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The Latest News from Our Field

We curate a digest of the latest news in our field for advocates, policymakers, community coalitions and all who work toward shaping policies and practices to effectively prevent substance use and treat addiction. Sign up here to receive weekly updates straight to your inbox.

DEA to schedule 7-OH and related substances

DEA filed its intent to temporarily place certain levels of 7-OH and three related substances into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

FDA allows ZYN to be marketed as safer alternative to smoking

FDA issued orders to allow ZYN nicotine pouches to be marketed as less harmful to health than cigarettes.

Health programs must agree to CDC deprioritization of harm reduction

CDC required health programs at the state, territorial, tribal, and local level to agree to a list of agency priorities, which deprioritizes harm reduction.

STAT: Alcohol industry influence in federal policy

STAT investigations found that the federal government has downplayed alcohol’s risks and derailed efforts to understand and prevent related harms, while the alcohol industry has used allies and money to push favorable policy.

Research News Roundup: July 9, 2026

View our curated digest of the latest research news, including how a national study of 1,501 opioid treatment programs (OTPs) found that state methadone policies shape not only access to OTPs, but also the range of services available within them. Programs in states with more restrictive OTP rules were less likely to offer naltrexone and less likely to provide all three FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder. These programs were also less likely to offer key behavioral health supports, including mental health services, trauma-informed counseling, and contingency management. The findings suggest that restrictive state policies may weaken access to comprehensive, evidence-based OUD care at points of critical treatment entry.

DOJ memo challenges disability rights laws

A DOJ memo goes against decades of law and practice that has prioritized community-based care over institutionalization for people with disabilities, mental illness, and substance use disorder.

DEA fentanyl interdiction tactics questioned

The AP reported that in an attempt to pursue bigger criminal cases against fentanyl traffickers, DEA agents monitored, but did not seize, shipments of fentanyl pills, allowing many to enter New Mexico communities.

HHS advisories on using pharmacists to expand MOUD access

Federal health agencies issued advisories to states on policies to expand access to MOUD, including authorizing pharmacists to prescribe the medications.

New York Times: Kratom industry influence in regulation

The kratom industry has strongly lobbied the administration to resist regulation, working to differentiate kratom from 7-OH products and downplaying the risks associated with kratom.

Research News Roundup: July 2, 2026

View our curated digest of the latest research news, including how Xylazine, an animal tranquilizer known on the street as "tranq," has become one of the most dangerous additions to the illicit drug supply, increasingly mixed into fentanyl. Yet despite how often it shows up in overdoses, almost nothing is known about what it does once it is inside the human body. A new study begins to fill that gap by measuring xylazine directly in the blood of overdose patients — and the finding is striking: the drug lingers far longer than expected, clearing much more slowly in people than animal research had predicted. That may help explain why these patients stay sedated so long, and it gives doctors and medical examiners something they've never had much of before: real numbers to work from.

HHS releases over $700M for behavioral health, including delayed grants

HHS announced over $700 million in federal grants for addressing homelessness, mental health, and addiction, including $96 million for the new STREETS program and $612 million for existing behavioral health grant programs.

FDA memo provides more detail on authorization of flavored e-cigarettes

FDA's memo on its decision to authorize two flavored e-cigarettes is lacking research details and acknowledges that the products were not better at helping people quit smoking than tobacco-flavored products.

Shift in attitudes on medications for addiction treatment

A STAT article reports that despite more widespread support in recent years, there has been a recent resurgence of hostility toward medications for addiction treatment among federal officials.

Alcohol study reveals health risks

A SAMHSA-run study on alcohol as part the U.S. dietary guidelines update, which was never released by the administration, was published in a scientific journal. It found that there was no net health benefit from alcohol and that even moderate amounts carry risk.

Research News Roundup: June 18, 2026

View our curated digest of the latest research news, including a community-based study that looked at how much naloxone was handed out, how many people were started on buprenorphine, how many stayed on it for at least six months, and how often risky new opioid prescriptions were written. The standouts were the two buprenorphine measures: communities that got more people onto the medication, and especially those that kept people on it longer, saw lower overdose death rates. Naloxone distribution and risky prescribing, by contrast, showed no clear link to death rates in this analysis.

White House reclassifies federal workers and overhauls grantmaking

The administration released a proposal to overhaul the regulation for all federal grants and reclassified thousands of federal employees, raising concerns for scientists and health agencies.

Pain in the Nation report: Decline in alcohol and drug deaths

The 2026 Pain in the Nation report shows continued declines in drug overdose deaths and alcohol-induced deaths in 2024, but continued investment in prevention is needed to sustain this progress.

Research News Roundup: June 11, 2026

View our curated digest of the latest research news, including an investigation that synthesized data from multiple authoritative sources and found no net protective health effect from low levels of alcohol consumption. Instead, alcohol-related risks of serious illness and premature death begin to rise at relatively low levels of drinking. Notably, for men, the lifetime risk of dying from an alcohol-related cause reaches one in twenty-five when consumption reaches fourteen drinks per week. The pattern of drinking also matters: consuming more than one drink per occasion is associated with progressively higher risks of injury and chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. The findings support guidance that current adult drinkers limit alcohol consumption to no more than one drink per day.

10 states join CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration

Ten new states joined the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Medicaid Demonstration Program, providing sustainable funding to expand access to comprehensive mental health and addiction services.

Drugged driving data gaps persist

While the federal government has long tracked data on the role of alcohol in car crashes, the data on crashes involving other drugs remains lacking.

CMS releases rule on Medicaid work requirements

CMS's new rule on implementing work requirements will make it difficult for patients to get needed exemptions and create more burden for clinicians and states.

Research News Roundup: June 4, 2026

View our curated digest of the latest research news, including how alcohol use disorder is linked to problems with memory, attention, decision-making, and motor control, but the brain pathways behind those impairments are not fully understood. Analyzing functional MRI and neuropsychological data, the findings suggest that AUD disrupts specific brain systems underlying spatial working memory, attention, and motor performance. By connecting brain-networks to cognitive and motor problems, the study strengthens our understanding of AUD as a disorder that affects the neural machinery of thinking and action.

STAT: Rising alcohol use during pregnancy alarms experts

The next article in STAT’s “The Deadliest Drug” series focuses on alcohol use during pregnancy, which started climbing a decade ago after precipitous declines in the last 50 years.

FDA’s tobacco policy moves

FDA issued warning letters to 8 retailers for selling tobacco products that imitate everyday products. At the same time, some FDA officials say they were blindsided by the agency's new guidance on flavored vaping products, and other health officials and members of Congress express skepticism of the move.

Surgeon general warning on screen time

HHS issued a U.S. surgeon general’s advisory on the harms of screen use. It outlines potential harms to young people and provides recommendations for youth, families, schools, health care providers, researchers, policymakers, and technology companies.
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