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The Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is recommending that the Drug Enforcement Administration significantly loosen federal restrictions on marijuana but stopped short of advising that it should be entirely removed from the Controlled Substances Act. The health agency wants the drug moved from Schedule I to Schedule III under the CSA, potentially the biggest change in federal drug policy in decades. (Fertig and Demko, 8/30)

Some marijuana users may have elevated levels of lead and cadmium — two heavy metals linked to long-term health issues — in their blood and urine, a new study shows. Among a group of more than 7,200 adults, the 358 who reported using marijuana within the past 30 days were found to have 27% higher blood lead levels than those who said they didn’t use either marijuana or tobacco. (Bendix, 8/30)

Bill Martin is a product of the 1960s when it comes to using marijuana. The Vietnam veteran experimented with smoking weed after his discharge. But he quit using while he raised a family in the 1980s. "I was a clean machine,” said Martin, 76, a Deerfield resident who grew up in Winnetka. Then, about five years ago, he began using cannabis again when the drug was cleared for medicinal use in Illinois. (Struett, 9/5)

Accidental overdose became the No. 1 cause of death in 13 states for people under 40, overtaking suicide in nine states and vehicle accidents in five others; it’s now the top cause in 37 states. The only other change was in Mississippi, where homicide became the main cause of death, overtaking car accidents. In 40 states and the District of Columbia, overdose was the biggest increase in deaths for young people. (Henderson, 9/5)

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the county alleged that Express Scripts Inc. and OptumRx Inc. colluded with drug manufacturers to promote dangerously addictive opioids as a safe and moderate pain treatment option. ... “Defendants are not bystanders in the opioid crisis,” the lawsuit said. “They helped fuel the fire.” (Ellis, 9/4)

It’s a fact that more than 70,000 people nationwide died last year after overdosing on fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. The drug has drawn national attention because it’s so lethal, up to 100 times more potent than morphine. But the spotlight has also led to a lot of misinformation. Politicians and pundits commonly misrepresent who brings fentanyl into the U.S. And stories of police officers and first responders becoming sick or overdosing by simply being around or touching fentanyl proliferate online — a phenomenon that toxicology experts say is not scientifically possible. (9/4)

Americans are dying of fentanyl overdoses in record numbers, and the Republican presidential candidates are talking tough about their plans to respond. Many of the plans are startling, even violent: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pledged to “use lethal force” by sending troops to attack cartel operations in Mexico. Former President Donald Trump has called for convicted drug dealers to be sentenced to death. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, meanwhile, has suggested taking a different tack: Decriminalizing nearly all drugs, including ayahuasca and ketamine. But for all the candidates’ big rhetoric about the war on drugs — either ending it or escalating it — few of their stump speeches make any mention at all of addiction treatment. (Facher, 9/5)