This archive covers progress in drug policy reform, psychedelic-assisted therapy, harm reduction, and the science behind entheogenic substances. From clinical trials to legal milestones, these stories track how researchers, policymakers, and communities are rethinking humanity’s relationship with mind-altering compounds.
More than 6,000 people with prior federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana — and thousands of others convicted under Washington, D.C., law — could benefit.
City lawmakers have unanimously approved a measure calling for the decriminalization of psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca.
Some 4,000 prisoners serving jail time for cannabis-related crimes will soon be released and their criminal records for those offenses will be deleted.
British Columbia’s decision to decriminalize personal drug possession is one of the most significant public health pivots in Canadian history — replacing arrest with a referral to care for adults carrying small amounts of certain substances. Fear of police kept people from calling for help during overdoses, pushing drug use away from life-saving services. Evidence from Portugal and other jurisdictions suggests decriminalization paired with strong health supports can reduce overdose deaths — and a major province choosing this path adds real momentum to treating addiction as a health issue, not a crime.
“Implementation of legalized non-medical cannabis coincided with decreases in alcohol and cigarette use and pain reliever misuse,” the University of Washington researchers reported.
Clerkenwell Health’s opening marks a turning point for psychedelic medicine, moving it from university labs into dedicated commercial infrastructure built to carry promising compounds through late-stage clinical trials. The clinic’s first focus is patients facing terminal diagnoses — a population where conventional treatments often fall short, and where earlier psilocybin studies showed lasting reductions in anxiety and depression after just one or two sessions. By serving multiple drug developers at once, the facility could meaningfully accelerate how quickly different psychedelic compounds reach the people who need them. It’s a signal that this field is ready to scale.
The new study led by researchers from Imperial College London found that people also reported a reduction in their depression symptoms alongside these brain changes.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed the legislation Wednesday and it became law immediately. The first marijuana dispensaries could open within the next few months.
Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that the Narcotics Control Board had approved the dropping cannabis from the ministry’s list of controlled drugs.
A new study published in the The Journal of Psychopharmacology found no detrimental effects from simultaneous administration of the drug.
