The Drug Wars. Plus. . .

It’s Thursday, October 23. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Gabe Kaminsky on the Democratic Party’s civil war. Coleman Hughes remembers his friend, the chess grandmaster Danya Naroditsky. Dr. Cornel West on why we still need Plato. Peter Savodnik on why Los Angeles needs (another) World Series win. And more.

But first: Three stories about drugs.

Late on Tuesday, the U.S. bombed a boat off the coast of Colombia—the eighth reported air strike unleashed by the Trump administration on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean since September 1. The strikes have prompted many questions, among them: Can the president just do that?

In the Free Press today, legal columnist Jed Rubenfeld breaks down the high-stakes legal debate over the strikes. Jed writes that “of all the unprecedented actions Trump has taken in his second term, this might be the most extraordinary—and potentially the most dangerous.” But the closer he looked, the cloudier the picture became.

Read Jed on the legality of the Caribbean boat bombings.

In our second story today, River Page reports on another kind of drug war. This one is between two feuding lobbies for two closely related and hazardous drugs: kratom and 7-OH. Both are legal right now, but there’s a push to change that. But as policymakers weigh the right course of action, questions better left to science—how dangerous are these products, and what should be done about them?—have been replaced by dueling lobbying interests, each furiously slinging mud and motivated by financial self-interest. As the two industries have become bitter rivals, it’s become nearly impossible to know who—or what—to believe. Read River’s report:

Next up, Josh Code reports on the quiet epidemic sending young people to emergency rooms nationwide. It’s called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), and it’s a debilitating condition caused by heavy marijuana use. Patients across the country are being hospitalized with vomiting, nausea, and intense cramps, all lasting for days on end. And doctors say there’s only one way to cure it: Stop getting high. Here’s Josh:

—The Editors

Old School is our new podcast about great books, and how reading makes stronger, better men. On this week’s episode, host Shilo Brooks is joined by professor, public intellectual, and presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West. They discuss Plato, and some of the biggest questions in Western philosophy: What is justice? Why should we live justly? And how can we achieve the good life? Listen to their conversation for all that and more on what’s wrong with American culture, higher education, and politics.

Paul Ingrassia arrives before President Trump speaks during a summer soiree on the South Lawn of the White House, June 4, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon via AP Photo)

• After his private texts were published by Politico, Paul Ingrassia, White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, faced backlash from Republican senators and withdrew his nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel. In the messages, Ingrassia said he had a “Nazi streak” and said the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell.”

• The University of Virginia is close to reaching a settlement with the Trump administration over alleged civil rights violations, including antisemitism in hiring, admissions, and campus life. It would be the first such deal the administration has made with a public university, and comes after the school declined the White House’s offer for preferential funding in exchange for supporting the administration’s educational priorities.

• All Pentagon officials must now obtain permission from the Department of Defense’s legislative affairs office before communicating with Congress. Previously, subdepartments could manage their own correspondence. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the change the same day almost all Pentagon reporters turned in their credentials amid new restrictions on reporting.

• North Carolina lawmakers approved a new congressional map yesterday aimed at giving the Republican Party an additional House seat after next year’s midterms. The state is the only one where the governor, a Democrat, doesn’t have the power to veto the map. Meanwhile, the White House is pressuring Indiana Republicans to draw a new map, but state Senate leaders say they don’t have the votes.

• Russian president Vladimir Putin directed drills of strategic nuclear forces yesterday, including testing the Russian stock of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). The directive comes as the prospect of a Trump-Putin meeting in Hungary faded earlier this week after calls between top U.S. and Russian diplomats.

• Earth will achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2093 and the temperature rise will stabilize at 2.2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2100, according to a new projection from Norwegian firm Det Norske Veritas. “A casual observer might conclude that the energy transition is stalled or in reverse,” they write. “That is most definitely not the case.”