Will the Movement for Black Lives improve the material well-being of Black Americans? Will big banks? This week, The Chronicle of Philanthropy published two long stories (here and here) about foundations, nonprofits and racial justice. Reporters Alex Daniels, Sono Motoyama and I talked to about 45 people, trying to better…

MDMA is a wonderful medicine. This startup company wants to make it even better. — Psychedelic medicines are generating excitement everywhere — among academic researchers and therapists, in the press, even with members of Congress — everywhere, that is, but among investors. Several startups developing psychedelic therapies have gone bust. Shares in others sell for less than the price of a latte. …

Philip Morris International, Altria and BAT claim that they want to help end smoking by selling less harmful nicotine products. — In Sweden, the popularity of snus, an oral tobacco product placed between the teeth and gums, has helped drive the percentage of adults who smoke down to six percent, lower than any other country in Europe. Sweden also has the lowest rate of tobacco-related mortality in the EU.

It’s developing new compounds and attracting investors — Many startup companies developing psychedelic therapies work with classic mind-altering substances such as psilocybin, mescaline and LSD. Jonathan Sporn, the founder and chief executive of Gilgamesh Pharmaceutical, has no interest in any of them. “There’s no way in hell we’re going to develop a generic drug,” Sporn says. The 64-year-old…

Awakn Life Science’s ketamine therapy for alcohol use disorder is promising. Will it be profitable? British psychiatrist Ben Sessa believes fervently in psychedelic medicines. They are “likely to change the whole paradigm of psychiatry,” says Sessa, who a co-founder and head of psychedelic medicine at a startup company called Awakn Life Sciences. …

A Johns Hopkins professor and leading researcher of psychedelics faces his death and invites others to carry on his work. — No one person has led the so-called psychedelic renaissance. Many have played vital roles: Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, best-selling author Michael Pollan, philanthropist and podcaster Tim Ferriss and Bob Jesse, an influential behind-the-scenes networker, among others. …

Let me begin with a mea culpa. I’ve just made the bulk of my charitable donations for the year. I should have done so sooner. Charities get a flood of money in December. Their needs are year-round, of course. Next year, I plan to do my giving early in the…

Norwegian sociologist Karl Erik Lund was banned from a conference on e-cigarettes because…..er, for no good reason — Early in November, a website called Tobacco Tactics, which calls itself “the essential source for rigorous research on the tobacco industry,” posted information about a small organization called the International Association on Smoking Control and Harm Reduction, or SCOHRE. Based at the University of Bath in England, Tobacco Tactics is…

A new report says those favoring safer nicotine products are on “the right side of history.” — On Election Day, California voters approved a law to ban all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Yet Marlboros and Camels can be bought at any corner store or gas station. This is, to be blunt, nuts. It makes no sense to ban safer nicotine products, like e-cigarettes, while permitting deadly…