Month: September 2019

Episode XXIX: Darth Vaper The Panic Strikes Back

September 18, 2019 Narcotica Episodes 00:56:57 0 Comments
via New York Department of Health/Troy Farah

By now you might be wondering whether your vape pen has acquired a taste for human blood. There have been several deaths and hundreds of cases of “mysterious lung illnesses” traced back to various “vaping products,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since that sentence is incredibly vague and next to useless, we decided to bring Amelia Ruby Howard, a sociologist who studies science and technology, on the show to clear the air and tell us what’s up. Amelia begins by spelling out exactly what kind of products are being linked to what kind of illnesses, and then helps us unpack the politics of what appears to be a textbook moral panic. You can follow Amelia on Twitter here.

Follow Narcotica on Facebook, Twitter and support us on Patreon. Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-Producer: Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy, Pictures of the Floating World

Episode 28: Antibiotic Resistance and Doping at the Olympics with Mike Pearl

September 16, 2019 Narcotica Episodes 01:12:33 0 Comments

Antibiotic resistance and doping at the Olympics are two pretty unrelated ideas, but they’re both covered in the new book ‘The Day It Finally Happens’ by author and journalist Mike Pearl, who sat down in Narcotica co-host Troy Farah’s kitchen.

Episode 27: What’s the Most Dangerous Drug?

September 6, 2019 Narcotica Episodes 01:31:32 0 Comments

Narcotica co-host Zachary Siegel was in Los Angeles for a conference on depicting drug use in Hollywood films and TV shows, so co-host Troy Farah trudged down from the High Desert and they recorded an episode in a hotel room. Despite doing Narcotica for well over a year, the pair hadn’t met in person before. (Chris Moraff couldn’t make this episode.) Picking an impromptu topic, they decided to riff on a recent USA Today article titled “The 25 most dangerous drugs.”

So… what is the most dangerous drug? Alcohol? Carfentanil? Acetaminophen? And what is with the obsession with ranking these things? Lots of riffing and banter in this episode, so take some of this info with a grain of salt (it’s not medical advice) and we’ll be back to interviewing policy experts and drug nerds next week.

Plus, we hope to get together in person with Chris in St. Louis this November 6th to 9th, for the Drug Policy Reform conference. More details here: http://www.reformconference.org/

Read the USA Today article here:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/07/31/opioid-epidemic-25-most-dangerous-drugs-side-effects-death-rates/39807161/

Follow Narcotica on Facebook, Twitter and support us on Patreon. Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Sticher and more. Tell your friends about us!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-Producer: Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy, Aaron Ferguson
Image: Pixabay, edit by Troy Farah