The Alkaloid

Comic-style illustration of a large cannabis leaf beside an amber flame, with abstract molecular shapes drifting above a forest-and-lake landscape.

The Alkaloid #32: What the Flame Adds

Heating THC produced 79 small-molecule breakdown products in a new lab study. What the experiment shows, what it cannot tell us, and why better testing should serve people who use cannabis.

Comic illustration of newspapers beneath a blank speech balloon, beside a research notebook, a magnifying glass over a dot grid and response-card stacks of different heights.

Field Notes #12: Beyond the Breakthrough Headlines

A new US survey records health changes people attribute to five psychoactive drugs. Its small subgroups and different recall windows matter as much as the headlines.

Comic illustration linking an orange-fruited iboga shrub, a basket of roots, a shipping crate and a laboratory vial.

Field Notes #11: Who Gets Paid for the Root?

Gabon wants a share of the ibogaine boom. New reporting exposes the distance between paying for bark and sharing the value created afterward.

Comic illustration of a leafy kratom branch and an amber bottle with a tablet packet, connected by a blank tag examined through a magnifying glass.

The Alkaloid #31: The Leaf and the Label

Kratom leaf and concentrated 7-OH can share a name on the shelf without sharing a chemical profile. The distinction matters for safety, research and regulation.

Comic illustration of a masked, woman tending cannabis plants, a man packaging flower into jars and a woman working at a dispensary counter, with a cannabis jar in the foreground

The Alkaloid #30: The Jobs Behind the Jar

Before a cannabis jar reaches the counter, someone grows, harvests and cures it. Massachusetts' repeal debate is also about those paychecks, the businesses behind them and the limits of promises about what comes next.

Hand-drawn illustration of an adult holding a cannabis jar outside a shuttered dispensary on an autumn street. Text reads: “VOTE NO ON 8” and “Keep recreational cannabis legal in Massachusett

The Alkaloid #29: The Right to Have It. Nowhere Legal to Buy It.

Massachusetts could preserve an adult's right to possess cannabis while closing recreational shops and ending home grows. Who benefits—and what would police be asked to do again?

Ink-and-watercolor illustration of a molecular model under a spotlight as a care team consults with a patient, prepares a treatment chair, and makes a phone call.

The Alkaloid #28: The Medicine Needs More Than a Molecule

The FDA is asking who delivers psychedelic care, how patients are protected, and who pays. The practical work extends well beyond the drug.

nk-and-watercolor illustration of a host welcoming a guest into a cannabis-friendly lounge, with an empty armchair and three adults playing a board game inside.

Field Notes #10: A Room of Their Own

Cannabis-friendly social spaces need more than a place to consume. St. Louis offers a look at the work of hosting.

Ink-and-watercolor illustration of three adults talking at an outdoor café at dusk, with sparkling water, beer and a can labeled THC on the table.

Field Notes #9: The New Social Drink

THC drinks borrow the rituals of a night out. Familiar packaging does not make the intoxicant familiar.

Ink-and-watercolor illustration of a singer, acoustic guitarist and cajón player on a warmly lit outdoor stage at dusk, with an audience and a cannabis-leaf banner.

The Alkaloid #27: From the Parking Lot to the Poster

Cannabis gets an official place in the event program. What two upcoming events promise, and what a small music study can actually tell us.

An illustrated cannabis flower conducts six color-coded botanical orchestras—brass, strings, percussion, woodwinds, harps, and basses—beneath flowing scent ribbons, musical notes.

The Alkaloid #26: The 227 Smells of Cannabis

A new cannabis genetics paper cataloged 227 volatile terpenes across six cultivars. The fun part is what those compounds reveal about flower, genes, and why your nose keeps finding more than a THC label can say.

A dispensary clerk rolls his eyes at an old television announcing that the deadline has moved.

The Alkaloid #25: The Deadline That Hasn't Moved

Everyone reported that the federal hemp ban slipped to December 11. It hasn't passed the House, and the delay is narrower than the coverage suggests: it turns on whether a molecule is capable of being naturally produced, not on how it was actually made. What that sorts, and what it strands.

Independent weekly reporting on cannabis, psychedelics, and plant medicine. Science, culture and capital — one dose at a time.

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