Drug Policy Facts

Murder on the Land and the Sea YouTube video by DRCNet

Murder on the Land and the Sea: Extrajudicial Drug War Killings in the 21st Century
Side event at the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoEs...
#CND69

Opioid Overdose Deaths: National Trends and Variation by Demographics and States | KFF Opioid overdose deaths fell sharply from 2023 to 2024 (79,358 to 54,045), driven largely by decreases in fentanyl-involved deaths. Even after these declines, deaths remained above 2019, the year befor...

Opioid Overdose Deaths: National Trends and Variation by Demographics and States
www.kff.org/mental-healt...

Graph showing alcohol-induced deaths in the U.S. from 2014 to 2024. Deaths rise from 2014 to a peak in 2021, then slightly decrease to an estimated 46,714 in 2024. Notable data point: 39,043 deaths in 2019. The chart is titled "Alcohol-Induced Deaths Are Down from Their Peak but Still Above Pre-Pandemic Levels." Data from CDC, analyzed by KFF.

Alcohol deaths increased gradually before the pandemic, spiked to a peak of 54,258 in 2021, and have fallen somewhat since then, down to 46,714 in 2024.

Even after these declines, deaths remained above 2019, the year before the pandemic. https://on.kff.org/4uc6YUQ

US military kills 6 in strike on alleged drug boat in the Eastern Pacific The U.S. military says it has killed six men in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean as part of the Trump administration’s campaign against alleged traffickers.

"Sunday’s attack brought the death toll to at least 157 people since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls 'narcoterrorists' in small vessels in early September."
apnews.com/article/boat...

US military launches operation in Ecuador to combat drug trafficking US Southern Command said joint mission with Ecuadorian forces involves ‘decisive action’ against narco-terrorists

"Daniel Noboa, Ecuador’s 'president and a close ally of Donald Trump, said Washington was among 'regional allies' taking part in the operation against drug cartels, which use ports to smuggle cocaine to international markets."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Public Opinion on Legalizing Psychedelics The 2025 RAND Psychedelics Survey is the first probability-based and nationally representative survey to measure U.S. public opinion about legalizing three psychedelic substances: psilocybin mushrooms...

🎉🎉 2nd report from the 2025 RAND Psychedelics Survey is live!

Nearly 25% of Americans support the legal use of psilocybin “magic” mushrooms. This is similar to the level of support for cannabis before U.S. states started passing medical cannabis laws in the late 1990s

www.rand.org/pubs/researc...

Call for inputs: OHCHR report on the impact of drug policies on the rights of women and girls The report will address human rights challenges and gender-responsive approaches in law and practice, and contributions are received by 31 March.

Call for inputs: OHCHR report on the impact of drug policies on the rights of women and girls
idpc.net/news/2026/02...

Drugs, denial and stigma: the babies and children swept up in Fiji’s HIV nightmare Vulnerable young people, partners of drug users and victims of sexual violence also among those afflicted in world’s fastest growing HIV epidemic

Drugs, denial and stigma: the babies and children swept up in Fiji’s HIV nightmare
Vulnerable young people, partners of drug users and victims of sexual violence also among those afflicted in world’s fastest growing HIV epidemic
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

"In short: Visits to supervised consumption services are deflated through selective data collection, by cuts to frontline services such as supply distribution and consumption site capacity, and by aggressive policy against unhoused people."

"Inaccurate data": How Recovery Alberta officials facilitated consumption site closures (Pt 2) Selective data sharing by some of Alberta's top health officials may backstop plausible deniability for government negligence in closing sites – with impacts all the way to Ontario.

Alberta has a serious disinformation problem, its government weaponizing “experts” willing to cash in credentials for power.

Last year, that tactic — and those people — were leveraged to help close supervised consumption sites across Ontario.
drugdatadecoded.ca/inaccurate-d...

Violence erupts in Mexico after drug lord El Mencho killed The death of the most-wanted Jalisco cartel chief sparks retaliatory violence in at least a dozen states in Mexico.

"Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most powerful and feared criminal organisations in Mexico, have unleashed a wave of violence across 20 Mexican states."
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Adolescent Cannabis Use and Risk of Psychotic, Bipolar, Depressive, and Anxiety Disorders This cohort study assesses the association of past-year cannabis use by adolescents with the risk of incident psychiatric, bipolar, depressive, and anxiety disorders by age 26 years.

New at JAMA Health Forum: Adolescent Cannabis Use and Risk of Psychotic, Bipolar, Depressive, and Anxiety Disorders
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

An FBI ‘Asset’ Helped Run a Dark Web Site That Sold Fentanyl-Laced Drugs for Years A staffer of the Incognito dark web market was secretly controlled by the FBI—and still allegedly approved the sale of fentanyl-tainted pills, including those from a dealer linked to a confirmed death...

An FBI 'Asset' Helped Run a Dark Web Site That Sold Fentanyl-Laced Drugs for Years
www.wired.com/story/an-fbi...

Glendale man gets 5 years in prison for role in darknet drug ring ​A Glendale man was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for his role in a darknet drug trafficking operation that sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine to customers across the United States.

​A Glendale man was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for his role in a darknet drug trafficking operation that sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine to customers across the United States.

Legislators working to keep local opioid settlement money from being misspent - Mississippi Today Since 2022, 147 towns, cities and counties throughout Mississippi have been receiving money from national opioid lawsuits, cases that charged about a dozen companies with contributing to over 10,000 M...

"The Mississippi Today investigation found that local government officials had received over $15.5 million in opioid settlements but spent less than $1 million on ways to prevent more overdoses."
mississippitoday.org/2026/02/16/l...

This man is giving me hives.

1. Any drug is unsafe at the wrong dose. Tylenol and Benadryl overdose are both serious and potentially fatal. “Unsafe” is not a meaningful metric here.

2. If you think the average American can correctly self-manage antibiotic use you’ve never worked in healthcare.

US says 11 people killed in latest strikes on alleged drug boats Three boats targeted in eastern Pacific and Caribbean as Trump continues pursuit of alleged ‘narco-terrorists’

"The military action on Monday brought the number of fatalities caused by US strikes to 145 since September"
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The "boat strikes" are still happening. Five things you need to know.  - WOLA U.S. military strikes on drug smuggling boats have killed 131 people since September, yet media coverage has faded. These extrajudicial killings violate international law, fail to stop drug traffickin...

The “boat strikes” are still happening. Five things you need to know.
www.wola.org/analysis/the...

Repeal of County Ordinance, After Federal Court Injunction, Allows Harm Reduction Programs in Lewis County to Resume - ACLU of Washington Settlement Comes After Federal Court Blocked Ordinance Preventing Gather Church from Providing Health Services to Residents with Substance Use Disorder

Great news! And here's the kicker:
"The settlement also includes $500,000 in attorney's fees."
www.aclu-wa.org/press-releas...

Webinar: Revised Operational Guide: Needle and Syringe Programmes (NSP) for People Who Inject Drugs YouTube video by INHSU VIDEO

Webinar: Revised Operational Guide: Needle and Syringe Programmes (NSP) for People Who Inject Drugs
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-68B...

This is an issue that people have been warning about for YEARS that does not get nearly enough coverage; yet another example of how society thinks it owns pregnant bodies and exerts control over pregnant people and their kids.

“Data from three states that specifically track cases involving prescriptions show that thousands of new mothers were referred to law enforcement based solely on medications their doctors gave them.”

Tens of Thousands of Mothers Were Flagged to Police Over Flawed Drug Tests at Childbirth The Marshall Project found more than 70,000 cases referred to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy — and that’s a significant undercount.

Tens of Thousands of Mothers Were Flagged to Police Over Flawed Drug Tests at Childbirth
The Marshall Project found more than 70,000 cases referred to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy — and that’s a significant undercount.
www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/10/b...

Opinion | It’s Time for America to Admit That It Has a Marijuana Problem

Gift link.
"Taxes should be high enough to deter excessive use, on the scale of dollars per joint, not cents. (Federal alcohol taxes, which have failed to keep pace with inflation since the 1990s, should rise, too.)"
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/o...

US military says two killed in strike on alleged drug boat in Pacific Death toll from Washington’s campaign on alleged drug traffickers now at least 128

"The US military on Thursday said it killed two alleged drug traffickers in a strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific, bringing the death toll from Washington’s campaign to at least 128."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Injecting drug use and infectious diseases in prisons: The high burden of systemic failures YouTube video by NDARC UNSW

New from NDARC: Injecting drug use and infectious diseases in prisons: The high burden of systemic failures
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aifZ...

The cost of chaos: A cracking windshield on substance use in the US | Brookings Current conditions create incremental cracks in the national substance use windshield, which must be repaired as quickly as possible.

The cost of chaos: A cracking windshield on substance use in the US
www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

Our Words Matter: Advancing Inclusive Language & A Human-Rights Based Approach to Criminal Justice. YouTube video by Jared Genser

Our Words Matter: Advancing Inclusive Language & A Human-Rights Based Approach to Criminal Justice.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTmC...

BREAKING: Scientists and Policy Experts Barred From “Good Drug Policy Summit” in Washington, D.C. - SSDP Store FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Media Contact: Gina Giorgio  Director of Strategy and Development Students for Sensible Drug Policy gina@ssdp.org BREAKING: Scientists and Policy Experts Barred From “Good Drug...

BREAKING: Scientists and Policy Experts Barred From “Good Drug Policy Summit” in Washington, D.C.
ssdp.org/blog/breakin...

Rights and Protections for Harm Reduction Programs & Clients in an Increasingly Hostile Environment YouTube video by Network for Public Health Law

Rights and Protections for Harm Reduction Programs & Clients in an Increasingly Hostile Environment
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mqy...