Drug facts

What they are, what they do, what we know.

Plain-language briefings on the drugs being sold as safe, each with the numbers and the sources. Built for parents, reporters and lawmakers who need the facts in a hurry.

Opioids

Fentanyl

A synthetic opioid roughly 50 times more potent than heroin. Two milligrams, the size of a few grains of salt, can be lethal, and it is now pressed into counterfeit pills.

Gas station opioids

Kratom and 7-OH

An opioid-like plant drug sold as a supplement in gas stations and smoke shops. At least 5,208 overdose deaths involved kratom from 2020 to 2024. FDPS is calling for a federal ban on the whole plant.

Psychedelics

Psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaine and more

Mind-altering drugs from plants, fungi or a lab, now marketed as mental health treatments. The evidence for that is far from proven, and the safety concerns are real.

Marijuana · Our sister organization SAM

Today’s high-potency THC

Not the marijuana of the 1970s. Products approaching 99 percent THC, sold as wellness, are linked to psychosis, dependence and cannabis use disorder in 19.2 million Americans. Our sister organization SAM covers it in depth.

Gas station drugs

Tianeptine and the rest

Unapproved drugs sold next to the candy: tianeptine (“gas station heroin”), 7-OH tablets, intoxicating hemp THC. FDPS has asked DEA and HHS to schedule them.

Policy experiments

Decriminalization: Oregon and Portugal

What Oregon’s Measure 110 did, why it was repealed, and how it differs from the Portuguese model it claimed to copy.

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Every briefing, report and training on this site is paid for by donors. FDPS is a 501(c)(3).

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