the drug war in Mexico raises practical and constitutional issues.
A New Study Adds to the Evidence That Drug Busts Result in More Overdose Deaths
The researchers found that drug seizures in San Francisco were associated with a substantial increase in fatal opioid overdoses.
A Federal Judge in Utah Orders Local Officials To Return a Religious Group's Psychedelic Sacrament
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish emphasizes that religious freedom must protect "unpopular or unfamiliar religious groups" as well as "popular or familiar ones."
New York's Weed Nightmare
How pot bureaucrats used legal weed to push their social justice agenda
The Most Controversial Paper in the History of Psychedelic Research May Never See the Light of Day
Researchers gave psilocybin to two dozen religious clergy. Was it guided by science, religion, or some awkward combination?
