The Year's Highlights in Blame Shifting
Politicians and cops found creative ways to dodge responsibility in 2021.
Drug Policy
Californians Learn That Raising Taxes on Marijuana Fuels Black Markets for Drugs
If only they would apply that lesson to other goods and services.
Biden Doubles Down on a Lethal Anti-Drug Strategy
Prohibition has driven opioid-related deaths to record levels.
Mail-Order Abortion Pills, Now Officially Authorized by the FDA, Pose an Insoluble Problem for Legislators Who Want To Ban the Procedure
Federal regulators have permanently lifted a requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in person.
Feds Pledge $30 Million To Fund Drug Harm Reduction Programs
Less punitive responses to drug addiction are good, but what about people still stuck in federal prison?
234 Million Reason TV Fans Can't Be Wrong! Support Our Video Journalism!
Our videos make the case for "Free Minds and Free Markets" to millions of people a year.
New York City Is Funding America's First Official Safe Injection Site for Drug Users
As the U.S. reaches new terrible milestones in overdose deaths, a harm reduction system that has proven itself elsewhere finally launches where it’s needed most.
Should We Blame Pharmacies or the Government for Opioid-Related Deaths?
Restrictions on pain medication have undermined patient care while making drug use more lethal.
Is Fentanyl-Tainted Marijuana 'Something Real' or 'Just an Urban Legend'?
The meager evidence cited by Connecticut officials makes their warnings seem overwrought.
Dopesick Reinforces These Pernicious Misconceptions About Opioids, Addiction, and Pain Treatment
The Hulu miniseries portrays opioid pain medication as unacceptably dangerous in nearly every context.
Two Courts Debunk Widely Accepted Opioid Myths
Undertreatment of pain is a real problem, and bona fide patients rarely become addicted to their medication.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Overturns a Landmark Decision Blaming Johnson & Johnson for the State's Opioid Problems
The justices rejected a broad definition of "public nuisance" that would cover the manufacture of pain medication.
A Shuttered West Virginia Pharmacy Shows the DEA's Role in Escalating America's Overdose Crisis
A drug that treats opioid addiction may also be abused. That’s not a good reason to restrict access.
Detroit Becomes the Second-Largest U.S. City To Urge Tolerance of Psychedelic Use
Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative that makes "entheogenic plant" possession the city's "lowest law-enforcement priority."
A Scathing Rejection of the Case Against Four Drug Companies Highlights Misconceptions About the 'Opioid Crisis'
A California judge said the four jurisdictions that filed the lawsuit failed to prove a "public nuisance" or "false advertising."
Ethan Nadelmann: How To End the Drug War (and What Comes Next)
The Drug Policy Alliance founder and Psychoactive podcast host on how to build a post-prohibitionist America.
Seattle Just Became the Largest U.S. City To Approve Quasi-Decriminalization of Natural Psychedelics
The resolution urges police to refrain from arresting people for noncommercial production and distribution as well as possession.
Undoing Drugs
Harm reduction invites a radical reconsideration of the way the government deals with politically disfavored intoxicants.
Opium Suppression in Afghanistan Was a US-led Failure
The basics of supply and demand still applied.
How Drug Warriors Made the 'Opioid Epidemic' Deadlier
Restricting access to pain medication drove nonmedical users toward black-market substitutes.
A Record Number of Drug-Related Deaths Illustrates the Lethal Consequences of Prohibition
The war on drugs is not just ineffective; it exacerbates the problems it is supposed to alleviate.
Chuck Schumer Says He Wants To Legalize Marijuana. His Bill Suggests Otherwise.
The Senate majority leader's racial rhetoric and overly prescriptive approach make an already iffy effort even more quixotic.
Psychonautical Journalist Michael Pollan Is Finally Ready To End the War on Drugs
The evolution of Pollan's thinking reflects the confusion caused by arbitrary pharmacological distinctions.
Clarence Thomas Blasts the 'Contradictory and Unstable' Federal Marijuana Ban
Sixteen years after Gonzales v. Raich, Thomas is back with another opinion criticizing the federal government’s marijuana ban.
America Loves Gay Marriage (and Weed)
A new poll shows even a majority of Republicans now support same-sex marriage.
This 38-Year-Old Man Will Spend Life in Prison Over 1.5 Ounces of Marijuana
Plus: The gas crisis, it's time to free Reality Winner, and more...
The Surge in Drug-Related Fatalities During the Pandemic Highlights the Root Causes of Addiction
The crackdown on pain medication made drug use more dangerous and did nothing to address the factors driving "deaths of despair."
Marijuana and Pregnancy: What Does the Science Say?
The best available evidence suggests fears about fetal risk, while not totally unwarranted, are often overblown.
Coming Out of the Chemical Closet
Neuropsychopharmacologist Carl Hart says most of what the public knows about drugs is both scary and wrong.
Philadelphia Safe Injection Site Hits Another Legal Roadblock
An appeals court panel rules the Controlled Substance Act's "crackhouse" provision forbids Safehouse from creating the facility.
Violent Crime in Baltimore Plunges After City Ditches Prosecution of Prostitution, Drug Possession, Other Minor Offenses
Plus: The "infrastructure plan" that isn't, the Institute for Justice challenges cash seizures at airports, and more...
New York Finally—After Three Years—on Verge of Legalizing Marijuana
A compromise is now circulating that would establish a market but also allow growing at home.
White House Sanctions Staffers Over Past Marijuana Use
Plus: FTC commissioner on antitrust action against Facebook, FIRE's Greg Lukianoff on the "marketplace of ideas" metaphor, and more...
Mandating Indoor Cannabis Cultivation Is Bad for the Environment
Legalizing interstate sales and allowing outdoor growing would reduce the cannabis industry's energy consumption.
The Washington Supreme Court Just Decriminalized Simple Drug Possession. Legislators Shouldn't 'Fix' the Overturned Law.
The court said criminalizing unknowing possession violates the right to due process.
Legal Pot Doesn't Seem To Increase Teen Use or Addiction
Two studies published in November found that legalization has not been associated with increases in adolescent marijuana use or addiction.
Biden Says Drug Users Shouldn't Be Jailed but Won't Do Anything To Stop It
Plus: "Cancel culture" confusion, Biden rejects student loan forgiveness, Stossel and Snowden on internet privacy, and more...
From Magic Mushroom to Forbidden Fungus (and Back)
Half a century ago, Congress declared that there is no legitimate use for psilocybin. State and local governments are finally challenging that judgment.
'I Use Heroin to Be a Better Person': Columbia University Neuroscientist Carl Hart
His new book, Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear, is a provocative manifesto for legalizing all drugs.
What the War on Drugs Can Teach Us About Fighting COVID-19
We can’t eliminate the virus, but we can reduce its harm to our lives and livelihoods.
Biden Restores a Barrier to Opioid Addiction Treatment
The new administration nixes a change that would have allowed more physicians to prescribe buprenorphine.
Cuomo Seems Intent on Screwing up New York's Marijuana Legalization
No home cultivation? Increased criminal penalties? This is not the way to end a drug war.
Carl Hart: Drug Use for Grown-Ups
The Columbia neuroscientist talks frankly about using heroin responsibly and "chasing liberty in the land of fear."
Lil Wayne, Steve Bannon, and Some Drug War Victims Pardoned, but No Assange, Snowden, or Ulbricht
Plus: Pelosi wants 9/11-style commission to investigate Capitol attack, MyPillow drama, and more...
This 71-Year-Old 'Love Doc' Says MDMA Is 'Emotional Superglue'
"It's like taking a chemical helicopter ride above my life," says psychotherapist Charles Wininger. "Then I can come back down and rededicate myself to the way I want to be living."
What Drug Warriors Got Wrong About the Opioid Epidemic
The original formulation of OxyContin didn’t create the opioid crisis, argues psychiatrist Sally Satel, and removing it from the market didn’t make the problem go away.
Charles Wininger: Why We Should Listen To Ecstasy and Other Psychedelics
A 71-year-old therapist comes out of the "chemical closet" to promote MDMA as a means of self-discovery
