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This story appears in our Summer 2026 issue, on newsstands July 28. Want us to come to your place? Become a member to get digital access to the issue and early access to paywalled content.
The drugs have changed. Heroin is on the wane, replaced by synthetics invented faster than governments can ban them. The weed is legal, patented, and about as countercultural as the NFL. A massively popular club drug came out of the lab of one underground chemist, and Big Pharma is already circling it.
The official advice, meanwhile, remains stuck at “Just Say No.” So scientists, survivors, and users are writing their own rulebook for the synthetic era. These stories are a field report from the front lines of the American high.
Has the New Cocaine Finally Arrived?
Cheaper than cocaine and less conspicuous than Ecstasy, 3-MMC is turning up everywhere from warehouse parties to weekday desks. Michelle Loocq traces the drug’s rise, and the market gathering around it.
The Science of Using Drugs and Not Dying
America’s official drug advice has changed remarkably little since the Reagan administration, but the drugs most definitely have. Zachary Siegel meets the researchers, activists and survivors replacing slogans with information people can actually use. Plus a clear-eyed guide to drug interactions.
Why Is Everyone Always Stoned?
More Americans now get high daily than drink daily. Jack Tien-Dana on how weed went from counterculture to background noise.