synthetic drugs

China to Target Fentanyl Precursors, Deepening the Synthetic Drug War

China has reportedly agreed to crack down on companies that manufacture and export fentanyl precursors, a key deliverable for President…

November 14, 2023

DEA Targets Precursors, Pill Presses in Fentanyl Supply Chain Crackdown

In the aftermath of the temporary class-wide fentanyl ban the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ordered in 2018, a lot of…

November 7, 2023

Prison “K2”: The Hidden Center of a Chaotic New Drug War

Back when I was running with biker gangs, we used to play a game called Crash or Fly. Someone would…

November 28, 2022

Oregon to Regulate Synthetic Cannabis Products, Setting National Precedent

Beginning on July 1, 2022, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) will ban the sale of “artificially derived cannabinoids”…

June 14, 2022

One Drug Dominates Our Prison’s Supply. We Don’t Know What It Is.

During the pandemic, the Michigan Department of Corrections suspended all Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, “substance abuse” classes and support groups, many…

April 27, 2022

Revealing Trends in Russia’s Dark-Web Drug Markets

Heroin use became widespread in Russia in the late 1990s, amid the opening of international borders and social upheaval and…

December 16, 2020

Why Isotonitazene Is Not Yet the “New Fentanyl”

In the span of about a year, isotonitazene, a novel psychoactive substance (NPS), went from being practically unheard of to…

May 21, 2020

Florida Prison Neglect Contributes to Synthetic Cannabinoid Deaths

The violent and inhumane conditions pervading Florida state prisons are graphically detailed in a covertly-recorded documentary by an incarcerated man,…

October 7, 2019

New Drugs, Bad Policies Leave Philly Harm Reduction Groping in the Dark

The “Walmart of Heroin” is how the New York Times described Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood—in a much-criticized October 2018 story that…

September 19, 2019

The Study of “Synthetic Cannabinoids” Condemns Punitive Marijuana Laws

On April 2, at the invitation of Alex J. Krotulski, a research scientist with the Center for Forensic Science Research…

April 12, 2019