Criminal Justice Archives

Episode 95: Behind the Speedboat Dope Bombings with Ioan Grillo

November 11, 2025 Narcotica 1:29:09 0 Comments

As we’ve said hundreds of times on Narcotica, the drug war is a war on people used to advance some of the worst atrocities in history. Drugs are the perfectly legible boogeyman to the public, used as a justification used to advance racist, draconian policy. From CIA planes that deliver ecocide to rain forests in Colombia to the millions of incarcerated people caged in the United States to empowering violent gang wars to the systems that have led to 1 million preventable deaths and counting from drug overdoses over the last two decades.

But something new is happening. The drug war is intensifying in unprecedented fashion, in a manner that makes the DEA kicking down doors and doing no-knock raids sound quaint. The United States military is on a spree of blowing up suspected narcoterrorists and their vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific near Venezuela and Colombia. These boats are allegedly filled with drugs headed to the shores of North America, despite zero evidence suggesting these are actually drug operations. If that’s not enough, grainy footage of boats being shredded is being posted online by the Pentagon. Brazenly bragging about war crimes and extrajudicial killings. Today we’re going to dive into what the heck is actually going on.

Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah speak with Ioan Grillo a journalist from the UK who has been living in Mexico since 2000, he is author of three books, most recently “Blood Gun Money: How America Arms Gangs and Cartels.”

Read Ioan Grillo’s reporting at his website crashoutmedia.com

Clarification: Troy mentions a lack of public outcry from the international community, which has definitely become more prevalent after the interview was done. There are more details in his commentary for Salon: “Donald Trump doesn’t understand the drug war he’s fighting”

**Pardon our dust on this episode, it was produced as quickly as possible and recorded on Oct. 28, 2025, so some info may be already outdated.

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 85: “Narcoterrorism” is just another forever war lie with Oswaldo Zavala
Episode 11: Beyond Borders — How the U.S. Exports Dangerous Drug Policy with Sanho Tree
Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo

We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Troy Farah, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1 / Algorithms by Chad Crouch
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Episode 91: Drug Surveillance Won’t Stop at Opioids with Liz Chiarello

May 25, 2025 Narcotica 0:55:15 0 Comments

Opioids are some of the best drugs ever invented. News flash! But that’s not something you’ll hear from the mainstream media anymore. No, the official message is that opioids are only problematic and even in the instances where they are prescribed by doctors, there’s this baggage, this stigma and shame attached to it. And no, recognizing the value of these drugs doesn’t make you a big pharma shill, in spite of drug companies that have exploited and yes, in some cases overprescribed these substances — but that’s a critique of capitalism, not chemicals that happen to mercifully act on our opioid receptors.

Of course, no one really outright says we need to ban all opioids. But in effect, that’s what we’re doing, banning them. Prescriptions of opioids have dropped significantly in the past decade, falling by 51.7% over 11 years, from 260.5 million in 2012 to 125.9 million in 2023. That hasn’t resulted in a significant drop in overdose deaths. Instead, the current climate, and attacks from the DEA has left many doctors now afraid to prescribe these drugs, even when necessary. And the rash of stigma against people who use opioids, licit or illicit, has not done anything to actually stop drug use. But these policies and attitudes do have an impact. Who has that harmed the most? Patients who need them.

On this episode, Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Liz Chiarello, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Saint Louis University where she conducts research at the intersection of healthcare and law. Her research centers on how cultural forces such as law, politics, and organizational policy influence decision-making in healthcare and the criminal-legal system. She is author of the recent book “Policing Patients: Treatment and Surveillance on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis.”

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo
Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar
Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: via Flickr

90: Navigating Shifting Chemical Landscapes with Claire Zagorski

Episode 89: Can Good Drug Policy Survive 2025?

January 9, 2025 Narcotica 0:45:01 0 Comments

Last year was a crazy time for drug policy and 2025 is looking to up the ante on the chaos. Narcotica hosts Chris Moraff, Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah reflect on what went wrong, what can be done and what to hope for, even in the midst of an escalating crisis.

They discuss the recent counts in overdose deaths, how fentanyl is changing (and even disappearing in some cases) while xylazine, medetomidine and other drugs are making their way into dope bags. Of course, everyone is concerned with how the incoming administration will handle things, including their bloodthirst for war with Mexico and a crackdown on harm reduction. But there are also plenty of reasons to hope — and keep fighting.

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 50: Sicarios and Supply Side Economics with Stewart Scott
Episode 34: “Inside the Bloody War on Drugs” with Antony Lowenstein
Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis

Episode 85: “Narcoterrorism” is just another forever war lie with Oswaldo Zavala

February 8, 2024 Narcotica 1:09:41 0 Comments

If you only get your international drug policy history from Netflix, you might think that the drug traffickers in Mexico are a smart, coordinated system of violent sociopaths that control the government. They are cartels. Therefore they have leadership, and hierarchies and tangible targets that can be taken out just like in a Call of Duty game.

This rhetoric has driven us to where we are today, with talks of labeling fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction — as ludicrous a label anyone could generate for such a thing — and serious conversation by right wing lunatics who are suggesting invading Mexico to assassinate every drug cartel member. Because that will work sooo well, like every other U.S. intervention over the last 50 to 100 years.

It’s a pivotal time in drug policy in North America. All the progress we’ve made seems ready to unravel, with perhaps the exception of cannabis legalization. Harm reduction and safe supply is heavily under attack in Canada, policies like drug decriminalization in Oregon were starved of funding, as if they were designed to fail and now we have all this talk about making things worse by intensifying the violence south of the border — not that it was ever exactly peaceful. How do we respond to such terrifying policy proposals?

On this episode of Narcotica, co-host Troy Farah interviews journalist Oswaldo Zavala, a professor of Latin American Literature and Culture at the City University of New York and author of the book Los cárteles no existen — Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Drug Trafficking and Culture in Mexico.

Follow Oswaldo on Twitter @Oswaldo__Zavala and visit his university profile here: https://www.csi.cuny.edu/campus-directory/oswaldo-zavala

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:

Episode 50: Sicarios and Supply Side Economics with Stewart Scott
Episode 34: “Inside the Bloody War on Drugs” with Antony Lowenstein
Episode 56: Drug Use During Disaster with Aaron Ferguson

We’re aware we haven’t put out many episodes in 2023, but Narcotica is not dead and we have no intention of retiring this important program. Like NPR and other podcasts, we are an independent, listener-supported program. We couldn’t do this without you. That sounds like hyperbole, that sounds like something every podcast says, but it’s 100 percent true and we are deeply grateful for all of you. Thank you.

We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Image: Image via DEA // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo

January 11, 2024 Narcotica 1:09:30 0 Comments

Like some kind of perverse fishing expedition, we’re all familiar with the drug warriors’ favorite form of theater: the drug bust. Every police department seems to do this, posing their officers with huge (or even tiny, inconsequential) bags of drugs, stacks of cash and sometimes a cache of weapons, propping everything up as if it’s the prize that will finally win this futile, violent campaign.

It’s been clear for decades that drug busts don’t stop the flow of drugs (or even make a dent), but amongst certain people, it is also common knowledge that these busts actually worsen drug overdoses. In other words, taking drugs off the street can increase ER visits, cause more fatalities and just generally make underground drug markets less safe.

Now, thanks to research last year in the American Journal of Public Health, we have some pretty damning evidence of this relationship. Narcotica co-hosts Chris Moraff and Troy Farah spoke with the study authors, Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo about their research, its policy implications, but also how this study fits into the broader picture of safe supply, how most cops resent being part of the drug war and

You can read the paper titled “Spatiotemporal Analysis Exploring the Effect of Law Enforcement Drug Market Disruptions on Overdose, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2020–2021 ” here: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307291 Salon was one of many publications that covered this study if you’d like to read more.

(This episode was done over the summer, hence mention of DULF still being a thing… It’s taken us way too long to get new episodes out lately, but 2024 should be different.)

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:

Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis
Episode 44: Reimagining Public Health and Racial Justice with Dr. Ricky Bluthenthal
Episode 12: Beyond Borders — “El Chapo” and the Mexican Fentanyl Pipeline with Keegan Hamilton

Follow Narcotica on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and support us on Patreon. We just opened a shop where you can order Narcotica merch: narcocast.myshopify.com Help keep this podcast ad-free! Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Image: Image via Coast Guard News // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

February 2, 2023 Narcotica 01:15:43 0 Comments

Harm reduction is an imperfect philosophy that serves as the only wedge between prohibition and what we all really want, which is a healthy, productive society. If more police and prisons could make drugs safer, we’d have a lot less overdose deaths and problematic addiction. But that’s not what’s happening. Drugs are more available than ever, while overdose deaths continue to shatter records. If this is a war, we lost long ago. (Of course, as we repeatedly emphasize on this show, not all drug use is addiction and in fact, most of it isn’t.)

Instead we have the prison-industrial complex. We have cops and judges that take on the role of doctors. We have a system that is designed to oppress, marginalize and criminalize rational human behavior. Yet, harm reduction in prisons — arguably the one place where it is needed most — is almost completely absent.

On today’s episode, Narcotica co-host Troy Farah spoke to someone who is sadly, currently behind bars. Because of that, we are using their adopted pseudonym, C. Dreams. C. is a writer and advocate interested in prison and criminal justice reform, LGBTQ rights, harm reduction and government and cultural criticism. She has studied history and theology with the Third Order of Carmelites and completed degrees in Systematic Theology and is currently studying law. C. has some brilliant writing being published in Filter Magazine. They talk all about drug use in prisons, from K2 to fentanyl, a positive methamphetamine story, the problems with lack of syringe access, let alone access to buprenorphine or methadone, and much much more.

Follow C. on Twitter at: @UnCagedCritique

Read C’s writing in Filter Magazine here: https://filtermag.org/author/c-dreams/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 26: Housing As Harm Reduction
Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis
Episode 45: Overdose Is Tragic, Not Murder with Morgan Godvin

Follow Narcotica on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and support us on Patreon. We just opened a shop where you can order Narcotica merch: narcocast.myshopify.com Help keep this podcast ad-free! Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Image: Shannon O’Toole via Flickr // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 78: Drug Use in a Post-Roe World with Dinah Ortiz

September 26, 2022 Narcotica 00:54:31 0 Comments

A future where abortion drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol are trafficked just like fentanyl or methamphetamine or where birth control is sold on the street corner like crack cocaine is really not that distant of a reality, if it’s not already happening.

The drug war is deeply intertwined with reproductive rights. That’s not always obvious to some people, but at Narcotica, we will emphasize over and over that bodily autonomy — the core of harm reduction and progressive drug policy — includes abortion access and reproductive sovereignty as much it includes the human right to freely use drugs.

On this episode, Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Dinah Ortiz, an Afrolatinx drug user activist who has fought for over 14 years for impacted communities. After her role as supervisor at the Bronx Defenders Family Defense Practice, Dinah began doing consultant work as a drug user organizer and activist who has shared her story of parenting during past chaotic substance use nationally and is a fierce advocate for parents in the child regulation system. She is currently the co-chair on the North Carolina’s Survivors Union board of directors and leadership team member of Urban Survivors Union.

Follow Dinah on Twitter at: @Dinahortiz4

If you need to obtain abortion pills, for any reason, for yourself, for your mother, for your sister, or your neighbor, go to PlanCPills.org or AidAccess.org.

Join an Urban Survivor’s Union call by going here: https://www.druguservoice.org/blank-page-3

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 24: How To Get Abortion Pills Feat. Lynn Paltrow and Francine Coeytaux
Episode 60: Perinatal Panic—Drugs, Pregnancy and Stigma with Ria Tsinas, Joelle Puccio and Erika Goyer
Episode 48: Moms And Methadone with Elizabeth Brico

Follow Narcotica on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and support us on Patreon. We just opened a shop where you can order Narcotica merch: narcocast.myshopify.com Help keep this podcast ad-free! Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: Jeff Roberson // edit: Troy Farah

Episode 77: Harm Production — The Hazards of Drug Courts with Dave Lucas

September 7, 2022 Narcotica 1:04:45 1 Comment

The United States sure loves to cage people. Incarceration statistics can be shocking, but they can be cited so often that they can lose their potency. It can seem abstract or just the way things are. But it is completely immoral that the U.S. throws more people into cages than any other country for which we have reliable data.

In order to partially address this problem, some jurisdictions have promoted the idea of drug courts, which the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services defines as “alternative to incarceration, drug courts reduce the burden and costs of repeatedly processing low‐level, non‐violent offenders through the nation’s courts, jails, and prisons while providing offenders an opportunity to receive treatment and education.”

Sounds great, right? Well, as you’ll learn on today’s episode, drug courts come with their own set of problems, and in some ways, can make situations worse.

Narcotica co-hosts Chris Moraff and Troy Farah speak with Dave Lucas, a clinical advisor, social work educator, and therapist committed to reducing the harms of the criminal legal and substance use treatment systems. He serves as a Clinical Advisor with the Health and Justice Action Lab. They discuss drug testing, Measure 110 in Oregon, MAT in courtrooms, synthetic cannabinoids, what drug courts actually get right and much more.

Follow Dave on Twitter at: @davidewlucas

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 45: Overdose Is Tragic, Not Murder with Morgan Godvin
Episode 73: Oh No! Not Naltrexone! with Nancy Curran
Episode 14: Harm Reduction Dies in Darkness—Jeff Deeney

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: The Noun Project edit: Troy Farah

Episode 76: How To Change Your Mind About ALL Drugs with Veronica Wright

August 5, 2022 Narcotica 00:49:51 0 Comments

Certain celebrity authors want to help you accept that certain drug use is OK—and there’s nothing wrong with psychedelic exceptionalism, but it overlooks the biggest destructive forces of the drug war. Yet, legalizing drugs like meth, heroin and cocaine remains a hard sell for even the most progressive of drug policy reformers. So how do we cross this bridge?

Narcotica co-host Chris Moraff speaks with Veronica Wright, founder of the National Coalition for Drug Legalization. They discuss how prohibition is far worse than the drugs deemed too dangerous for public consumption, and only works to worsen health inequities and harms from drug use. However, the transition from prohibition to a future where drug use isn’t criminalized won’t be easy. Veronica shares what helped her change her mind on this issue and the future of drug use that she envisions.

Follow Veronica on Twitter at: @veronicawright8 and visit the National Coalition for Drug Legalization’s website here: https://www.nationalcoalitionfordruglegalization.org/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 51: The Joy of Drug Use with Dr. Carl Hart
Episode 68: Is The Drug War Getting Better… Or Worse? with Zach Siegel, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah
Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-producer: Garrett Farah
Music: Glass Boy / Waves
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: The Noun Project edit: Troy Farah

Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis

July 25, 2022 Narcotica 00:58:01 1 Comment

No matter what the problem is, whether it’s fentanyl overdoses or mass shootings, the solution to all of our problems is always more money and bigger budgets for police, prosecutors and prisons. Funny how that works, right? If crime goes up we need police, if crime goes down it’s because of the police, so we still need more police. They can’t lose!

One of the main ways public support for police is so insidious has to do with police propaganda (e.g. copaganda) but it can be hard to detect, let alone debunk, these powerful tools of controlling public opinion. Understanding how this works is crucial to any aspect of drug policy reform and holding accountable the journalists who perpetuate copaganda is an important step in undoing the harms of police states.

On this episode of Narcotica, co-hosts Zachary Siegel and Troy Farah talk with Alec Karakatsanis, the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, a non-profit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the United States’ legal system–a system that is built on white supremacy and economic inequality. Alec has helped challenge the money bail system in California and is the author of the book Usual Cruelty. He is passionate about ending human caging, surveillance, police, the death penalty, immigration laws, war, and inequality, and he has made debunking copaganda into an artform.

Follow Alec on Twitter at: @equalityAlec and read his newsletter here: https://equalityalec.substack.com/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique
Episode 47: Can Harm Reduction and Cops Coexist?
Episode 62: Policing Pleasure — The Intersection of Sex Work and Drug Use with Tamika Spellman and Caty Simon

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: The Noun Project edit: Troy Farah

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Criminal Justice

Episode 95: Behind the Speedboat Dope Bombings with Ioan Grillo

Episode 91: Drug Surveillance Won’t Stop at Opioids with Liz Chiarello

Episode 89: Can Good Drug Policy Survive 2025?

Episode 85: “Narcoterrorism” is just another forever war lie with Oswaldo Zavala

Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo

Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

Episode 78: Drug Use in a Post-Roe World with Dinah Ortiz

Episode 77: Harm Production — The Hazards of Drug Courts with Dave Lucas

Episode 76: How To Change Your Mind About ALL Drugs with Veronica Wright

Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis

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