Daily Drug War Digest -- October 15, 2026

The US Army is sending troops to the Rio Grande Valley as cartel activity heightens, German marijuana legalization did not lead to a nation of stoners, and more. 

The Rio Grande River divides Texas from Mexico. (Creative Commons)

Psychedelics

Stakeholders Ask FDA to Be Flexible, Protect Patients When Regulating Psychedelics. This past summer, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) held a meeting on how to promote the development of psychedelic drugs for treating medical conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). At the time, it also opened a public comment docket, which has received more than 600 comments from a range of stakeholders, including drugmakers, researchers, healthcare systems, and public advocates.

The stakeholders broadly agreed that the FDA should be flexible in regulating psychedelics and take care not to create unnecessary barriers to patient access. The agency should also promote proper training and licensing, and allow for flexibility in making labeling changes as new information becomes available. 

Researchers at the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law (PORTAL), based in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, called for independent professional accrediting bodies independent of manufacturers and commercial treatment providers. 

"Independent clinical experts and patients should help develop the core curriculum and assess whether trainees meet its requirements," according to the PORTAL comment. "These should publish their sources of funding and conflict-of-interest policies.

"Anybody with a financial interest in selling a drug, training course, or treatment service should not control decisions about professional qualifications," the group added. "Manufacturers may need to provide product-specific safety information, but independent bodies should determine how that information is incorporated into broader clinical training."

The Cleveland Clinic also weighed in, calling for evidence-based training for all involved in psychedelic-assisted patient care.

"Credentialing should be tied to role, scope of practice, and setting," said Cleveland Clinic. "Prescribers should have training in the therapeutic area and in the specific drug’s risks, contraindications, and REMS requirements.

"Non-prescribers should receive role-specific training on monitoring, patient support, escalation, documentation, and boundaries," the healthcare system added. "FDA should avoid credentialing requirements that are so narrow that they limit access across specialties or settings, but should expect institutions to verify completion of training, supervision arrangements, and competency before individuals participate in psychedelic-assisted care."

Much more is available at the link above. 

The Border

Citing Cartel Threat, US Army Shifts Hundreds of Soldiers to Rio Grande Valley. The US Army is moving hundreds of soldiers into the Rio Grande Valley on the Texas-Mexico border in the face of what it says is increased cartel activity in the region. The Army has about 8,000 troops deployed along the entire border, and the deployment to the Rio Grande Valley represents a shift in forces, not an increase in force levels. 

Mexican officials, meanwhile, have deployed roughly 500 National Guard and military personnel to the border state of Tamaulipas, citing intelligence about drug traffickers' increased activities. 

The American soldiers are engaged in surveillance activities and barrier-building, and are keeping an eye out for cartel drones doing counter-surveillance or carrying drugs over the border. According to a Reuters report, the military detected 378 drone incursions since August and used laser technology to shoot down 11 drones during that period. 

The deployment comes as the Trump administration pursues an aggressive, militarized strategy against drug trafficking throughout the hemisphere, with the military engaged in a deadly program of attacks against civilian boats suspected of carrying drugs that has left nearly 240 people dead, and US military forces now on the ground in Colombia and Ecuador to assist in counter-narcotics training and missions. 

International

German Marijuana Legalization Did Not Lead to a Nation of Stoners, Study Finds. Germany legalized marijuana possession up to 25 grams and home cultivation of up to three plants in 2024, but did not embrace full commercial legalization. Instead, it allowed people to join cannabis social clubs where only members can obtain marijuana. 

A team led by Düsseldorf addiction researcher Daniel Kotz and Hamburg health scientist Jakob Manthey has studied the results and found that neither past-year consumption nor daily use showed any significant change. 

The study appeared in the International Journal of Drug Policy on September 11, 2026. It is based on 23 survey waves between April 2022 and April 2026—roughly two years before and two years after the reform. The survey included nearly 36,000 respondents aged 14 to 64. Overall, 2,302 individuals, or 6.4 percent, reported using cannabis at least once in the twelve months before their interview. 

Researchers also studied trend lines and found that "none of the coefficients for trend change after the reform were statistically significant." Critics of the law change predicted a sharp increase in use, particularly among youth, but that did not happen

This study aligns with other reports. A longitudinal study from the University of Trier with 605 adults found no notable increase in consumption. The new analysis carries greater weight because it includes nearly 36,000 respondents and tracks the trend even before the reform. A similar pattern appears in data from eight years of legal retail in California.