Psychedelics rejected, Captagon factories and "pink cocaine": The drugs that defined 2024

In the U.S., about half of the population takes a prescription drug every day, and half of adults have tried illicit drugs at least once. “What the numbers don't show are what I would say are the policy realities and the narratives of the communities that have been the hardest hit.” 02 The FDA rejected MDMA for PTSD This summer, many psychedelic advocates were hopeful that the Food and Drug Administration would approve the psychedelic drug MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder. Media coverage reported positive effects in veterans, and Lykos Therapeutics, the organization submitting the new drug application, previously won “breakthrough therapy” designation from the agency after presenting its earlier phase trials. "Pink cocaine" is a hot pink mixture of drugs, that often contains all kinds of substances, including MDMA, ketamine, and 2C-B, but doesn’t typically contain actual cocaine. Tuci, typically snorted in powder form, got increasingly popular in 2024 and has been detected in Latin America, Europe and the U.S. Because it is a cocktail of various mystery drugs, users often don’t know what they are getting, and it makes it harder for drug researchers to track the supply as well, said Dr. Joseph Palamar, a drug researcher at New York University.