On this edition of Century: Psilocybin in the Garden State. The New Jersey Legislature is considering Assembly Bill A.3852, An Act concerning a pilot program for psilocybin research and making an appropriation. The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved that bill with a “do-pass” recommendation at a hearing Thursday December 18. We hear testimony from one of the witnesses, Neal Usatin with New Jersey for Fungi and Plant Medicine. Plus, The World Health Organization, the International Network on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users, and Medecins du Monde held an event recently to launch a new WHO technical document entitled, “WHO guidance on maintaining opioid agonist maintenance treatment as an essential health service.” We hear two of the panelists: Anja Busse, Head of the Drugs, Alcohol and Addictive Behaviours Unit at WHO, and Anton Basenko, Executive Director of the International Network of People who Use Drugs.

On this edition of Century of Lies: Drug Policy, HIV, and Health. The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development is the central United Nations platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. HLPF 2025 was held the 14 through the 23 of July in New York. A number of side events were held at the HLPF, including one held July 17 entitled Evidence and Science-Based Approaches in Drug Policy, HIV and Health: Good Practices and Windows of Opportunity. On this week’s Century we hear portions of that event, including presentations by Anton Basenko, Executive Director of the International Network of People who Use Drugs; Jindrich Voboril, a leading expert on drug use and the former national drug coordinator of the Czech Republic; and Catherine Cook, Acting Executive Director of Harm Reduction International.

This week on Century of Lies: Solidarity and Community Mobilization. We hear from Anton Basenko with the Ukrainian Network of People Who Use Drugs on the power of community mobilization in responding to the war in Ukraine, and from Magdalena Bartnik with the Precursor Foundation for Social Policy speaking on In solidarity we stand: supporting Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Plus we hear from Doctor Vitor Tardelli, a psychiatrist and clinical fellow at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto, Canada, and a researcher at Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil, on developments in treatment of stimulant use disorder.