Illegal Drugs

Ketamine syringe, 10mg held by a healthcare professional.

Ketamine Works as a Fast-Acting Antidepressant, But the Full Effects Are Still Unknown

A new study suggests that ketamine activates the brain's opioid receptors, complicating its use to treat clinical depression

Genome Reveals When Opium Poppy Became a Painkiller

A combination of two genes over 7.8 million years ago was the first step to producing morphine and other narcotic compounds

Hemp harvest at Mount Vernon

Hemp Makes a Return to George Washington's Farm

The first crop of industrial hemp grown in centuries was recently harvested at Mount Vernon

Biobot Analytics is tracking the use of opioids, neighborhood by neighborhood, by analyzing the sewage in Cary, North Carolina.

Sewage May Hold the Key to Tracking Opioid Abuse

Public health managers are hoping to pinpoint how and when people abuse drugs in order to prevent deaths

Paolo Guerrero was initially banned from the World Cup for drug use, but has been temporarily reinstated thanks to some Inca mummies.

How Inca Mummies Helped a Soccer Player Who Was Banned from the World Cup

Paolo Guerrero failed a drug test, but insists he never took cocaine. Three ancient mummies are lending credence to his case

River eels exposed to cocaine suffered muscle damage and other health effects.

Cocaine in the Water Is Hurting River Eels

When researchers exposed eels to the illicit drug, the animals became hyperactive and suffered muscle damage

Fake medicines are a lucrative global business. When it comes to malaria drugs that don’t work, they can be deadly.

Are Fake Drugs The Reason Malaria Sickens Millions a Year?

Fraudulent, expired and low-quality medicines contribute to the disease's death toll—and could worsen drug resistance

A vintage ad for patent medicines, which usually didn't list their active ingredients. We now know that many contained morphine, cocaine, opium and more.

How Advertising Shaped the First Opioid Epidemic

And what it can teach us about the second

What Reddit Can Tell Us About the Afterlives of Banned Olympic Drugs

We analyzed 150,000 comments to find that the Internet is still openly discussing these mind-bending stimulants

From developmental problems to reproductive issues, drug waste is affecting marine wildlife.

How Drugged-Up Shellfish Help Scientists Understand Human Pollution

These involuntary medicine-guzzlers have much tell us about the consequences of pharmaceutical waste

This cartoon from Harper's Weekly depicts how opiates were used in the 19th century to help babies cope with teething.

Inside the Story of America’s 19th-Century Opiate Addiction

Doctors then, as now, overprescribed the painkiller to patients in need, and then, as now, government policy had a distinct bias

Understanding the Doping Controversy That's Hit Sled Dog Racing

Four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey's dogs tested positive for banned substances, but Seavey claims it was sabotage

Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a Public Health Emergency. What Does That Mean?

Critics say that his plan falls short of the drastic—and costly—effort required to effectively combat the crisis

The bottle of multivitamins at left were typical of the ways Americans became addicted to amphetamines.

A Speedy History of America’s Addiction to Amphetamine

In a startling parallel to today’s opioid crisis, the drugs were liberally—and legally—prescribed despite little information on safety

The October 21, 1967 March on the Pentagon is remembered as one of the most significant political demonstrations of the era.

Fifty Years Ago, a Rag-Tag Group of Acid-Dropping Activists Tried to "Levitate" the Pentagon

The March on the Pentagon to end the Vietnam War began a turning point in public opinion, but some in the crowd were hoping for a miracle

Zebrafish

How Getting Fish Hooked on Drugs Could Help Fight Opioid Addiction

Zebra fish and humans have similar pathways of addiction, which may make them ideal test subjects for addiction studies

Scientists Unlock Magic Mushrooms' Mysterious Chemical Compound

A new study has uncovered the enzymatic pathways that allow 'shrooms to make psilocybin

“Love Symbol #2”

Prince Now Has His Own Shade of Purple

The Pantone Color Institute has debuted “Love Symbol #2,” a deep purple based on the late star's custom-made piano

This forest in Guatemala was burned to make way for agricultural development. A new study suggests that drug traffickers contribute to rainforest loss by laundering money with agriculture in forest lands.

Cocaine Is Destroying Forests in Central America

Once-forested lands are being used in money laundering operations

Many of the records from MKUltra have been destroyed, but 8,000 pages of records were discovered in 1977.

What We Know About the CIA's Midcentury Mind-Control Project

Project MKUltra began on this day in 1953 and continued for years

Page 3 of 5