Blogs
LISTEN: Luke Niforatos on psychedelics and bad science
Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions Executive Vice President Luke Niforatos went on Colorado Public Radio to talk about the weak science and worrying side effects of psychedelics when used to treat mental health issues. You can (and should) listen to him here; you can also read the full transcript below. HOST: As we start […]
FRIDAY FACT: Big Marijuana’s stock is crashing
More bad news for Big Marijuana. The largest pot ETF, AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis, is getting absolutely clocked. This week saw it hovering well below $2.50, a massive climbdown from its stratospheric high February 2021 of $55.05. What put it in freefall? Hopes around federal legalization of marijuana reached a crescendo during the early days of […]
EXPLAINER: The FDA’s Delta-8 Bombshell
The Food and Drug Administration has dropped a bombshell on a dangerous sector of America’s addiction industry. How? The agency recently signaled a major turn in its enforcement policies around Delta-8 THC—expanding its previous focus on going after extremely harmful kid-aimed packages of edibles onto hitting what’s inside those packages. THE BACKGROUND Delta-8 THC […]
Love weed? Prepare to have your heart broken
You don’t have to argue with most people about cigarettes being bad for their heart. Marijuana has been a different story; it’s not viewed by the general population as a drug that causes cardiovascular damage. That story is (thankfully) changing. A new study from the University of California-San Francisco investigating the effects of marijuana on […]
The Highest Love
The Butterfly upon the Sky The Butterfly upon the Sky, That doesn’t know its Name And hasn’t any tax to pay And hasn’t any Home Is just as high as you and I, And higher, I believe, So soar away and never sigh And that’s the way to grieve— —Emily Dickinson Randy Michael was getting […]
For “Friction”: Diving Deeper into The Ezra Klein Show
Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Anxious Generation, was recently on Ezra Klein’s podcast The Ezra Klein Show. The Anxious Generation studies the epidemic of teenage mental illness as technology like smartphones and social media become increasingly pervasive in their lives. Excessive usage of these technologies disconnects a teenager from the non-digital world: the real […]
The Drug Review: It’s Only Hemp, Right? The Problem and Why Grassroots Advocacy is the Answer
It’s a cheap gimmick in bad sitcoms, but for Donna, nothing was funny about it. Her friend made a batch of delicious brownies, and Donna was a sucker for brownies. She tried one bite, and then another, and another… In no time, Donna inadvertently had ingested an entire pot brownie. But the result of this […]
EXCLUSIVE: AMA’S SUPPORT FOR DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION SHOULDN’T BE MISCONSTRUED By Stuart Gitlow, MD, MPH
For 30 years I’ve treated thousands of patients with the disease of addiction. My primary focus has been on patients with opioid use disorder, and, thankfully, there are effective and long-lasting forms of treatment available. Many individuals suffering from other chronic life-threatening illnesses are less lucky. If you told me that a treatment for diabetes […]
PEOPLE OVER PROFITS: DRUG LIBERALIZATION RECEIVES PUSHBACK AROUND THE GLOBE By Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D.
From Oregon to Canada to Thailand, policymakers and the public alike are waking up to the consequences of lenient and irresponsible drug policies. Whether it is the commercialization of marijuana or the decriminalization of all other drugs, policymakers are learning the hard way that public health and safety must remain a jurisdiction’s priority. As we approach the International Day Against Drug Abuse and […]
Sources inside DEA say Administrator did not sign off on marijuana rescheduling decision
The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Anne Milgram, did not sign off on the DEA’s decision to reschedule marijuana, according to multiple sources within the DEA. Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former three-time White House drug policy official and now the president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, tweeted Monday afternoon: “BIG: I can now say […]
The Drug Review: Marijuana Dispensaries Sell to Thousands of Minors Every Year
By Connor Kubeisy, Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions For years, advocates for the legalization of marijuana have been telling skeptical voters that dispensaries would not sell their products to minors. Their primary arguments have remained unchanged: legalizing and regulating marijuana is the only way to ensure that it will not end up in the hands […]
The Drug Review: Oregon’s Measure 110 Has Been A Failed Policy Experiment
By Connor Kubeisy, Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions February 1st marked three years since Oregon implemented Measure 110, the nation’s first experiment with the decriminalization of all drugs, including meth, cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. Measure 110 has been a demonstrable failure by nearly all measures, seeing increases in fatal overdoses, nonfatal overdoses, illicit drug […]