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.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has argued the country should decriminalize all drugs in order to take power away from the cartels and criminal gangs.
Luxembourg has called on its EU neighbors to relax their drug laws as its health minister confirmed plans to become the first European country to legalize cannabis production and consumption.
The new law allows people who were only convicted of a crime of simple possession, which is possession of under 30 grams, to have their record suspended, free of charge (the normal fee is $631).
The First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform law passed in Congress last year, was the catalyst for the release of more than 3,100 formerly incarcerated individuals from federal custody on July 19.
Overdose deaths in the United States finally reversed course in 2018, ending nearly two decades of almost unbroken annual increases — a sign that the coordinated public health response is starting to work. Expanded naloxone access, medication-assisted treatment, and community outreach all appear to have contributed, though no single intervention gets the credit. The picture inside the data is mixed: while opioid deaths fell, deaths involving cocaine and methamphetamine rose, suggesting the epidemic shifted rather than ended. Still, experts say this is evidence that scaling up treatment saves lives — and that doing so remains the central, unfinished challenge.
The new law removes the possibility of jail time as a penalty for up to three grams of marijuana, but maintains a $130 fine.
In addition to legalizing marijuana, Illinois HB 1438 offers relief to the roughly 770,000 residents of the state with marijuana-related offenses on their criminal records.
A representative from the Malaysian government said that decriminalization is a step toward a rational drug policy that puts science and public health before punishment and incarceration.
Starting in 2020, Nevada employers cannot refuse to hire a job applicant for failing a marijuana screening test, making it the first state to pass such a law.
The city council’s vote directed law enforcement to cease investigating and prosecuting individuals for using or possessing drugs sourced from plants, cacti, and mushrooms.
