synthetic cannabinoids

Corrections Departments Winning Imaginary Fight Against “K2 Exposure”

In 2021, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department published body-cam footage of a deputy who collapsed after coming into contact…

September 16, 2025

Feds Share Prison Contraband Data They May Not Have Thought Through

The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) has released a report on sentencing for contraband violations in federal prisons between 2019…

June 24, 2025

What’s in the Drug “Strips” Common in Prisons and Jails?

Over the past year, prisons in several states have banned physical mail for incarcerated people, replacing cherished handwritten communications with…

January 30, 2025

The Prison Mail Bans Aren’t About Fentanyl. They’re About Understaffing.

On September 19, Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation that would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to begin…

September 23, 2024

How Prison Tobacco Bans Created a Drug Market No One Wanted

[Part 1 and Part 2 of this story were published earlier in July.] Back in 2004, right before tobacco was…

July 22, 2024

How Iron Law of Prohibition Works in Prisons, Where Everything’s Prohibited

[Read Part 1 of this story here] When I got off the chain bus at Washington State Penitentiary (Walla Walla)…

July 11, 2024

Stimulant Harm Reduction Should Include Synthetic Cannabinoids

Usually "stimulants" refers to methamphetamine or cocaine, or prescription uppers like Adderall. But it's really just a catch-all term for…

May 8, 2024