How a Cryptocurrency Helps Criminals Launder Money and Evade Sanctions

Blowing up boats won’t address the larger issue of money laundering that fuels transnational crime - good piece in The NYTimes about the ease of using stable coins for money laundering amidst lax regulation www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/t...

Drug Policy Updates Purdue Litigation and FY26 Appropriations

open.substack.com/pub/reginala...

Here's what's in the opioid settlement against OxyContin maker Purdue and the Sackler family A bankruptcy court judge has approved the settlement of thousands of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, maker of the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin.

Now that the Purdue bankruptcy is over, the federal government will receive a $225 million payment as a result of DOJ’s 2018 settlement w/the company. That $ should not go to the general treasury but should be dedicated for treatment and other health services. apnews.com/article/purd...

U.S. kills 3 in strike on alleged drug boat from Venezuela, Trump says The president also signaled that his administration was preparing to take military action against Latin American cartels that move narcotics over land.

This is the same Administration that pardoned the Silk Road founder, an online dark web drug trafficking site linked to 6 deaths.

This is performative, likely illegal, & will do little to stop trafficking. U.S. kills 3 in strike on alleged drug boat from Venezuela, Trump says wapo.st/4nCzbQN

U.S. kills 11 in strike on alleged drug vessel from Venezuela, Trump says The attack is a dramatic escalation that coincides with the administration’s growing counternarcotics focus and its intensifying feud with the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro.

While walking away from anti-money laundering efforts, the Administration is relying more on military tactics in its counter narcotics efforts - a short sighted strategy. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Video: Mexico’s Cartels Are Using Military Weapons Recent attacks on villages in Mexico’s western state of Michoacán reveal the cartels’ growing paramilitary-style power, using drones, I.E.D.s and other weapons of war. Paulina Villegas examines the af...

The vast majority of firearms seized in Mexico that can be traced, originate from the US www.nytimes.com/video/world/... www.nytimes.com/video/world/...

@reginalabelle.bsky.social will join TFAH on July 30 at 2 PM ET to discuss our Pain in the Nation report. Register today bit.ly/PitN2025Webi...

Progress under threat: The future of overdose prevention in the United States | Brookings Overdose prevention stands at an important crossroads as the Trump administration and Congress propose and implement policies that endanger recent progress.

New commentary out from @brookings.edu - always great to collaborate with @holtgrave-health.bsky.social

Progress under threat: The future of overdose prevention in the United States www.brookings.edu/articles/pro...

Show Us Your Face The federal government should prohibit the wearing of masks by ICE agents and require them to properly identify themselves.

Important perspective from Brandon del Pozo about the need for law enforcement to show their faces and identify themselves in a democratic society. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

“He was dirty,” Mr. Musto said of the Salvadoran president. “He was corrupt. And now he’s sitting next to the president in the Oval Office and he’s got prime access to the leader of the free world.” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...

VEASEY: You've credited the 12 steps in your recovery. What's step 4?

RFK JR: Making a fearless inventory

VEASEY: Of ourselves. Do you remember step 12?

RFK JR: We try to help other addicts

VEASEY: Does cutting off treatment from people still suffering align with step 4 or step 12?

YouTube video by Forbes Breaking News 'This Isn't A Budget, It's A Death Sentence': Marc Veasey Doesn't Hold Back In RFK Condemnation

Excellent questioning by Congressman Marc Veasey on HHS’s proposed cuts to SAMHSA. The proposed HHS budget calls for a $500M cut to grant funding for mental health & substance use, cuts that will devastate the nation’s addiction response. youtu.be/jR4VVrIvIOQ?...

Overdose deaths of Black Bostonians dropped significantly in 2024. Here’s why Drug overdose deaths among Black Bostonians fell by nearly 60% last year. It's an achievement to be recognized, but much work remains, community health workers say.

Overdose deaths of Black Bostonians dropped significantly in 2024. Here’s why
www.masslive.com/news/2025/06...

Looking forward to this discussion about the Trump Administration’s approach to drug policy on July 8th. Register here for the virtual event: medicine.yale.edu/event/addict...

SAMHSA has fought drug and mental health crises. Now it’s in crisis. Staff and budget cuts will result in fewer services for people fighting mental illness and addiction, including Narcan distribution.

By cutting Medicaid and SAMHSA, the “backbone” of the nation’s public health response to mental health & addiction is in danger. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

This Week in Drug Policy HALT Fentanyl Act Passed and the Importance of Governance

Latest Substack

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Doctor who helped supply Matthew Perry ketamine will plead guilty to drug charges A doctor charged with giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the months leading up to the “Friends” star’s overdose death has agreed to plead guilty, authorities said Monday.

BREAKING: The doctor charged with supplying Matthew Perry ketamine before the actor's death will plead guilty to drug charges.

The settlement with Purdue includes $850M to settle claims brought by victims. It also doesn’t include a waiver of future claims a/g the Sacklers.

How a Generation’s Struggle Led to a Record Surge in Homelessness

How a Generation’s Struggle Led to a Record Surge in Homelessness www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/u...

Column | Big Tech stumbles into a big brawl over C-SPAN’s streaming future A bipartisan Senate coalition is asking YouTube TV and Hulu to add Congress’s favorite station to their lineups.

C-Span is a national treaure that allows an unfiltered look at government. Now more than ever we must save @c-span.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Amazing job by @brianmannadk.bsky.social reporting on youth drug deaths.

Age 20-24 broke the mold, beat fentanyl, returned to 10 yrs prior. Teens coming down, room to go, upstream mitigations needed.

We need more answers on "how". Inside these data lie insights that will save lives. (1/3)

Starved in Jail Why are incarcerated people dying from lack of food or water, even as private companies are paid millions for their care?

Sarah Stillman investigates a widespread crisis of deaths by starvation in America’s county jails. Most of the victims she identified had been arrested in the midst of a mental-health crisis, often on petty charges tied to their psychiatric distress.

There’s one vice RFK Jr. isn’t talking about The health secretary, who wants Americans to make healthier choices, rarely mentions smoking.

RFK Jr. wants to Make America Healthy Again. But he's ignoring the country's leading cause of preventable deaths: smoking.

Drug deaths plummet among young Americans as fentanyl carnage eases U.S. drug deaths dropped by roughly 40% last year among people under the age of 35. It's a welcome pivot for families and communities devastated by fentanyl.

Deaths were dropping even faster among young people, with some under-35 age groups seeing a 47 percent drop in fatal overdoses. This is immediate results delivered by Biden-Harris resulting in thousands of lives saved. 3/ www.npr.org/2025/06/10/n...

House Rules Committee hearing today on the SUPPORT Act is an example of the shell game of authorizing programs that won’t be funded & can’t be administered w/out staffing. $1B in HHS funding has been clawed back & 20,000 HHS employees have lost jobs-not including Medicaid or other budget proposals.

Deep cuts erode the foundations of US public health system, end progress, threaten worse to come Americans are losing an array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy.

Preventing harm is a cornerstone of public health, even if success is less visible or harder to measure. But the consequences of the thoughtless slashing to public health funding will be unmistakable and long-lasting.
apnews.com/article/publ...

SecState Rubio claims that no on has died because of USAID cuts and suggested that I had lied in my reporting. So here I show him photos of specific children who have died because of the Trump administration's reckless cancelation of aid: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/o...

The mysterious drop in fentanyl seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border The reasons behind the decrease of fentanyl seizures in the U.S. and along the Mexico-U.S. border are complex.

By focusing solely on drug seizures as a measure of success, this administration overlooks the broader, more meaningful indicators of progress in drug policy. The Administration’s narrow approach will ultimately undermine long-term solutions and cost lives.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

New Office of National Drug Control Policy budget request is online. Two key takeaways - moves the High Intensity Drug Trafficking & Drug Free Communities programs to DOJ & HHS. This was in Project 2025 and attempted in the 1st Trump Administration. www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...