Portland! There’s still time to get your ballot in, due at 8pm in a dropbox, or must be picked up by USPS today to count. The judge seats are SUPER IMPORTANT. I like the Working Family Party recommendations: Position #2: Chris Behre Position #5: Jo Perini-Abbott Position #14: Joe Hagedorn

Kratom is not the same thing as 7-Oh. Kratom = plant, safe, long used. 7Oh = lab-made with deceptive marketing, causing unwitting physical dependencies. Read about the differences here, backed by data: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

This is a good lesson for journalists: Use plain language to state true things clearly.

Let there be as much outrage from politicians in Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New Yorkers.

Normalize taking methadone at the United Nations! The 69th Commission on Narcotic Drugs has wrapped. The US is still being the US. International diplomacy is incredible and very far from obsolete. It may save us yet. PS - Austria is the 17th country I’ve traveled to while on MOUD.

What’s a good venue to host a research symposium in Salem, Oregon? ~75 person capacity. Don’t say Pringle Hall, it’s booked.

Any substance use journal editors lurking around here? I have an idea for a viewpoint on something that’s been popping up in the press with increasing frequency, but would love to run it by someone!

🚨BREAKING: The White House Thursday refused to rule out the presence of immigration enforcement at voting locations this November, a response that follows extremist rhetoric about placing federal forces at the polls. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

This clearly shows his gun was in its holster right up until a CBP agent removed it. Then they shot him. It’s possible the first shot was a negligent discharge from the agent who’d taken the gun from Alex’s holster, causing the other cosplayers to shoot in response, confused by their own chaos.

This is courage. Looking a masked, government fascist dead in the eye, face to face, knowing full well that your life is on the line. If elected officials had 1/10th of Alex Pretti's resolve, we would have far fewer troubles.

Schrödinger’s Second Amendment: - carrying a gun is a mandatory prerequisite for the government to respect your rights. - carrying a gun immediately invalidates your rights and the government can execute you on the spot.

minnesota has a right to defend itself

Well, I guess I’m not coming home from Europe. Watching this from relative safety and futility is… wild. Hearing Europeans talk about it constantly is also wild. It’s worse than you think, if that’s even possible.

they're executing moms and nurses in the street. they're using preschoolers as bait. they're stealing people's dads and grandmas and children. they're tear gassing babies. they're staking out schools. there is no remedy but abolition. any proposal that doesn't start there is an act of violence.

Is possession of a firearm a necessary prerequisite to having the government respect your rights, or a license for said government to execute you on the spot? I am very confused by the “don’t tread on me” crowd suddenly being anti-handgun..?

“Unemployed at 25, Nick had spent a decade bouncing between this gated enclave and at least 18 rehab facilities paid for by his parents, Rob and Michele Singer Reiner.” Treatment should *work.* I am infuriated by this stat. US treatment is so broken. www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...

Uruguay has among the highest GDPs of Latin America and South America. Trump included it on the visa blockade list. Argentina, years into economic crisis, where 50% of people live in poverty many have emigrated to escape it is not on the list. Petty and political. www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...

Expect to see a surge of proud ignorance and proplawganda about what you can say about ICE agent Jonathan Ross, identified by local media as the person who shot and killed Renee Good. In particular, expect a repeat of Rittenhouse-era “accusing him of murder is defamation” rhetoric. It’s not. /1

Apropos of nothing

BREAKING NEWS: We are opening a formal investigation into the shooting involving federal agents in Portland today. Our office will take every step necessary to ensure the rights and security of Oregonians are protected. #orpol #breakingnews

A friend in Minneapolis just sent me this video. Looks like thousands have come together for a vigil after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. This was my neighborhood for several years before coming to Portland.

we’re never returning to “normal “ that world is dead and gone we create a new one, or we live in hell

They've arrested people on less evidence before

You and your wife drop your 6-year-old off at school. You just moved here. You see ICE terrorizing your new neighbors. You film them, as is your legal right. Your wife complies with orders. She is then shot in the head. You still have to pick up your child later today. This could be you.

According to my sources, the FBI was initially open to a concurrent investigation with the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (the state agency that would do this investigation). Trumpy U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen heard about this and intervened, barring the FBI from cooperating with local police.

What happened to my generation? War, death, and addiction became more commonplace than prosperity. More of my friends went to Iraq than to college after high school. This documentary is incredible and is one part of the “why” the US experienced diverged so far. youtu.be/RIWfH3iEgXU?...

Back on October 3, I gave a briefing to Congressional staffers and warned about precisely this. Here’s a short excerpt from that briefing.

Not that I needed convincing, but holy hell, this is good. I cried. Seeing truly is believing.

He isn’t right often, but Rand Paul is right about Venezuela policy.

The European Union Drugs Agency’s Drug School is a jam-packed educational session covering all things drugs and drug policy. The Winter session is online in early March. Registrations are open! www.euda.europa.eu/event/2026/0...

This week, I officially started my study visit at the European Union Drugs Agency in Lisbon, Portugal. This is a three-month collaborative research effort between Drug Checking Los Angeles at UCLA and EUDA, focusing on opioids.

i love that a significant portion of the population of the world believes in demons and the devil and satan. they just think this stuff is real and it genuinely scares them

“I brought this horrid creature into the world, and now I must take him out!” Winfrey said

Max Huntsman, the inspector general tasked with holding the LA Sheriff’s Department to account, is retiring… and going out with a bang in this letter 🔥

The Supreme Court, Presidency, Senate and two party system are all quite anti-democratic institutions as presently constructed. Our institutions are not only incapable of preventing tyranny—they’re currently enabling it. When democracy returns, we need to reform our political system.

Read this: www.wgbh.org/news/local/2...

“After they broke up, Ferreira said in court records that Michael Leavitt had in the past threatened to try to get her deported.”

My colleague, the brilliant @colincarlson.bsky.social posted this on LinkedIn. This is devastating for Colin and his group, but also for science, for the future of the human race. #NSF is starving scientists of resources. This will not get better until we all rise up.

My teen, who had dreamt of being an astrophysicist, just told me he wants to go to law school because, “Science isn’t going to be a priority in the US in the future…I don’t want a job where I’ll be constantly worried my funding will be taken away.” Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?

Loving war crimes is not a sustainable policy in a democracy

160 years ago, the 13th Amendment was ratified, ending slavery. But that amendment came with a sinister loophole: a Slavery Clause that allowed for slavery “as punishment for crime.” We need to pass @repnikema.bsky.social’s and my Abolition Amendment to #EndTheException once and for all!

“The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” - Garry Kasparov

More of this nationwide please!

“We’re broken and we’re being poached by ICE,” one official with the prison workers union told ProPublica. “It’s unbelievable. People are leaving in droves.” By @keribla.bsky.social

holy shit www.advocate.com/politics/hhs...

Thinking a lot about this moment from literally the first chapter of "1984."

NEW: www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...